Wilmington Middle School is set to get a new after-school youth center through a collaboration between Los Angeles Unified School District and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.
Officials from the district and Delgadillo's office are still working out the details of the new center -- what kind of programs it will offer and where on the crowded campus it will operate.
Wilmington is one of five intermediate schools that will get such centers, Delgadillo and Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced this morning an event in Pacoima.
The effort is part of a collaboration between the school district and Delgadillo's office that began last summer with the founding of the City Attorney's School Safety Division. That program was preceded by a plan hatched in 2007 at Markham Middle School in Watts -- where a prosecutor was placed on campus and students were required to wear (donated) uniforms.
The program was expanded to nine middle schools, including Wilmington, where Deputy City Attorney June Magilnick is seeking to reduce gang inductions and violence around the campus.
The new youth center will be jointly funded by the school district, the City Attorney's office and private entities such as nonprofit groups, Delgadillo spokesman Frank Mateljan said.
Officials hope to open the Wilmington center before the end of the academic year.
A joint press release from LAUSD and Delgadillo's people follows.
CITY ATTORNEY/LAUSD BUILD ON COLLABORATION FOR SAFER COMMUNITIES
Proposed Plan Will Bring Five New Youth Centers to LA Middle Schools
(Los Angeles) Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced today at Maclay Middle School in Pacoima the pursuit of a new joint venture to plan, develop and construct five comprehensive youth centers at middle schools. The proposed plan for additional youth centers is the latest development in a strategic partnership to promote safer schools across Los Angeles.
"We have seen that when we work together to create a safer campus with engaging activities for our kids, they respond with better grades, higher test scores, and improved graduation rates," Delgadillo said. "And any gang prosecutors will tell you that the best way to keep our kids out of gangs is to keep them in school, because kids who cut class invariably join gangs."
"I look forward to continuing our work together with our LAUSD partners to help our students across the City of Los Angeles realize their dreams, and reach their full potential," Delgadillo added.
"I am delighted at the opportunity to have a partnership with City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and LAUSD in developing Youth Centers at five of our middle schools," LAUSD Board Member Julie Korenstein said. "As the Board of Education Representative for Maclay Middle School, I believe this will be a great benefit to the students of this community."
"The creation of these youth centers at local middle schools is a crucial component of our City's comprehensive anti-gang strategy, and I applaud LAUSD and the City Attorney for spearheading this partnership," L.A. City Councilmember Richard Alarcón said. "It is around the middle school years that young men and women make the decision on the path they will be taking, and after school programs like these will help give kids positive alternatives to gangs and put them on the path towards a bright future."
The plan to jointly pursue youth centers at middle schools is based on the success at Markham Middle School, where the City Attorney and LAUSD established a youth center where students receive after-school programming by established non-profit organizations and community groups.
The specific school sites currently being pursued by LAUSD's Joint Use Development Program for the location of youth centers in partnership with the City Attorney's School Safety Division are: Maclay Middle School in the East Valley, Nightingale Middle School in Northeast Los Angeles, Berendo Middle School in Mid-Central Los Angeles, Audubon Middle School in Mid-South Los Angeles and Wilmington Middle School in the Harbor Gateway area. These sites are five of the nine schools that are part of the City Attorney's Safe Schools Initiative.
"Our continuing partnership with the City Attorney's Office to promote safer schools is a terrific example of how when we combine efforts, we can make better use of our resources to create a concrete benefit to students," Superintendent Cortines said. "The education and enrichment these youth centers will provide not only helps keep students safe, but provides them a priceless advantage in life."
Feasibility studies are currently underway to identify prototypes for youth center sites at middle schools, and LAUSD's Beyond the Bell Branch is also engaged in the process to ensure community-based or public agency sponsored operators to facilitate programming.
Maclay Middle School, the first site pursued in this expected new joint venture, will receive a new technology center to house programs such as Jr. ISEE, an afterschool enrichment program for middle school students. Jr. iSEE builds on the success of the original iSEE Architecture & Engineering Internship Program for high school students that connects high school juniors and seniors to careers in architecture, engineering and construction. Jr. iSEE participants will make use of Autodesk DesignKids to experiment with basic design principles used in architecture, engineering and many other careers.
Funds from the City Attorney's office will make possible new furnishings, fixtures and equipment for the technology center at Maclay Middle School. Dollars from LAUSD's Joint Use Innovation Fund will allow for capital and infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the afterschool use of the facility, as well as upgrades to the athletic field to accommodate joint use with Cal South Soccer Association.
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Safe Schools Division was created in the Summer of 2008 on the heels of the successful Markham Middle School Safety Initiative. Its mission is to continue a tradition of problem-solving, leadership, initiative, innovation and teamwork in a manner consistent with LAUSD's strategic goal of building school environments where students and adults are "physically and emotionally safe and secure so learning opportunities and personal achievement can be optimized for all."
The mission of LAUSD Facilities Joint Use Development Program, part of LAUSD's multi-billion dollar New School Construction, Modernization & Repair Program, is to identify and develop with the community mutually beneficial projects on new and existing campuses for LAUSD students and the communities in which they live. The Planning and Development Branch is working to develop projects that bring value to the school district in the form of revenue, cost savings and programming. These include open space for recreational facilities, youth development centers, workforce housing for teachers and District employees, and childcare and healthcare facilities. To learn more, please visit www.laschools.org.
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