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HALLEN

UR YOUTH

ith an est opulationhe U.S. Ceneographi

s only 2.6n size and

urrounded y the Cit

ES IN O

AT RI SK

imated 200of 31,065 b

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UNITY

n Pablo is one oancisco Bay Area994,900 residenunty includes 15

risdictions: East,nse that some asta County Scho

n Pablo itself ispulation of 31,0d nearly surroun

clude El Cerrito,

n Pablo grew byy overall. In 20

20 cities in Con, Contra Costa Cts and ranked 4 th

school districts,Central and Westhoritative bodie

ol district into w

he smallest and5 by the U.S. Ce

ded on all sidesl Sobrante, and

over 50% in the0, 33% of the S

ra Costa County,unty was the 9 t

to 5 th in househ12 unincorporatt County. Theses serve one of tich San Pablo fa

poorest city in Cnsus, geographiy the City of Ric

unincorporated c

50-59 age groun Pablo populat

, California. A pamost populous

old income leveld areas and thegeographic cluse three areas, s

lls.

ntra Costa Counally, the city is ohmond. (Otherounty areas.)

between 1990ion was age 18 o

rt of the nine-cocounty in Califorstatewide. Contcounty is brokeners are formal och as the West

ty. With an estinly 2.6 square mordering geogra

nd 2000 but is ar younger, 50%

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unty Sania in 2000a Costainto threely in theontra

ated 2009iles in sizephic areas

very youngof the

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8

SOCIALIZIN G YOUTH

Community Crime Prevention Associates (CCPA) Evaluators remind us that youth need to feel as

though they belong to their families, church, community, school or other positive, pro-socialgroups in the City of San Pablo. Strong bonds and relationships are critically important tonormal, healthy youth development. The presence of a caring and supportive adult is one way tohelp socialize youth. Youth without the presence of caring and supportive adults in their livesmay be attracted and pulled over to the anti-social mindset and lifestyle. After all, the anti-social lifestyle also offers youth a way to gain and keep respect, sense of family andconnectedness, sense of accomplishment and upward mobility, sense of safety, money, way tobe engaged, rite of passage, and sense of structure and direction.

Who is pulling for the Pro-Social Side?

The urgency to surround youth with pro-social influences may be greater now than ever. Policymakers and other community leaders need to determine what resources are available to counterthe anti-social influences of gangs, certain parolees, and other anti-social adults. Experts ongangs and law enforcement officials agree that anti-social influences, such as gangs, have a well-organized team with a thoughtful game-plan. The pro-social team needs to ensure that it too isorganized and working together. Does the community know who should be pulling on the pro-social team and in what order? Does the community know if there are enough people pulling onthe pro-social side?

...youth need to feel asthough they belong- totheir families, church,community, school or

other positive, pro-social groups...

The urgency to surround youth with pro-social influences may be greater now than ever.

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Par

Adult s on prGang

Ant i- soci

Dr ug- usiParent s who u

ent s who br eak

Cha

Anti-social pee Beliefs, values Substance ab Condones viol Poor self-man Poor attitudes

Poor parentalOther family p

Anger/hostility

bat ionember s

ial peer s

g peer sse dr ugst he law

ANTI-SOCIAL

acterized By:

rs, and attitudes fasence as way to sgement skillstoward work ansupervisor, moniroblems, includin

PULL

vorable to crime

lve conflicts

/or schooloring, or contingg child abuse

Does

encies

the commu

MaHCBHSsk

ity know

eaningful and hid community

igh expectationsring and supporliefs, values, an

igh level of strucills and assets sills, hope for fut

if there ar

PRO-SO

Characte

h level of partici

at home, schooltive adults at ho

attitudes unfavurech as problem sre

enough p th

IAL PULL

rized By:

pation in home,

and communitye, school and c

orable to crime

lving, decision-

ar ent seacher / Coachesr o- social peer seighbor sommunit y- basar ks and Recr eaolice and pr oba

ople pullpro-socia

9

chool

mmunity

aking

d yout h wor kert ion worker st ion of f icers

ng on side?

s

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10

Positive Youth Development

The Positive Youth Development approach suggests that assisting youth to achieve their full

potential is the best way to prevent them from engaging in risky behaviors. Youth developmentassets and the role of resiliency will be incorporated into the program and evaluation design. Itwill be the way we do business. The City of San Pablo will require youth developmental asset-based evaluation designs for a number of our youth programs, requiring community-basedcontractors to demonstrate their ability to implement asset-building program components, andsupporting the effort to garner community-wide buy-in about developmental asset theory andapproaches.

The 40 Developmental Assets were developed by the Search Institute, a non-profit organization

that studies and supports approaches for the healthy development of children and youth. TheSearch Institute surveyed hundreds of thousands of young people and from their findings theyidentified 40 experiences and qualities that have had an incredible positive influence on youngpeople from diverse backgrounds. The asset concept is that children, youth, and adults needpositive external support and internal strength in order to succeed in life.

One critical component to youth developmental asset theory is resiliency. Resiliency is a conceptfirst popularized in the early 1970s. Robert Brooks of Harvard University explains:

The hallmark of a resilient child includes knowing how to solve problemsor knowing that there is an adult to turn to for help. A resilient child hassome sense of mastery of his own life, and if he gets frustrated by a mistake,he still feels he can learn from the mistake. 3

The extensive research of Bonnie Benard, Senior Program Associate of WestEds School andcommunity Health Research Group, on resiliency indicates that the three core variables of resiliency are:

1. High expectations of the youth in the home, school, and community;2. Meaningful participation of the youth in the home, school, and community; and3. Relationships with caring and supportive adults in the home, school, and community.

Caring and Supportive Adults

3 National Institute of Drug Abuse Media Advisory. 1998. www.nida.nih.gov/MedAdv/98/MA-1022.html

...assisting youth to achieve their full potential is the best wayto prevent them fromengaging in riskybehaviors...

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...t

Dre

inS

Dfonfo

e presence

. Emmy Wernersearch on resilie

ervention.e writes:

Other buf creeds, ancompetentlives of chistudies of substitute

. Werner suggesstering resiliencycessarily have ccus on how best

of a carin

of the Universitycy and provides

fers that we do k races: heres

, emotionally staldren who overcresilient childrenparents, such as

ts that the prese. While policy mntrol over the cito support youth

and supp

of California, Dathe foundation f

now seem to cutno doubt about ible caregiver seeme great adversa lot of this nurtgrandparents, a

nce of a caring aakers, educators,rcumstances thats in overcoming

rtive adul

is, has conducter the resiliency

across different, a close bond wms to be essentiities. As we knoring can come f nts, uncles, olde

nd supportive ad, and other com

create adversityit.

t is especi os

d decades of lonramework in pre

cultures,ith al in the

fromomr siblings.

ult is especially iunity leaders dofor youths, they

lly imporering resi

11

gitudinalvention and

portant innotought to

ant iniency.

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porting Gang Re

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lated Crime

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of gang-relatedmise ongoing incase numbers, etions or licenses

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The types of crit

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als;

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ship with known

rime was gang r

rime data to theestigations andent dates, nam

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eline yeartigations

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Ad-Hoc Youth Sprivacy rights, ths or identifying i

of data...w and intell

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an include

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embers;

ervices Sub-e gang-nformation,

thout gencetems...