|
|
| |
YOUTH
SERVICES PROGRAMS
|
|
|
|
|
Background:
The Foundation and Its Programs
The
Sheriff’s Youth Foundation (SYF) was created in 1985
based upon the belief that crime prevention programs focused
on youth are the key to developing safer communities. Through
its programs, the Foundation works with young people throughout
Los Angeles County to provide them with tools for life success,
and empowers them to utilize these tools - while also having
some fun. The programs exist to offer Los Angeles County youth
a safe, supportive haven where they can interact with positive
role models, including law enforcement officers, and receive
life guidance, factual information, educational tutoring,
as well as participate in after-school and esteem-building
activities. The Foundation Staff and its Board see to the
funding and support of two countywide programs for youth participants:
Youth Activity Leagues (Y.A.L.s), including Youth Activity
Centers, and the Success Through Awareness & Resistance
(S.T.A.R.) Program. Combined, the two programs serve more
than 120,000 Los Angeles County youth each year.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Youth
Activity Leagues (Y.A.L.s)
Of
the 17 Sheriff’s Stations throughout Los Angeles County,
ten offer organized Y.A.L. activities for girls and boys as
viable alternatives to drug involvement and gang membership.
More than 20,000 children and teenagers participate in Y.A.L.
activities each year with activities divided by age brackets.
Y.A.L.s
provide safe, supportive havens for counseling, educational
tutoring, and after-school recreational activities for youth
- in addition to functioning as neighborhood sources of information
on other types of vital community services. The schedule of
activities for each station is dependent upon the preferences
of the involved communities, but activities do include (partial
list):
Academic Tutoring Baseball Basketball Soccer
Flag Football
Overnight Camping Libraries Scuba Diving Modeling
Cultural Trips
Soapbox Racing Boxing Karate Tennis
Computer Labs
Weight Training Dancing Summer Camps
The
Foundation also supports three Youth Activity Centers as part
of the Y.A.L. network that offer computer labs, tutoring,
counseling, and summer youth employment training programs.
Sheriff Station Captains have responsibility for the Leagues
and Centers in their communities. The scheduling of specific
activities is determined by the interests and needs of youth
in that area.
Currently, Y.A.L.s are headed by the captains at Sheriff Stations
in East Los Angeles, Norwalk, Temple City, City of Industry,
Walnut, West Hollywood, Santa Clarita, Palmdale, and the South
Central Los Angeles locations of Century and Lennox. In addition,
Y.A.L. Centers are located in East Los Angeles, Century and
Lennox.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Success
Through Awareness & Resistance (S.T.A.R.)
Drug, gang and violence prevention education classes are co-taught
throughout Los Angeles county schools by specially trained
Sheriff’s Deputies assigned to the Success Through Awareness
& Resistance (S.T.A.R.) unit and classroom teachers. S.T.A.R.
programs are at work in 370 schools within 50 school districts
in 30 contract cities and the unincorporated areas of Los
Angeles County. The program annually reaches over 100,000
youth. The drug prevention classes have been operating in
Los Angeles County schools since 1985, and are primarily geared
toward the last two grade levels of elementary school and
the first two grade levels of middle school, but are also
offered to other grades according to requests from the school
districts. Lessons cover proven prevention techniques to empower
youth to fight the lures of drug use and gang membership,
while improving their self-esteem. Issues include: why people
use drugs; how to overcome peer pressure; how to actually
“say no;” and how to improve self-esteem. Instruction
also covers gangs and the dangers associated with membership,
anger management and cultural awareness. In addition to classroom
lessons, S.T.A.R. also conducts parent education classes in
an effort to educate families about the warning signs of drug
usage so they may be better able to deal with a problem before
it escalates. The Drugs, Pregnancy and You program addresses
the problem of babies exposed to drugs by their mother’s
substance abuse. The effort, which includes medical professionals,
informs high school students about the dangers of drug exposure
during pregnancy. S.T.A.R.
establishes a lasting partnership between the community and
Sheriff’s Department. Deputies regularly participate
in community events and provide public speaking engagements
for community, church and business groups upon request. The
S.T.A.R. program is a template for other programs through
the nation - S.T.A.R.’s leadership is frequently contacted
to train other law enforcement departments in S.T.A.R. methods
and curriculum.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
What
Makes the Foundation Different - Why Its Programs Work
Direct law enforcement involvement - S.T.A.R. and the Y.A.L.s
offer unique opportunities for learning, relationship building,
and role-modeling for youth who interact and relate directly
with sworn Sheriff’s deputies in positive, non-threatening
environments. Learn, grow, and have fun - Through the Y.A.L.s,
young people are provided with tools to aid them in their
lives, while also having fun. Flexibility - In each Y.A.L.
program, and through the S.T.A.R. curriculums, specific program
elements are designed to “speak to” the youth in
the area or classroom in which it operates __ deputies are
encouraged to adapt to program activities to match the interests
and needs in their neighborhood. A
true public/private partnership - The Foundation’s programs
do not rely solely on taxpayer support. Funding, volunteers
and in-kind contributions come from private foundations, corporations,
small businesses, schools, concerned individuals, families,
and Sheriff deputies, in addition to the County of Los Angeles
and local municipalities. Nationally, no other law enforcement
crime prevention program is supported by a non-profit organization
in this manner. Big-number
statistics are not the point - “One step, one youth,
one day at a time” was the founding motto of the Sheriff’s
Youth Foundation. It still holds true today. Although hundreds
of thousands of young people have participated in the many
Foundation-sponsored activities in its 13+ year history, the
Foundation’s focus is on individuals. To the Foundation
and the deputies who participate, effectively helping one
child is more important than rolling out impressive statistics.
No
age boundaries - The Foundation’s various programs reach
from first through 12th grades - something many other youth
programs cannot accommodate.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
How
It All Gets Funded
The Sheriff’s Youth Foundation has grown by leaps and
bounds, both in the scope and depth of the programs it offers
and in the way it is funded. Originally funded by Los Angeles
County and a few prominent foundations and corporations, the
foundation now receives funding through many varied sources,
as indicated in the following budgetary overview.
The
Foundation’s annual budget is being met
through contributions from the following sources:
-
Los Angeles County
- Los
Angeles County Contract Cities
- Grant/Foundations
- Fundraising
Events (Benefit Dinner in the Spring;
- Golf
Tournament in the Fall)
- Corporate
Sponsorships and In-kind Contributions
- Contributions
by Individuals
And
what about future growth? The Foundation seeks to increase
contributions and fundraising by 10 percent annually to expand
programs to meet the increasing demand for youth-oriented
crime prevention services.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
