Youth in the News
Volume 2, Number 10, June 1-15, 2007
Contents
State Watch
Research
Government
STATE WATCH
- Indianapolis community leaders and gang members talked about solutions for gang violence like job training and after-school programs.
- Iowa received a federal grant to increase their suicide prevention efforts.
- Local police officers and sheriffs in North Carolina are engaging in summer programs designed to prevent youth violence.
- In Indiana, at-risk youth help build a re-entry home for male offenders.
- A television program will examine youth and gang violence in Long Beach, California and highlight prevention strategies like early childhood education and workforce development.
- In South Dakota, tribal leaders declare a state of emergency after a wave of youth suicides and attempts.
- There is debate about whether or not “cheese”, a deadly form of heroin targeted at teen users, should be added to the list of drugs addressed by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.
- A community college in California helps high school students transition to college.
RESEARCH
- Researchers find that the amount of violence in PG-13 films is not safe for kids.
- A new report includes disconnected youths’ perspectives and policy recommendations on drop-out rates and joblessness.
GOVERNMENT
- In California, assembly members of a select committee held hearings across the state to get input on strategies used to address youth violence.
- Legislation reforming Texas’ juvenile justice system is signed into law.
- Members of Congress introduce a bill that encourages addressing youth health comprehensively: physical activity, nutrition and emotional wellness.
- The South Carolina Legislature passes legislation that will allow law enforcement to seize gang property, creates a statewide database of gang members and makes gang recruitment illegal.
- In Oregon, the legislature passes a bill expanding the state’s bullying policies to prohibit cyberbullying.
ARTICLES
INDIANA
Community Leaders Meet with Teens to Stop Violence
June 6, 2007
By Jay Hermacinski, Wishtv.com
A special meeting Tuesday night was held with the goal of stopping violence before it happens. The unique gathering was a meeting between community leaders and gang members.
About 30 teens attended the meeting. It was a brainstorming session where troubled teenagers shared their stories and explained what drove them to join a gang.
One of the teens wrote a song about life on the streets. While this teen raps about it many kids live it.
"Most of these guys are youth offenders. Vice lords, gang members I'm trying to get off the street," Byron Alston with the Save the Youth Center said.
In an effort to change that reality, the kids met with city leaders, police, and clergy. Together they are searching for solutions to stop the violence.
"The younger you start the easier it is because that's where most of the crime is with 15, 16 year olds who have guns," Michael Green said.
"We want a safe city. You are part of a safe city and without you, we won't have a safe city," Olgen Williams with the Christamore House said.
One year ago violence in Indianapolis hit record levels. Police investigated 51 homicides between June and September. Guns were usually the murder weapons. P.J. Robinson has one take on why.
"No one is fighting no more. Everyone wants to get it over real quick. We don't have time for it no more," Robinson said.
The teens said it is possible to stop the violence. Their solutions include more job training and after school programs.
The meeting was a step in the right direction, a chance to change the reality of life on the streets.
The solutions they talked about are simple. As mentioned, adding after school programs is one idea. Another solution is more role models in the neighborhoods. The kids want to hear from people that are successful and are willing to listen to them and help them grow.
IOWA
Iowa's teen suicide rate higher than national average
June 11, 2007
By Matt Kelley, Radio Iowa
Iowa's teen suicide rate is higher than the national average and the state's landed a federal grant to boost suicide prevention efforts.
Binnie LeHew, chief of the Iowa Department of Public Health's Bureau of Disabilities and Violence Prevention, says the $1.2 million grant over three years will create the Youth Suicide Prevention/Early Intervention Project. "This project will allow us to focus on youth in the age range of 15 to 19 years," she says. "It will allow us to fund three to four either area education agencies or high schools across the state who can identify those youth at risk for suicide mainly by screening for depression."
A survey of Iowa sixth, eighth and eleventh graders found 11 percent had made one or more suicide attempts while another 10 percent said they'd planned a way to kill themselves.
She says Iowa's youth have a higher risk for suicide and several factors may contribute to that. "Typically, the rates are higher in rural areas and we believe that's because there's more isolation in rural areas," LeHew says. "There's less accessibility to services, in terms of mental health services, and there's greater access to firearms, which is one of the means of cause of death."
LeHew says suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Iowa youth between age ten and 24. Accidental or unintentional injury is number-one.
LeHew says the new project includes a public awareness campaign to promote project participation. They'll be trying to identify youth who show signs of depression, a risk factor for suicide. Teens who fall into that category will be referred for more assessment and possible treatment. She says part of the solution is better education about suicide risk factors, including depression and drug abuse.
NORTH CAROLINA
Summertime diversions for kids
Law enforcement efforts seek to keep youths out of trouble
June 13, 2007
By Cassondra Lampkin, The Daily Reflector
Skating, sightseeing and playing games are not typical crime deterrents.
This summer, however, will be filled with such activities for Greenville police and Pitt County sheriff's deputies as they work to prevent juvenile violence.
The two agencies are involved in three programs this summer designed to keep children occupied and teach them how to recognize and avoid gangs and gang activity.
"I think it's another phase of law enforcement that's been untapped for years," said Capt. Cecil Hardy with the Greenville Police Department.
Keeping kids active and in a safe atmosphere is a big part of crime prevention, Hardy said.
"The kids might normally be unsupervised in and around the neighborhood they live in, and they can get into trouble," he said.
Officers will be assisting Pitt County Schools with its Summer Significance Program, designed to lower the county's dropout rate. Officers will spend one day each week working with the children and serving as chaperones during field trips.
Spending time with children gives young people a different view of law enforcement, Hardy said.
The Police Athletic League is a free activity available to about 90 youth, said Kelvin Yarrell with Greenville Recreation and Parks, which co-sponsors the program.
"It will help them understand the community and officers better," Yarrell said.
That philosophy is shared by the Pitt County Sheriff's Office's three-year-old Gang Resistance, Intervention & Prevention program.
Courtney McNair, 17, said he would have been walking the streets looking for something to do if he had not joined in a Tuesday volleyball game organized by GRIP officers.
"By them (officers) coming out, it shows they have a different side, not just slapping handcuffs on people," McNair said.
Law enforcement is learning from its interaction with the children, said GRIP coordinator P. Pippins, a Pitt County deputy.
"We are able to talk one-on-one with kids and they do open up to us," Pippins said.
A lesson follows each activity and focuses on different themes, Pippins said. Tuesday's message was saying no to drugs.
About 30 kids attended the outdoor activities at New Mount Moriah Holy Church in Farmville.
There's a need for GRIP because children and teenagers don't have enough things to do in Pitt County, especially in the rural areas that lack playgrounds, Pippins said.
Deputies also plan on giving participants prizes at the end of the program, but monetary donations are needed to help with that effort, Pippins said. People interested in making a donation may call Pippins at 902-2775 to get more information.
GRIP was inspired by repeated complaints about the lack of playgrounds, said James Tripp, chief of operations for Pitt County Sheriff's Office.
Block parties also are held to celebrate the participants' completion of the program with parents and community members, Tripp said.
"A lot of times people just want to mind their own business," Tripp said. "The program helps unite the community and offers a chance for them to interact with each other," he said.
Law enforcement isn't the enemy, and the more it's involved with children and the community, the more others will see that, said Edward Newton, a church counselor at New Mount Moriah Holy Church.
During the activities, "they (youth) don't look at the uniform or gun, they just have fun," he said.
INDIANA
House opens, expected to be a re-entry for male offenders
June 14, 2007
By Jessica Kerman, The Herald Bulletin
About 20 people gathered on the recently renovated porch of 1333 Madison Ave. to tour a house that’s undergone two years of work.
Reconstruction of the house was done by about 25 at-risk youth, with the help and mentorship of several skilled craftsmen, said the Rev. Reginald Lee, president and CEO of West Side Hope Community Development Corporation.
The house will become a re-entry home for male offenders, Lee said.
“America is leading the industrialized world with more than 6 million persons currently in the criminal justice system,” he said to the group.
This is one of the efforts the West Side Hope CDC is using to assist men who have been to jail and are rejoining society. The CDC started in 2002, and the house was acquired in 2003. It was formerly the home of John and Esterleana Woodall, two prominent members of Anderson’s west side, Lee said.
Renovations began in the summer of 2005. The city of Anderson gave the project $25,000 as part of a Community Development block grant, Lee said. The New Hope United Methodist Church also used the project as part of its Rites of Passage Skill Trades Program, which pays at-risk youth to learn a trade such as plumbing, electricity and carpentry.
Carl Hendricks, 17, worked on the house in the summers of 2005 and 2006. During his time at the project, he worked on wall plastering.
“I like being part of it because it’s positive and it’s a good life experience,” he said.
Hendricks said he would probably work on it again this summer.
The CDC hopes to open the house to the first group of transitional men on Sept. 1, but funding may change that.
“We would like to challenge faith communities, civic organizations, corporations and individuals to help us raise the necessary capital to finish this facility and start the programming that leads to a safer and more productive place for all of us to live,” Lee said.
The men who live in the house will learn trades while transitioning into society. Plexico Weathersbee will be teaching them brick masonry.
“I’ve got the skill, and maybe I can pass it on,” he said. “Working at McDonald’s is not a good thing. If you have a skill, you can move on.”
Others will teach the men plumbing and electrical skills, Lee said. New Hope United Methodist Church is moving to a new building on 14th Street, and the old church will be used as the training facility, Lee said.
CALIFORNIA
Gang violence revisited on TV
June 10, 2007
By Kelly Puente, Presstelegram.com
In May 2005, Charter Cable aired a 41-hour marathon program called "Enough is Enough," designed to bring the issue of youth and gang violence into the public eye.
Two years later, Long Beach will revisit ways to keep kids out of gangs, with a three-part series called "Enough is Enough ... Revisited."
The Press-Telegram, the Long Beach Gang Violence Prevention Task Force and Charter Cable have joined forces to present the all-new program, which will air on six local cable channels from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
"Enough is Enough ... Revisited" will examine the state of the city's youth, touching upon early childhood education and workforce development.
An estimated 5,000 youths are registered in Long Beach's official gang database, said Lydia Hollie, chair of the Long Beach Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Task Force.
"Now we have a greater public awareness in the community," said Hollie,, adding that the number of known gang members has dropped from 6,000 in 2003. "The community at large recognizes that there's more to this issue than just locking people up and throwing away the key."
While the original "Enough is Enough" was an emotional, community-wide dialogue, "Enough is Enough ... Revisited" will focus on key issues to prevent youth from going in the wrong direction.
"We hope the program can inspire people to pay attention to the issue," said Long Beach Human Dignity Officer Melissa Morgan.
The first part of the series, which airs on Thursday, takes a look at early childhood education and violence in schools.
High school students and members of the community will express their concerns during a panel discussion moderated by KPCC 89.3 FM "AirTalk" host Larry Mantel, with Mayor Bob Foster and Police Chief Anthony Batts, Hollie, LBUSD Assistant Superintendent Maggie Webster, and Wilson High School senior Harry Koulos.
"If you look at the crime statistics, the good news here is that major crime in this city has been cut in half in the last 10 years," said Mayor Bob Foster at the panel discussion, which aired June 1 on KPCC. "But there are significant parts of the city where gangs and gang violence remain a substantial problem."
Focusing on youth development, Friday's segment will feature real-life stories from four former gang members whose injuries from gang shootings have left them wheelchair-bound.
"You'll see statistics that you read about," said Andrew Romero, former Long Beach youth development specialist and co-chair of the second segment. "You hear about the consequences of gang activity, but these young men have lived it."
The final part of the series will focus on job development for youth, with emphasis on the Youth Opportunity Center at 3477 Atlantic Ave.
The government-funded center provides year-round assistance in job coaching, resume development, interview skills and long-term employment.
Along with man-on-the-street interviews asking youth about their job experience, the segment will also show footage from the Workforce Development Bureau's Summer Opportunities Fair at the Long Beach Convention Center on May 30.
The fair helped youth ages 16-24 find summer jobs with employers such as the Queen Mary, the DMV and the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra.
"Kids have the opportunity to get valuable work experience and build upon their skills," said Cecile Harris Walters, coordinator for the Center for Working Families in Long Beach. "We know for certain that a job is a deterrent to gang activity."
The name "Enough is Enough" was coined from a series of P-T articles that ran from 2003 through 2004.
The series began with an Oct. 22, 2003 article about two young Cambodian men, Vouthy Tho and Marine Lance Cpl. Sok Khak Ung, who were killed when an unknown gunman leaned over a fence and shot them at backyard barbecue.
In an emotional plea to the City Council, more than 100 members of the Cambodian community later gathered at an anti-violence rally.
"We as a newspaper, were getting tired of reporting on all the deaths and gang shootings," said Rich Archbold, executive editor of the P-T. "We wanted to embark on a campaign that would be long-term, and help in any way we could to make a difference."
The P-T joined forces with the Gang Violence Prevention Task Force, Leadership Long Beach and Charter Cable to create the 2005 marathon telecast "Enough is Enough."
Charter Communications won two awards for the program - a Beacon Award, considered to be cable's highest award for public affairs excellence, and a Golden Palm Award from the Southern California Chapter of CTAM.
The city hopes "Enough is Enough ... Revisited," will have the same success.
"This is an issue that has not gone away," said Craig Watson, vice president of communication for Charter Communication in Long Beach. "While there certainly has been significant improvements in crime stats in Long Beach, we still have children being hurt and children feeling unsafe. `Enough is Enough ... Revisited' aims to keep this issue in the mind's eye of the community."
"Enough is Enough ... Revisited" will air on Charter Cable channels 3, 8, 15, 17, 18, 24, and public access channels 67, 69 and 95.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Indian Reservation Reeling in Wave of Youth Suicides and Attempt
June 9, 2007
By Evelyn Nieves
The two suicides struck the Rosebud Sioux Reservation like a random virus. No one saw them coming.
The young man, 19 years old, played varsity football and basketball at Todd County High School. He was admired across the reservation, in that way small towns follow and celebrate their teenage athletes. The girl, weeks shy of her 14th birthday, made straight A’s at Todd County Middle School, played volleyball and basketball and led a traditional Lakota drum corps.
They hanged themselves. This happened at the end of a particularly brutal two and a half months, from Jan. 1 to March 13, when tribal authorities were called to three suicides and scores of attempts. The next day, with the reservation (population 13,000) reeling, tribal officials declared a state of emergency.
Since then, a woman in her early 20s killed herself with pills, and scores more young people have tried to kill themselves — a total of 144 so far this year, at doctors’ best count; the computer used for recordkeeping was down for six weeks. In May, seven youths who tried hanging, poisoning or slashing themselves to death were admitted to the reservation hospital in one 24-hour period.
What is happening at Rosebud is all too common throughout Indian Country. American Indian and Alaska Native youth 15 to 24 years old are committing suicide at a rate more than three times the national average for their age group of 13 per 100,000 people, according to the surgeon general. Often, one suicide leads to another. For these youths, suicide has become the second-leading cause of death (after accidents). In the Great Plains, the suicide rate among Indian youth is the worst: 10 times the national average.
Here at Rosebud, when six high school girls were approached at the Boys and Girls Club one recent afternoon for their reactions to the suicides, four said they had tried suicide. The four compared notes on their methods — two slashed their wrists, two overdosed on pills — and their motives. “There are a lot of reasons,” said Areina Young, a 16-year-old cheerleader at Todd County High who overdosed on sleeping pills and codeine in February. “We have a lot of issues.”
Plains reservations are among the poorest places in the country, with all of poverty’s consequences. But the why of the suicide phenomenon — why American Indian youth, why the Great Plains — is complicated, experts say. The traumas Plains tribes have experienced over the last 175 years — massacres like the one at Wounded Knee, the decimation of their land and culture — are part of it.
“Very generally, adolescence is a time of trouble for all youths,” said Philip May, a professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico who has been studying suicide among American Indians for more than 35 years. “But in many American Indian communities, it’s compounded by limited opportunities, historical trauma and contemporary discrimination. The way the Lakota people and other Plains tribes have experienced history in the last 100 years has reduced the mental health factors that are available to them to cope.”
Tribal leaders at Rosebud took a survey of Todd County students in March. The students’ biggest complaint was that they did not feel safe for fear of gangs. They said that they had no refuge, that their parents were not present, and that they saw too much tragedy, alcoholism and hopelessness.
In response, tribal and community leaders have redoubled their efforts to stem the reservation’s gang problem. They have organized after-school programs, sponsored talks by motivational speakers and made school counselors widely available.
At the same time, schools and the community at large are not commemorating those that kill themselves, said Victoria Sherman, the principal at Todd County High School. She refused, she said, to allow an elaborate memorial during this year’s graduation for a student who killed himself last year on graduation day. “We don’t want to encourage desperate acts,” Ms. Sherman said.
Federal lawmakers are also beginning to address the problem. Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, recently introduced a bill to combat child abuse and Indian youth suicide. The legislation would provide increased resources for suicide prevention training and treatment.
With few places for students on this sprawling reservation to congregate — some commute as far as 40 miles each way to school — the Boys and Girls Club, a former bowling alley, opened before it was ready so students could have a place to gather after school.
Rosebud and the neighboring Pine Ridge reservation, using a $400,000 federal grant, have started training community members and school employees in suicide prevention and intervention.
But tribal leaders say they need more concrete help to turn the situation around. The reservation has only four full-time mental health professionals, and two are leaving soon, said the Rosebud tribal president, Rodney Bordeaux.
“We did the emergency declaration because we needed to get attention,” Mr. Bordeaux said. “We’re saying, we need more funding, more help, now.”
Health services are seriously underfinanced on reservations nationwide. For over a decade, Congress has failed to reauthorize a law that would increase aid.
Officially, three youths at Rosebud committed suicide last year and 193 tried. But not all suicides or attempts involve calls to the police, officials here said.
The group of girls who had attempted suicide said they all knew others who had tried several times.
“A lot of people are just trying to get attention,” Areina Young said.
One girl in the group, a 15-year-old, had swallowed a bottle of Tylenol on April 14 and spent two weeks in the hospital.
“Me, I had a really good explanation,” she said. She started into a horrific story of being raped by her half-brother for years before he was arrested two years ago; of her and her siblings being routinely abandoned for months at a time by their mother, an alcoholic; of her grandmother beating her.
“But now I know that suicide is the permanent solution to temporary problems,” she said. “Counseling really helped me a lot. Put down that we need more counseling. For me, right now, I need it every day.”
HEROIN
'Cheese' may become U.S. priority
But some worry more exposure could lead more youths to drug
June 15, 2007
By Brendan McKenna. The Dallas Morning News
"Cheese," a deadly form of heroin targeted at teenage users, could soon rank alongside marijuana and methamphetamines as a primary focus of federal drug education programs.
Prompted by the more than 20 Dallas County deaths attributed to cheese since 2005, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is pushing legislation that would make the drug – a mix of black tar heroin and cold medicine or sleeping pills – a national priority.
Mr. Cornyn wants heroin, and specifically cheese heroin, added to the list of illegal drugs specifically addressed by education and prevention efforts of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. "This is a real danger to children in the Dallas area and other places," he said Thursday.
He said cheese is of particular concern because it's cheap and children don't realize it's heroin because of the innocuous name. He also cited reports that it has been used as a gang recruitment tool.
Adding cheese to the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, which focuses on preventing drug use among 9- to 18-year-olds, could help keep it from spreading, Mr. Cornyn said.
But not everyone agrees. Some drug experts worry that elevating cheese to a national concern might spread interest in a drug that's primarily just a problem in Dallas County at this point.
"You could inadvertently end up with a double-edged sword," said Jeremy Liebbe, an officer with the Dallas Independent School District police. "National news media coverage of cheese has pros and cons. It could inadvertently create curiosity.
"You get a lot of drug phenomenon that pop up in the country that die out," he added.
The White House Office of Drug Control Policy also sees cheese heroin as a serious but local problem that might be better addressed through parental education than through anti-drug advertisements in a national campaign.
"How do you raise awareness of a problem without informing teens that would not otherwise have become aware of the threat?" said Jennifer de Vallance, a spokeswoman for the office. "The campaign is designed to be national in scope, largely focused on substance abuse in general but also addressing the substances teens most often use."
The campaign focuses mainly on marijuana, prescription drug abuse and underage drinking, Ms. de Vallance said. It targets methamphetamines in regions of the country where use is highest.
"Cheese is a significant threat in Dallas and one that needs to be dealt with aggressively," she said. "But there are probably more cost-effective ways to deal with it than one of a national scope like the media campaign.
"We will make sure we do all we can at every level to make sure the problem doesn't spread and the problem in Dallas is reduced," she added.
So far, cheese heroin hasn't spread past the Dallas region, said Steve Robertson, a Washington-based special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. But "it wouldn't take long to spread," he said.
Cheese heroin, flavored methamphetamines such as "strawberry quick" and other drugs aimed at young users are of special concern to the DEA, Agent Robertson said.
"Cheese and strawberry quick are classic examples of how drug traffickers take their poisons and change the appearance, color, taste or name" to market to teens and younger children, he said. "No matter how they package it, no matter how they try to change it, cheese is heroin, and it can destroy your life."
CALIFORNIA
Palomar College amps up outreach efforts
June 9, 2007
By Noelle Ibrahim, NCTimes.com
Palomar College is testing several new programs aimed at easing the transition from high school to college for the roughly 1,700 incoming freshmen who arrive each fall.
The college has been looking for new ways this year to connect with local students from Palomar's 40 feeder high schools, officials said last week.
"It's important to reach out to youth and the students of tomorrow," said Berta Cuaron, vice president of instruction at Palomar. "Ultimately, (high school) students are the future of Palomar."
The college has implemented a program that gives high school juniors and seniors an early taste of college, as well as an enhanced orientation session designed to make freshmen feel more welcome.
"It's very important in the long term to have people become familiar with the community college and see what a viable option it is," Palomar President Bob Deegan said last week. "We just want to strengthen relationships within the community to ease the transition from high school to college to the four-year university."
The new programs are garnering praise from local high school administrators and faculty.
"Whenever we can collaborate, it's a win-win situation for everyone involved," said Cherryl Baker, a counselor at Mission Hills High School in San Marcos. Baker said that on average, at least 40 percent of the school's graduating seniors start immediately at a community college. "The more exposure our students have to college, the more they see college can be a reality for them."
Putting students at ease
To help freshmen get off to a good start, Palomar College has enhanced its orientation process with an Early Acceptance Program.
Last Saturday, 640 seniors from high schools throughout the county toured the campus, asked questions and registered for fall classes ahead of the rest of Palomar's roughly 31,000 students, said Lynda Halttunen, Palomar's dean of counseling services. Participating students were invited to campus after they took the college's assessment test.
It was the first of five such orientation sessions, which are modeled after similar ones at four-year universities, Halttunen said.
"We're trying to ease the transition between high school and college," said Diane McAllister, coordinator of assessment and school relations at Palomar College. "The main thing is to let students know there are people who are here to help."
While Palomar has always offered priority registration to incoming freshmen who take assessment tests at their high schools, only about 50 percent of those students take advantage of it, Halttunen said. She said that's because previously, students were not brought to campus to register and would often become overwhelmed or forget.
"By bringing students on campus and demystifying the process, hopefully we'll make Palomar a more friendly, welcoming place," she said.
Freshmen who enroll in their first-choice classes via priority registration are happier with their schedules and tend to stay for the full semester, Halttunen said.
"That first semester is critical for students," said Cuaron, adding that early success is an indicator of a student's ability to make it through the college system. "They need to feel comfortable, welcomed and be in the right foundational classes."
A new experience
This fall, about 30 juniors and seniors from Westview, Rancho Bernardo, Mt. Carmel and Poway high schools will get a jump start on their college careers by completing their schoolwork on Palomar's main campus in San Marcos, said Deegan.
Known in academic circles as a "middle college," the partnership with the Poway Unified School District will familiarize students with a college atmosphere and allow them to earn college credits before graduating high school.
Students will enroll in a minimum of six college credits of their choosing in the mornings and spend afternoons taking required high school classes taught by a Poway Unified teacher in a Palomar classroom, said Cuaron.
"It provides an alternative learning opportunity for juniors or seniors who have pretty much completed their high school credits and are looking for that next challenge in their education," said Cuaron. "The students are taking courses right along with college students and can really begin to explore their career interests."
Students who participate in the program will be well on their way to completing an associate degree or preparing for transfer to a four-year university, said Deegan.
"We're very excited about it," he said, adding that the college is hoping to explore a similar partnership with the Escondido Union High School District.
Reaching out to Latinos
Recently designated a "Hispanic-serving" institution by the federal government, Palomar is reaching out to Latino high school students in an effort to make them more aware that attending college is an attainable goal, said Mary San Agustin, director of financial aid, veterans and scholarship services.
Launched this spring, the Financial Aid Mentor-Latino Outreach Project offers assistance to Latino students in San Marcos and Escondido high schools who need help navigating community college applications and financial aid paperwork.
Palomar created the mentoring program after noticing that many Latino students from local high schools were taking noncredit classes to avoid paying the $26-per-unit fee, which indicated that they were interested in pursuing higher education but considered money an obstacle, San Agustin said.
"There are still kids out there who rule out college because of a lack of information," she said, adding that Latinos are typically underrepresented in institutions of higher education. Currently, Latino students make up 28 percent of Palomar's total student population, officials said.
"We want to make them more aware of the possibilities beyond noncredit classes, and we want to make sure money is not the barrier," said San Agustin.
As part of the program, five bilingual Palomar student-mentors help students at Escondido, San Marcos and Mission Hills high schools understand what types of financial aid are available, what they qualify for and how to fill out complex paperwork required to receive aid.
The goal is to reach out to students as early as possible, so that they are not intimidated by the process of applying and seeking aid, San Agustin said.
"We want to say, 'Education is for you,' " she said. "The earlier and better we educate the kids, the more we can prepare them for the challenges of college and help them become contributing members of society."
MOVIES
PG-13 Films Not Safe For Kids, Researchers Say
June 8, 2007
University of California
PG-13 films have lots of "happy violence," say UCLA researchers. Borrowing from the late communications theorist George Gerbner, happy violence is that which is "cool, swift and painless." PG-13 films don't consider the consequences of violent acts, such as injury, death and the shattered lives of the people involved.
And why this matters is simple, says Theresa Webb, a researcher with the department of epidemiology and the Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center at UCLA's School of Public Health: Youth violence is a commonplace occurrence in American society. Homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. And media depictions of violence help teach such acts to children, leading to three effects — increased aggression, fear for their own safety, and a desensitization to the pain and suffering of others.
In a study published in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics, Webb and her colleagues report that in a sample of 77 PG-13 rated films, they recorded a total of 2,251 violent actions, with almost half resulting in death. Although a small subset of this content contained violence that was associated with negative effects such as pain and suffering, only one film —"Pay It Forward," in which the young hero is stabbed to death — contained violence that would demonstrate to youthful viewers how horrific violence can be.
"Violence permeated nearly 90 percent of the films in this study," Webb said. "And while the explanations and causes of youth violence are very complex, the evidence is clear that media depictions of violence contribute to the teaching of violence.
"This is especially true in our society, where the average young person's engagement with visual media in all its forms can run to as many as eight hours a day."
The researchers sampled all the PG-13 rated films from among the 100 top-grossing movies of 1999 and 2000, as established by the Hollywood Reporter. To obtain their results, the researchers coded each act of violence and the context in which it was presented based on features known to put violence in a good or bad light. Such features include the motivation for violence, the presence of weapons, the consequences of violence and the degree of realism — cartoonish, fantasy violence is less influential than a hero punching the villain in the face to resolve a problem.
Thus, the violence in "The Mummy," for example, is less influential than that shown in the James Bond film "The World Is Not Enough."
The findings follow up on a 2005 study the researchers conducted that looked at movie violence in all ratings categories established by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). In that study, they found that parents using the ratings system to gauge movie content receive little meaningful guidance related to violent content.
This time around, the researchers selected the PG-13 category because it has become a repository for action films.
"These films," said Webb, "are often the largest budgeted ones made by the Hollywood film industry and have also been found to be equally, if not more, violent than R-rated films."
Webb faults Hollywood, which she says disavows any connection to education and insists that its only commitment is to transport and entertain viewers but in no way to edify or transform them.
"That's a cop-out," Webb said. "The science is clear that viewers do, in fact, learn from entertainment media. Indeed, popular films can act as powerful teachers engaging children and youths emotionally, even physiologically, in ways that teachers in classrooms could only hope."
Even worse, Webb noted, the MPAA ratings system, which runs from G for general audiences to NC-17 (under 17 not admitted), has in recent years been subject to "ratings creep."
"Ten years ago, a film that would have been rated R is now being rated PG-13," she said.
So what is a parent to do? Webb notes there are Web sites that give more comprehensive reviews of violence (and sex) in the movies than the MPAA ratings. These include Kids-in-Mind (http://www.kids-in-mind.com), PSV Ratings (http://www.familymediaguide.com/index.html) and Screen It! (http://www.screenit.com/subscribers/movies/2007/subscriber_sample2.asp).
She and her colleagues caution parents against allowing unsupervised viewing of films, call on pediatricians and public health professionals to continue their advocacy role for a more child-friendly media environment, and, most of all, urge the film industry and its rating board to recognize that their medium does indeed have an influence on young viewers. (The MPAA does not define its rating system as scientific or objective but as a collective judgment from a group of parents.)
Funding for the study was provided by a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other study authors included Lucille Jenkins, Nickolas Browne, Abdelmonem A. Afifi and Jess Kraus, all of UCLA.
DISCONNECTED YOUTH
How to Reach America's Disconnected Youth - Just Listen New Report Answers Old Questions
If the key to understanding is listening, then-Listen up!
June 11, 2007
PRNewswire-USNeswire
"Listening to the Voices and Aspirations of Disconnected Youth," a new report released by The Youth Development and Research Fund (YDRF) takes a candid look at America's current drop-out situation from the perspective that matters the most-disconnected youth.
The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University estimates that one out of every four African-Americans and one out of five Latinos between the ages of 16-25, are not in school, jobless, and on the street.
Focus groups were conducted with disconnected youth in five cities (Madera, CA; Fresno, CA; Dallas, TX; Gaithersburg, MD; and Baltimore, MD). In these cities, the youth engaged in open and honest discussion regarding the reasons why such a large number of youth are out-of-school and jobless, and why they have little motivation towards changing this growing epidemic. Their candor provides insight into their lack of faith in the current educational and job training programs, by shedding light on the reasons for their resistance to returning to these programs. Written by Edward DeJesus, this report speaks directly to the parents, programs, and schools who are trying to get youth back on the road to greater success, offering ideas for policy changes that will spark greater interest in disengaged youth. Some of the included recommendations are:
- Strategically demonstrate evidence of engagement, collaborations, and positive outcomes
- Provide monetary incentives
- Secure credible endorsements
- Transform the program
- Provide meaningful transferable work experience
- Provide effective substance abuse and metal health services
- Build motivational triggers
- Alter traditional hours of operation
- Understand youth culture and methods to utilize it to address insidious behaviors and values.
Parents, Programs and Schools are trying to get youth to go back to, and stay in, school but the truth is many young adults just don't want to go. "The payoff from education is tremendous," states report writer, Edward DeJesus. "Yet, the reasons behind the high number of young adults who disregard education and employment opportunities and engage in less productive activities has baffled educators and parents for years. We think this report will spark ideas on what policy and practice needs to do to engage those who have been hard to engage."
For a copy of the report visit: http://www.ydrf.com/.
CALIFORNIA
Oakland Youth Violence Testimony Given
By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, Berkeley Daily Planet
Members of the Assembly Select Committee On Youth Violence Prevention brought their third and final hearing to Oakland last week, hearing hours of expert testimony before an overflow crowd at the Port of Oakland boardroom on Friday on strategies that have been used to address and attack one of California’s most pressing problems.
Hearings had previously been held in Los Angeles and Salinas.
In addition to being charged with production of a “tool kit” of what Committee Chair Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) calls “successful, tested approaches that have been effective in reducing youth violence,” the committee is rushing to make recommendations requested by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez to be included in the fiscal year 2007-08 budget. Caballero said Friday that one of the goals of the select committee “is to align state resources with local resources, and to get targeted resources into the neighborhoods that need them the most.”
The Oakland hearing was hosted by Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland), one of two local members of the Select Committee. The other local legislator on the committee is Berkeley Assemblymember Loni Hancock. Several national, state, and local lawmakers were in attendance to hear the testimony, including Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-Oakland).
Lee told the gathering that “the lack of a support system for our youth leads to a life of violence in many cases. The shootings at Virginia Tech got a lot of national attention, but you and I know that shootings go on in our communities every day, and go unnoticed.”
The congressmember said that the national government is setting a bad example for youth, saying that “unfortunately, when our young people see their own government using violence to solve problems around the world, they believe it’s correct to do the same thing in their neighborhoods. Our young people have to see our government using diplomacy and conflict resolution itself in order to know that there are alternatives to violence.”
Lee also accused the Bush administration of “being downright hostile to the needs of youth,” citing the fact that the administration has steadily eliminated funds for education programs. With the election of a Democratic majority in Congress, she said that “we are now slowly beginning to undue the damage done over the last 12 years.”
Swanson said that “we have to show it is unacceptable to spend $10 billion on the state prison system when we can spend less and put that money into prevention strategies.” Swanson called the situation for many youth in the area “terrifying.”
And Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson called Oakland “unfortunately, the epicenter of youth violence. We are only scratching the surface of this epidemic.”
The four-hour Oakland hearing had a far different atmosphere from Assembly or State Senate hearings on bills held in Sacramento, where testimony is often rushed through while committees seek to pack in votes on several pieces of legislation in one session.
At the Port of Oakland session, committee members appeared to be more interesting in gathering information than in finding out the “for or against” positions on specific legislation, and expert testimony was often interrupted as legislators asked for clarification.
Most of the people testifying either talked of recently growing up in violence-plagued communities themselves or gave long résumés of working in youth violence-prevention programs.
The most memorable exchange came during the first panel on violence prevention strategies in early childhood education, parent education, and after school programs when Angie Darling, Coordinator of the Alameda County Childcare Planning Counsel, said that neglect and abuse of children at an early age begins a downward spiral that can lead to a life of violence, making the startling revelation that the yearly rate of expulsion of pre-school students in the State of California is three times the K-12 expulsion rate.
That prompted Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), a committee member, to Darling with a startled look on her face and ask, “What did you just say?” Other committee members appeared startled as well.
When Darling repeated her statement at the request of Caballero, the committee chair asked, a little incredulously, “in our state it’s possible to expel a child from pre-school? I’m flabbergasted. That’s a prescription for failure, to tell a 3-year-old ‘you don’t belong with the other children.”
And Congressmember Lee, to the applause of others in the room, broke in, “Let me just say one thing, there should be a law against that.”
One solution was advanced by Demetria Hutson, Program Director of the Peacekeeping Team of Youth Uprising, who talked of growing up on Seminary Avenue, calling herself “an authentic Oakland girl.” She said the background of the five-member Peacekeeping Team “who know the streets and are known on the streets; all of us have street handles and know everybody else’s street handle,” is crucial to their success. “Somebody can come up and tell me that Bo-Bo got into a fight with Cee-Cee, and I can say, yeah, I know Cee-Cee’s cousin. I can talk to them.”
Hutson said that the Youth Uprising five-member Peacemaking Team concentrates on intervening in potentially-dangerous neighborhood or family disputes before they get out of hand. “Homicides in Oakland are not happening because some Hannibal Lector character is jumping out of the bushes with a knife and stabbing people to death. It’s happening largely because of conflicts in ongoing relationships that have not been resolved,” she said. “Sometimes the victims live right across the street from the perpetrators.”
Hutson said the situation in some of Oakland’s most violent neighborhoods is so volatile that “sometimes these conflicts escalate from zero to 60 in a moment.”
Other testimony was provided by local organizations and agencies, including the Prevention Institution, Fight Crime: Invest In Kids, Youth Alive, Project Re-Connect, Girls Justice Initiative, the Alameda County Probation Department, the Alameda County Board of Education, the Cypress Mandela Training, Acts Full Gospel Church Men of Valor Academy, Oakland Community Organization, the Ella Baker Center, the Oakland Police Department, and the office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.
A full report and recommendations from the committee is expected later this year.
TEXAS
TYC reform legislation is signed by Perry
June 8, 2007
By Lisa Sandberg, Mysanantonio.com
Less than five months after a sex abuse scandal rocked the Texas Youth Commission, Gov. Rick Perry on Friday signed into law sweeping changes that will make the agency smaller, safer, more transparent and accountable.
"This legislation will change the broken culture at the youth commission so that it can fulfill its mission of rehabilitating troubled youth," Perry said in a statement.
Many of the reforms called for in Senate Bill 103 — improved staff-to-offender ratios, independent outside oversight, segregation of older youth from younger youth — already have begun to be implemented. The new law, which takes immediate effect, will create "a new beginning" for the troubled agency, said the bill's author, Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen. The provisions include:
Closing TYC to misdemeanor offenders, and to youths 19 and older. Misdemeanor offenders will now be dealt with by local authorities; TYC youths who reach 19 will either be released or sent to an adult prison.
Maintaining a ratio of one correctional officer for every 12 inmates, roughly half what was in place at the start of the year.
Creating an independent inspector general's office to investigate alleged abuses and an ombudsman's office to advocate for youth and their families. Both offices already are running.
The reforms were drafted in the wake of a sex abuse scandal that began at a remote West Texas facility in February and quickly mushroomed to include far-flung facilities and agency headquarters. Reports surfaced of youth being sexually abused and beaten by staff, and of agency officials doing little or nothing to stop the reported abuses.
In March, the governor appointed Jay Kimbrough as temporary conservator.
On Friday, Kimbrough, a former Marine, said his mission was accomplished. He would be returning to the Texas A&M University System, where he was recently hired as deputy chancellor.
"We brought order to a situation that was out of order. We set a course now that will take things in a new direction," Kimbrough said on his last day.
Replacing Kimbrough is Ed Owens, the agency's acting executive director.
In the three months since Kimbrough took over, the agency's inmate population has been reduced from 4,000 to 3,150; and at least 93 agency employees have either resigned or been terminated, including 66 convicted felons. Agency spokesman Jim Hurley said the most dramatic change has been among the executive staff. Of the 15 or so people who ran the agency at the highest levels, Hurley said, only one or two remain.
As the governor was issuing a press release announcing Owen's appointment, the Texas Attorney General announced that a former guard at the Ron Jackson Juvenile Correctional Center in Brownwood had been indicted Thursday in Brown County for providing drugs to an inmate.
Both the former guard, Henry Ruben Firth Jr., 29, and inmate Daniel Ochoa Jr., 20, face one count of possessing a prohibited substance in a correctional facility, a third degree felony.
CONGRESS
Girl Scouts, Bono To Support Children's Health
Emaxhealth.com
Girl Scouts of the USA and Congresswoman Mary Bono joined forces on the issue of children's health by urging Congress to support the Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act (IMPACT Act), H.R. 2677.
The bill, which was introduced today by Bono and Congresswomen Nita M. Lowey (NY-18), Kay Granger (TX-12) and Congressman Jim Ramstad (MN-3), encourages cross-sector collaborations for improving the health of young people and ensures that community partnerships approach youth health comprehensively by addressing physical activity, nutrition and emotional wellness.
"This bill takes the critical step necessary to support health services that address the looming crisis of eating disorders and obesity, especially among America's youth," expressed Bono. "This legislation will provide the tools necessary to support partnerships between our academic institutions and organizations that are working to promote the dangers of obesity and eating disorders. Our inability to address the poor health of our citizens will escalate the continued trend in rising health care costs."
More than seven hundred young and adult Girl Scout representatives met with legislators today on Capitol Hill to advance the issue of healthy living among girls as part of GSUSA's Congressional Advocacy Day. Today's meetings encouraged support for the IMPACT Act. Congressional Advocacy Day is part of a six-day celebration in Washington, D.C. honoring GSUSA's 95th anniversary as the premier leadership development program for girls. The celebration began on Saturday with a sing-along for more than 120,000 Girl Scouts on the National Mall and culminates tomorrow at a meeting for Girl Scout council representatives from around the country.
"We applaud Congresswomen Bono and Lowey for their commitment to the issue of children's health," said Kathy Cloninger, CEO of GSUSA. "Girls are telling us to help them lead healthy lives, and we believe all sectors must be involved in creating solutions."
"We have the power to set kids on a path of healthy living for life," Lowey said. "While individuals bear responsibility for what they eat and how much they exercise, I strongly believe that parents, health professionals, educators, the food industry, and policy makers all have a responsibility to promote healthy living and eating habits."
Based on findings from the Girl Scout Research Institute and its long- standing commitment to girls, GSUSA has identified two key principles on healthy living: 1) policy solutions should embrace a holistic definition of health rather than focusing on a single aspect of children's health; and 2) community-based organizations that serve youth, including the Girl Scouts, should be seen as vital partners in developing solutions that serve youth because schools cannot address this issue alone. Girl Scouts of the USA currently offers more than 60 badges related to healthy living and has supported physical activity for girls since 1913, when Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low offered badges in swimming, cycling and horsemanship.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Law signed cracking down on gangs
Legislation aimed at prosecuting members, curbing recruitment
The gangs recruit in elementary schools.
During brief, brutal initiation rituals, boys looking to join are stomped and punched for 30 seconds. Girls who want in get cut with knives or razors or have sex with male gang members.
With at least 340 gangs in South Carolina, students sporting gang colors in schools and gang-related arrests on the rise, officials and anti-gang activists on Tuesday applauded a new slate of measures aimed at prosecuting gang members and curbing their ability to recruit new members.
"It's really sad we're here. Yet the tragic reality is that gang activity is real," Gov. Mark Sanford said at a ceremony where he signed the measure into law. "It's a real reminder of how there's good and evil in this world."
The new law gives the state grand jury the ability to subpoena gang members and investigate gang activity. It also allows law enforcement to seize gang property and creates a statewide database of gang members.
The legislation also makes it illegal for a gang member to threaten anyone into joining or remaining in a gang or to threaten a witness.
The law was overwhelmingly approved during the legislative session after nine years of defeats because few legislators thought gangs were a problem in this largely rural state. Increases in the number of gang-related arrests and escalating evidence of gang crime helped to finally ease its passage.
"Each legislator had to see for himself that the problem affected their community," said Sen. Jake Knotts, R-West Columbia, a retired law enforcement officer who introduced the idea in 1998.
Knotts' efforts received a boost last fall with the release of a University of South Carolina study that found that gangs are spreading from South Carolina cities into rural areas and that police have been slow to acknowledge the growing problem.
The study recommended that legislators pass comprehensive gang control laws, as most other states have.
The anti-gang measure became a key component of an anti-crime package drafted by a Senate study panel, created last August in response to rising violent crime in South Carolina cities.
"Law enforcement can now nip the gang menace in the bud," said Knotts, a panel member, who spoke with The Associated Press on Tuesday from a convention in Puerto Rico.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the bill won't make gangs go away, but it will help.
There are at least 340 gangs in South Carolina with 2,000 known members, said State Law Enforcement Chief Robert Stewart. He expects the numbers to grow much larger as law enforcement begins collecting information for the gang database.
A Columbia Police Department gang task force has arrested more than 300 gang members since it formed less than three years ago, said Chief Dean Crisp. Just last month, Columbia officers arrested 16 members of the Bloods gang, he said.
"You can go into different schools and know what gangs they're in if you know gang colors," said the Rev. Michelle Thompson, a manager of Project Gang Out in Columbia, a nonprofit that seeks to keep youth out of gangs or help them get out.
Thompson applauded the new penalties for gang intimidation and said they could act as a deterrent. But she said anti-gang measures also should include education, mentoring and social programs to teach hardened youth how to cope outside a gang and give them reasons for leaving that way of life. Otherwise, even prison time won't change their gang involvement, she said.
"The prison system is not a good reformation place," she said. "It can't be all about incarceration."
OREGON
Virtual bullying is all too real, legislators say
School safety - Lawmakers pass a bill requiring districts to combat cyberbullying
June 15, 2007
By Ryan Kost, Oregonlive.com
It starts with a MySpace comment. Maybe it's about a weekend indiscretion or a stolen boyfriend.
Then, like the flu, the cyberbullying spreads. Everybody has read it, and a student is in tears.
Cyberbullying -- when a nasty text message or online bulletin replaces a punch to the gut -- is a growing problem, said Kevin Blackwell, a social worker stationed at Hillsboro High School.
"I think I hear about some type of cyberbullying everyday," Blackwell said. "These kids are devastated; it's at such a wide scale."
Blackwell isn't the only one taking notice of this wired take on an old problem. The Oregon Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would require school districts to come up with a game plan for combating digital ruffians.
House Majority Leader Dave Hunt, a Gladstone Democrat, was the driving force behind the measure. Reports from constituents and, he said, some practical experience with his own children convinced him that a statewide call for policy was necessary.
"It's just becoming very apparent how different technology is in school," Hunt said. "We've got to make sure there are clear policies."
House Bill 2637 is an addition to Oregon bullying legislation passed in 2001. Specifically, the bill -- now on its way to the governor's desk -- defines cyberbullying as "the use of any electronic communication device to harass, intimidate or bully." Washington recently passed similar legislation.
It's unfortunate that this problem merits legislation, said Parry Aftab, the director of WiredSafety.org, an online organization that deals with bullying in the digital world. But the fact is, nearly every student she's talked to -- and she says she has talked to thousands -- has been a victim of cyberbullying.
Aftab said she doesn't expect the number of victims to take a nosedive anytime soon.
"It's an epidemic," Aftab said. "If you can give schools the chance and authority to create a policy, then you can do some serious good here."
Some Oregon districts and schools are ahead of the Legislative curve.
Pat Johnson, the principal at Canby High School, tackled an online crisis a year ago. Offensive comments posted on a student's online profile left the public domain and infiltrated the high school.
"It needed to be addressed," he said. "Student safety was becoming an issue."
Identifying the problem is only half the battle. Though schools can punish students for things done and said at school -- if it has caused a significant disruption -- their authority off campus and on the Internet isn't so clear.
"You try to find at what point do we become involved?" Johnson said. "We have to be very careful of that."
This bill treads on the side of "better safe than sorry," by requiring schools to come up with ways to address cyberbullying that happens on campus, near campus, on school buses or at school-related activities. It doesn't bar schools from coming up with stricter policies, said Hunt, the Gladstone Democrat, it simply "establishes a base."
The Oregon School Boards Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon have both signed off on Hunt's legislation. Though lobbyists from both organizations say the original bullying law already covers digital attacks, they said the bill would offer additional guidance.
"Schools are different today than when we were in school," said Jim Green of the association. "This bill will give them a clear definition of what (cyberbullying) is."
Senators who voted against the bill Thursday said they don't think added guidance is necessary. Instead, it's just another step toward education micromanagement, they said in vote explanations on the floor.
Blackwell, the Hillsboro High social worker, also isn't convinced a statewide policy is necessary, however well intentioned. The change has to happen at home as well as at schools, he said. Adults need to be more tech savvy, and they need to take the broken friendships and online fistfights that result from cyberbullying seriously.
"I don't think parents understand how impactful MySpace is, or really what it is," Blackwell said. "It sounds really trivial to us, but to high school kids, relationships are the biggest thing you have."
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