Leaders unveil long-term strategy on youth violence

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A year and a half after the stabbing death of a 15-year-old boy on the streets of Santa Barbara spurred them to action, community leaders unveiled a long-term strategy to ensure combating youth violence remains a top priority.
In addition to creating the position of a coordination czar — someone tasked with essentially running the program — local leaders proposed hiring gang specialists to work at schools and in the community; promoting collaboration among social service providers; and creating a permanent leadership council to provide direction.

“It’s just a first brick in this process,” Police Chief Cam Sanchez said.
The strategy is still slated for further tinkering, refining and clarifying, officials said, and should remain flexible and open to change if and when it receives a final signoff.
Members of the long-term planning committee, a subgroup of those convened by Santa Barbara city officials to address the problem of gangs and youth violence, envision at least one gang specialist stationed at each junior high and high school.
Those specialists would spend time with troubled teens, helping link them to social services and educational support, said Marcelo Lopez, the city’s administrative services director.
They also would be expected to spend a portion of their time working in the community after school hours.
“This isn’t a 9-to-5 type program,” said Bill Batty, executive director of Family Service Agency.
As currently drafted, the strategy also includes the formation of a leadership council and an executive council. Elected officials, foundation officers and representatives from families, youth, universities and the faith community would sit on the leadership council and provide policy direction, secure funding and measure progress.
Top administrators from agencies and groups in the community would sit on the executive council, offering guidance, organizational support and oversight for the coordinator, or head honcho of the program.
That czar of operation would be responsible for identifying gaps in social services, implementing any strategies such as hiring gang specialists, monitoring and reporting results, and working on grant proposals.
Members of the audience attending a meeting of the strategy committee yesterday morning offered their initial suggestions and criticisms of the draft plan.
Several asked for more community representation on the boards in charge of implementing and overseeing the proposal. Others said the gang specialists should be spending less time at school and more time in the neighborhoods.
Potential funding sources identified by the plan include city coffers, nonprofit foundations, school budgets, businesses, and state and federal grants.
Ensuring the strategy remains in existence in perpetuity is critical, Lopez said, explaining that leaders can’t simply react to each crisis and then watch as interest dies off and resources dry up.
He cast the suggested strategy as a five-year pilot program he hopes city and county leaders on the South Coast will endorse in the coming weeks and months.
Even as they discussed a long-term plan of action, officials remained cognizant of the fact that gang violence may never be entirely quashed from the streets of South Coast communities.
“There will be those who continue to live this lifestyle and commit crimes,” Chief Sanchez said. “We’ll deal with them accordingly because that’s how they’re asking to be dealt with.”
And while acknowledging that crime is inevitable, Sheriff Bill Brown said he hopes the plan will address another serious issue: jail overcrowding. He said approximately 40 percent of inmates on any given day are self-identified gang members.
“Gangs are not really a law enforcement problem,” he said. “They are a community problem.”
He said a blended approach that brings in aspects of prevention, intervention and suppression in neighborhood from Carpinteria to Goleta is critical to addressing that community problem.
He also cautioned against expecting youth violence to disappear overnight.
“It took many, many years to get into this problem,” he said. “It’s going to take, in all likelihood, many, many years to get rid of it.”
After more revisions and drafting, the strategy will be finalized and presented to city and county leaders, in addition to stakeholders in the community, to garner endorsements.