The communities surrounding the VIP – Ramona Gardens, Boyle and Lincoln Heights and El Sereno – suffer from a significant level of chronic medical and mental health and violence related diseases that impact the ability of children and families to lead healthy, safe and productive lives. A recent health survey of high school students in the area reported over 35 percent are depressed and experience post-traumatic stress disorder at a greater rate than soldiers returning from Iraq. A sense of hopelessness and lack of future is a pervasive sentiment among the children of this community who have no expectations of escaping adolescence alive. Participants in the governing council of the
VIP Santana House Youth Action Center report few, if any, people in their lives that had expectations of them that included success.
Now is the time to bring change! Evaluations of existing efforts to reduce violence and improve medical and mental health and academic achievements show that the old programs have failed. The City of Los Angeles has discontinued all existing contracts, wiped the slate clean and created a new initiative that will focus on youth development rather than gang suppression. This summer the VIP was awarded a grant from the Mayor’s Office in collaboration with
Barrio Action Youth and Family Center,
Legacy L.A., Lincoln High School, and Murchison Elementary School to create an effective program in the Hollenbeck/Ramona Gardens Gang Reduction Zone in an effort to influence gang involvement.
The goal will be to reach a minimum of 100 youth and their families living in the zone and delivering quality services that will enhance their lives and reduce their gang involvement. VIP services will be offered to children in their schools, like the innovative Between Men/Between Women support groups aimed at reducing dating violence, as well as at the Youth Action Center – a place in the community that is safe and where they can meet other young people who are involved in positive endeavors. At the same time our collaborators will be expanding their own successful programs around the community. In these environments, children will be able to discover their own positive strengths and develop a positive image of their future.
