California Gang Stuff
Posted on Sat, May. 20, 2006
Weaning youths from gangs
State senator, local officials discuss funding, area programs
By GEORGE B. SÁNCHEZ
Herald Salinas Bureau
Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, outgoing state senator and lieutenant governor candidate, was given a candid portrait of youth and violence in Salinas during a public forum Friday.
For three and a half hours, law enforcement officers, school officials and gang prevention experts detailed their work and experiences, coupled with funding needs. Figueroa said she would take her findings back to Sacramento, where she chairs the select committee on children, youth and family.
Ultimately, she said, the forums should help guide financial aid to Salinas and various gang prevention programs.
"It's hard sometimes to make the appropriate decision when you're in an office in Sacramento," Figueroa said, explaining her appearance, which also included local campaigning for Proposition 82.
Proposition 82, promoted by Hollywood producer Rob Reiner, would impose a 1.7 percent tax on individual incomes more than $400,000 a year and couples' incomes more than $800,000 a year to fund a $2.4 billion annual preschool program open to all 4-year-olds.
Friday's appearance was the second of three statewide community forums. Last week, Figueroa held a similar meeting at Los Angeles City Hall. On Monday, she and her assistant, Salinas High School alumnus Brian Figenshaw, will do the same in Oakland.
Across the board, people at the Salinas forum said a lack of funding has undercut gang prevention and suppression efforts. Cmdr. Dino Bardoni, speaking on behalf of the Monterey County Gang Task Force, said that federal funding for the task force is half gone but that it hopes to add an officer from Soledad and Seaside in the future.
Funding levels change with the political direction at local, state and federal levels, said Brian Contreras, executive director of Second Chance Family and Youth Services, a nonprofit gang prevention agency.
"What we really need is not a political battle during an election period but serious long-term commitment," Contreras said.
Alisal Union School District Superintendent Ruben Pulido and Assistant Superintendent Rebecca Salinas asked the senator for funds for after-school programs and school counselors.
Of the district's 7,300 students, Pulido said, 87 percent are English language learners and 40 percent are migrants, but there are only five school psychiatrists for the entire district. One-third of the school's student population comes from families that earn less than $17,000 a year.
Bardoni said there are 3,000 registered gang members or associates in Salinas and 5,000 in Monterey County. Responding to a question from Figueroa, he said kids can be lost to those gangs when they become disrespectful, commit to a criminal life or come from gang families.
Noting that gang violence is not exclusive to Salinas, Bardoni said lack of acknowledgement from other communities in the county -- which he attributes to denial, small town mentality, fear of affecting tourism and multi-generation gang families -- exacerbates gang problems. And he said the task force and local law enforcement found it necessary at times to use criminal informants, who are sometimes paid.
Antonio Avalos, executive director of Salinas Barrios Unidos, told Figueroa that uniform approaches to gang intervention don't work statewide, much less locally, because each school and neighborhood is unique. When programs like Barrios Unidos lose funding, it can have profound effects on Salinas youths, Avalos said.
"There's really nothing for young people," Avalos said. "If you start a program and suddenly stop, you leave the kids hanging."
Luis Diaz, a volunteer at Barrios Unidos, said when funding dries up, it sends a mixed message to the community, hurting the credibility of intervention groups and putting in doubt commitments by politicians and government officials to end gang violence.
"If the government can give money for positive change, we could do the work that is needed," Diaz said, "but when the funding disappears, you have to ask yourself if anyone really wants things to change."
Avalos brought up law enforcement's practice of housing inmates who are not gang members with gang members, in county jail and the state's prison system.
There are more gang associates and sympathizers than there are gang members, Avalos said, but once they are placed in county jail, they are classified as a gang member and housed with gang members. Upon release, those same inmates must register as gang members with police.
"Those things have to change," Avalos said. "If they don't, then we're a part of the (gang) recruiting process."
Figueroa began the forum by saying she was familiar with violence and dependence spawned by poverty, noting that her two brothers were heroin addicts who spent time in prison.
"These youth in violent situations are the brothers of many of us, even state senators," Figueroa said.
The daughter of El Salvadoran immigrants, Figueroa was invited to Salinas by Mayor Anna Caballero, who is running for Assembly.
"We know federal funds won't do it alone," Figueroa said, addressing financial needs. "You need a partnership with the state. That's why we're here."
When the forum concluded, she said: "We don't have to be building new prisons. We can be sending you that money instead."
Figueroa urged citizens to hold their elected officials accountable for promises of funding youth programs, and gang prevention, intervention and suppression.
George B. Sánchez can be reached at 753-6771 or gesánchez@montereyherald.
Weaning youths from gangs
State senator, local officials discuss funding, area programs
By GEORGE B. SÁNCHEZ
Herald Salinas Bureau
Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, outgoing state senator and lieutenant governor candidate, was given a candid portrait of youth and violence in Salinas during a public forum Friday.
For three and a half hours, law enforcement officers, school officials and gang prevention experts detailed their work and experiences, coupled with funding needs. Figueroa said she would take her findings back to Sacramento, where she chairs the select committee on children, youth and family.
Ultimately, she said, the forums should help guide financial aid to Salinas and various gang prevention programs.
"It's hard sometimes to make the appropriate decision when you're in an office in Sacramento," Figueroa said, explaining her appearance, which also included local campaigning for Proposition 82.
Proposition 82, promoted by Hollywood producer Rob Reiner, would impose a 1.7 percent tax on individual incomes more than $400,000 a year and couples' incomes more than $800,000 a year to fund a $2.4 billion annual preschool program open to all 4-year-olds.
Friday's appearance was the second of three statewide community forums. Last week, Figueroa held a similar meeting at Los Angeles City Hall. On Monday, she and her assistant, Salinas High School alumnus Brian Figenshaw, will do the same in Oakland.
Across the board, people at the Salinas forum said a lack of funding has undercut gang prevention and suppression efforts. Cmdr. Dino Bardoni, speaking on behalf of the Monterey County Gang Task Force, said that federal funding for the task force is half gone but that it hopes to add an officer from Soledad and Seaside in the future.
Funding levels change with the political direction at local, state and federal levels, said Brian Contreras, executive director of Second Chance Family and Youth Services, a nonprofit gang prevention agency.
"What we really need is not a political battle during an election period but serious long-term commitment," Contreras said.
Alisal Union School District Superintendent Ruben Pulido and Assistant Superintendent Rebecca Salinas asked the senator for funds for after-school programs and school counselors.
Of the district's 7,300 students, Pulido said, 87 percent are English language learners and 40 percent are migrants, but there are only five school psychiatrists for the entire district. One-third of the school's student population comes from families that earn less than $17,000 a year.
Bardoni said there are 3,000 registered gang members or associates in Salinas and 5,000 in Monterey County. Responding to a question from Figueroa, he said kids can be lost to those gangs when they become disrespectful, commit to a criminal life or come from gang families.
Noting that gang violence is not exclusive to Salinas, Bardoni said lack of acknowledgement from other communities in the county -- which he attributes to denial, small town mentality, fear of affecting tourism and multi-generation gang families -- exacerbates gang problems. And he said the task force and local law enforcement found it necessary at times to use criminal informants, who are sometimes paid.
Antonio Avalos, executive director of Salinas Barrios Unidos, told Figueroa that uniform approaches to gang intervention don't work statewide, much less locally, because each school and neighborhood is unique. When programs like Barrios Unidos lose funding, it can have profound effects on Salinas youths, Avalos said.
"There's really nothing for young people," Avalos said. "If you start a program and suddenly stop, you leave the kids hanging."
Luis Diaz, a volunteer at Barrios Unidos, said when funding dries up, it sends a mixed message to the community, hurting the credibility of intervention groups and putting in doubt commitments by politicians and government officials to end gang violence.
"If the government can give money for positive change, we could do the work that is needed," Diaz said, "but when the funding disappears, you have to ask yourself if anyone really wants things to change."
Avalos brought up law enforcement's practice of housing inmates who are not gang members with gang members, in county jail and the state's prison system.
There are more gang associates and sympathizers than there are gang members, Avalos said, but once they are placed in county jail, they are classified as a gang member and housed with gang members. Upon release, those same inmates must register as gang members with police.
"Those things have to change," Avalos said. "If they don't, then we're a part of the (gang) recruiting process."
Figueroa began the forum by saying she was familiar with violence and dependence spawned by poverty, noting that her two brothers were heroin addicts who spent time in prison.
"These youth in violent situations are the brothers of many of us, even state senators," Figueroa said.
The daughter of El Salvadoran immigrants, Figueroa was invited to Salinas by Mayor Anna Caballero, who is running for Assembly.
"We know federal funds won't do it alone," Figueroa said, addressing financial needs. "You need a partnership with the state. That's why we're here."
When the forum concluded, she said: "We don't have to be building new prisons. We can be sending you that money instead."
Figueroa urged citizens to hold their elected officials accountable for promises of funding youth programs, and gang prevention, intervention and suppression.
George B. Sánchez can be reached at 753-6771 or gesánchez@montereyherald.
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