Youth program makes sense
There is a new support system for youth in San Benito County
that focuses on working with families to steer local kids in the
right direction. It marks a big step forward, and the program makes
sense particularly because it not only involves the most crucial
factor, the home life, but it also brings together a spectrum of
local agencies to accomplish the goal.
Youth program makes sense
There is a new support system for youth in San Benito County that focuses on working with families to steer local kids in the right direction. It marks a big step forward, and the program makes sense particularly because it not only involves the most crucial factor, the home life, but it also brings together a spectrum of local agencies to accomplish the goal.
Hollister Youth Alliance staff helped to start the new program after receiving a community development block grant, and the nonprofit has teamed with the county probation department and San Benito High School to put on the program.
That program featured in this week’s edition of The Pinnacle is called El Joven Noble, or “The Noble Youth,” and includes 30 weeks of building life skills, cultural identity, character and leadership skills.
HYA Executive Director Diane Ortiz noted how it is relatively longer term in nature, identifies with adults and other family members, and teaches the kids to become mentors as well. She referred to it as “a little deeper and more involved.”
On Tuesday, nine students became the first class to graduate from the program – they had been identified by the probation department as at risk, and some had been in the system for a long time, according to Brent Cardall, the chief probation officer. Probation staff are identifying teens for the next class through probation, but in the meantime, Ortiz has worked with SBHS staff on a pilot program on campus that started March 27.
We hope it continues on after that, too, because the program connects youths and parents, and offers families a more serious, potentially beneficial option to help juveniles avoid trouble than many other programs offered before.
El Joven Noble is the right approach because it focuses on parents and strengthening the connection juveniles have with their families and roots. In general, parents must take more responsibility for the direction their children take in school and on the streets, and this will give many of them the opportunity to do just that while setting up their kids to eventually mentor others.
Additionally, it also makes sense to have program members meet after school instead of during lunchtime, when many students have little motivation to fit in extra activities.
The youth alliance, probation department and high school all deserve credit for recognizing the need for a program like this one and for following through to make it happen.
