From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., it is the
”
primetime
”
for juvenile crime. It also is the primetime for the Hollister
Youth Alliance, a local organization that plays a key role in
stemming those activities. During those hours, the local
organization oversees an array of programs at or away from schools
in offering a comprehensive slate of activities with everything
from assisting students on their homework to helping young parents
in preventing another teenage pregnancy.
Editor’s Note: The full version of this story and others focusing on the theme “Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary People,” will be included in the 2010 Pride section in Tuesday’s Free Lance.
From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., it is the “primetime” for juvenile crime. It also is the primetime for the Hollister Youth Alliance, a local organization that plays a key role in stemming those activities.
During those hours, the local organization oversees an array of programs at or away from schools in offering a comprehensive slate of activities with everything from assisting students on their homework to helping young parents in preventing another teenage pregnancy.
Though the programs vary widely, there is a consistent message from the staff at the Hollister Youth Alliance. There is a clear goal.
“Our goal is to build the community by investing in our youth,” said Diane Ortiz, the organization’s executive director who has been with the Hollister Youth Alliance since its inception in 1995.
Ortiz and 15 other staff members at the youth alliance sat down recently to talk about the programs they offer, why the activities are so important toward improving the community, and how they connect with a population of often disadvantaged children who sometimes just need a little guidance to put them on the right path.
As Ortiz and others emphasized, the approach is meant to keep local kids headed in a responsible direction in all stages of their development, and that is shown by the wide variety of programs.
They include afterschool gatherings such as the Collaborative After School Academy (CASA) de Milagros. It is for students in first through eighth grades. Katrina Valdez, a coordinator for the program at R.O. Hardin, which serves more than 100 kids daily, said there is a three-part component: homework assistance, recreation and an hour of enrichment in such areas as arts and visual arts, “all different sorts of media.” She listed off some of the activities from the prior day, such as having the students make self-portraits on mirrors.
“Something a little bit like disguised learning to support the day school,” she said, “some of the activities they do, but a little more hands on, a lot of the stuff that education used to be able to do during school.
“So we have an opportunity to align that with the school standards. The kids, they love it.”
For the full story, more photos and other features on locals, see the annual Pride section with Tuesday’s Free Lance.
Some other stories in Pride 2010 include the following:
– Three businesses are turning 100 this year, along with another hitting the century mark under its name.
– Tyler Olah was on the receiving end of a granted Make-A-Wish, to get his truck revamped.
– The Baler Backers organization has stepped up to help offset the money shortfall at the high school.
– Marty Richman recounts “what went right” over the past year.
