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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/06/2013 09 Quarterly Gang Initiative ReportBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AGENDA STATEMENT Item No. For Meeting of: 8/6/2013 ITEM TITLE: Quarterly Gang Free Initiative Report SUBMITTED BY: Steve Magallan - Magallan Consultancy SUMMARY EXPLANATION: See attached report Resolution: Ordinance: Other (Specify): Quarterly report Contract: Contract Term: Start Date: End Date: Item Budgeted: Amount: Funding Source /Fiscal Impact: Strategic Priority: Insurance Required? No Mail to: Phone: APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL: City Manager RECOMMENDATION: ATTACHMENTS: Name: Description: ❑ Yakima GFI Quarterly Report June 2013.docx GFI Quarterly Report June 2013 ❑ GFI Final Brochures.odf GFI Brochure -- Revised — Yakima Gang Free Initiative (GFI) Implementation Quarterly Report for the period ending June 30, 2013 Introduction The 2nd quarter of GFI implementation activities were centered on the identification and engagement of children and youth at varying degrees of risk. These activities are referred to as Outreach with both targeted (efforts directed at one youth identified as "at- risk" and referred for services) and general methods (efforts reaching groups of high risk youth using gang awareness seminars to disseminate program information). Additionally, coordination efforts have focused on ensuring the multi- agency service model is well equipped to deliver prevention and intervention services to the sudden influx of special needs youth. Finally, the GFI Advisory Group has been working on multimedia marketing tools for the initiative including a website, brochures, and a call center. The Advisory Group committees continue to meet regularly to address the priorities established in the first quarter. The following is a synopsis of the 2nd quarter committee work: 1) Planning and Development. The Committee has identified a second area in which to expand the Youth Development Center. This area is identified as "Y4" by the Yakima Police Department; it has the 2nd highest gang crime in the City of Yakima. The area starts at North Front Street, runs west to North 7th Avenue, and is north of West Lincoln Avenue (estimated area of Y4). Possible facilities within this area have been identified and meetings and tours will be conducted in July 2013 to discuss possible future partnerships. 2) Implementation. The Committee has officially been renamed "Partnership Development Committee" its focus is addressing network collaboration and service delivery issues as they arise. Several issues have already surfaced in this quarter including referral follow - up and case management duties. 3) Marketing and Community Education. A great deal of activity has taken place within this Committee over the past quarter including the finalization of the GFI website, the production of informational brochures, the creation of a traveling display to showcase the GFI at the various community events, and hosting the first Youth & Family Development Center open house at the YPAL Miller Park facility. The website includes an outreach request form allowing visitors to request targeted outreach anonymously. The marketing materials were produced in both Spanish and English. GFI also received its first ever corporate sponsor. Coca -Cola of Yakima donated a street banner advertising the GFI Open House which hosted more than 100 neighborhood residents on June 25m. Media coverage was also complete with all television and print media outlets represented and the Spanish language radio station KDNA. Finally, the implementation phase of the Gang Free Initiative is now referred to as the Gang Free Project of Yakima (GFP). The addition of this new moniker serves to more accurately represent the programmatic functions of the Gang Free Initiative. 2013 Performance Measures YTD Advisory Group Meetings (occurring bi- monthly) 3 AG Membership Retention Rate 15 AG Participation Rate 77% AG Attendance Rate 58% AG Member Satisfaction General Outreach General Outreach Targeted Outreach Completed WARNS Completed Referrals Completed INA's (gang awareness seminars) Completed Individual Treatment Plans Completed Behavioral Interventions Completed Family Interventions Parental Notifications Graffiti Violations Citations for Weapons Violations Gang Units Sustainable resources Collaborative Grant Activities Partner Network Activities Partner Investment Program Summary (homeless youth grant) GFI Partnerships YPAL — Outreach, Screening & Referral, Life Skills YMCA — ASPIRE Mentoring No Data 0 79 41 41 0 0 0 0 No Data No Data No Data 1 (1 pending) $140,000 4 1 $479,500 UG Madison House — Academic Support (Tutoring) People for People — Gang Free Yakima Connects (211 Call Center) Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health — Multisystemic Therapy (pending approval) In Development — Family Support Services GFI Program Participants 79 youth outreach requests were screened and formally referred via schools, probation, and the community. • 45 of those requests have been active /referred into the program 41 out of the 45 youth referred youth have had their initial WARNS survey completed; however, 45 families have signed consent forms to enroll youth into the program. The four youth who have not completed the WARNS are either on runaway status, never at home /school, and /or families are out of town currently. • 13 families have refused services Reasons: already getting services similar to what our service providers offer; upset/frustrated that the school referred them for services; do not want their kids going to these services due to prior negative experience /history; and uncooperative parents who don't want assistance. • 15 youth/families - we have been unable to contact Barrier- One school did not have updated contact information for approximately 22 -28 youth who are sporadic with their attendance and families that do not report that they moved and /or have new phone numbers. This made a lot of un- needed footwork trying to connect with families if we do not have the correct information. With these youths, we conducted 10 -12 visits that consisted of phone calls, home visits, and school visits (school visits to see if they have updated information and /or to meet with the child to get contact information however, the majority of these students were absent periodically). Since most of our referrals were school based, these numbers consisted of youth who have moved out of the district/area; withdrawn for non - attendance; or who have moved out of home but never updated any information with school officials, which we confirmed at school. • 6 youth are waitlisted Had some contact with either youth or family member who seemed interested in the program waiting to get formal parent contact. During this time most families are working agricultural jobs and do not get home until late in the day and do not have time to meet for appointments. Consent forms—waiting for parent to sign consent forms. This has been hard to obtain since families have not been home throughout the day especially since school is out. WARNS reports Pre - WARNS: 41 WARNS were conducted Post - WARNS: 8 out of the 12 that were eligible for post WARNS were conducted (4 of those have not been conducted because multiple home visits /phone calls have not been successful) Service provider referrals – youth who are eligible to start services YMCA – 34 YPAL – 37 Madison House – 38 YDT – 23 Highlights During April/May, 24 youth on the waitlist were contacted and were enrolled in the program within two weeks and are starting to receive services this month. Only six youth remain on the waitlist due to parents work schedules but want services. The community and other service providers (e.g. DSHS) are starting to request services for some youth that they work with. • Schools are excited with the program and we are getting great response from other area schools that would like to start utilizing this program in the fall. • Parents who have additional siblings in the household would also like assistance for their other children and /or for other people they know who may be in need of a program like this. • 1/3 of the juveniles contacted are interested and willing to try the program and services that we provide. • The community and other service providers (i.e. DSHS) are starting to request services for some youth that they work with. • During April/May, the 24- waitlisted clients were finally contacted and enrolled in the program within two weeks. Barriers Unmotivated youth and /or parents getting youth to services has been a challenge since there is no incentive or anything holding them accountable. Initially, they were excited to get services; however, there has been minimal contact between the youth and the services. A possible solution is to have an open house at the services to encourage families to utilize their services and send out letters to families to let them know they have already been referred and are able to use these services accordingly. A few kids were kicked out of a couple of programs and cannot come back until the next school year which put a deterrent on helping these youth gain some proactive skills. Another possible solution would be to talk with service providers and ask them to look at their protocol since these youth need to gain pro - social skills in order to attain attendance and to reach the youth in negative positive way. Service providers can initially have orientation and expectations for youth before services are attained. Parents are reluctant to utilize services due to transportation issues even though they live in the vicinity of the programs A few kids were kicked out of a couple of programs and cannot come back until the next school year which put a deterrent on helping this youth gain some proactive skills. Waitlisted youth for mentors —this is one of the largest barriers we have been dealing with throughout this year. Youth are willing to participate in one -on -one mentoring but we do not have available mentors to refer them to. Pro - social interaction /activities with youth seem successful and I would foresee in the future if youth were paired up with a mentor they would become more successful in their endeavors since there isn't a positive stable role model in their life consistently. Service providers were not in place in the beginning which was hard for the outreach workers who were relaying information to parents /youth that services would be available soon. It took longer than planned. Unmotivated youth and /or parents – it is difficult to get youth to services since there is no incentive and nothing holding them accountable. That made it hard to engage youth in services we felt would be of benefit to them. GFI Coordination Activities GFI Open House — June 25, 2013 GFI Development Activities National Community Based Violence Prevention (Pending) Gang Awareness Training has been provided to People for People -211. The training covered gang introduction, why youth turn to the gang life style, and signs that should concern parents. The training was well received and each participate submitted a satisfaction survey. The training was held on June 7, 2013 from 9 -11:30 a.m. Partner Services The following is a detailed report of the activities of each partner agency over the past quarter. IE Beginning April 1, the outreach worker, Manuel Martinez, had received nearly all the necessary training and attended numerous meetings with Yakima Courts to be geared up to work with Bridgett Wilson on numerous outreach activities. Manual Martinez and Bridgett have forged a good relationship of trust, integrity, and open communication as well as a passion to serve the highest risk kids in our community. YPAL's executive director met with Sara Day, Vice Principal at Washington Middle School to describe the GFI strategies utilizing GRIP processes. Day showed keen interest for her students, and invited YPD School Resource Officer, Claudia Padilla to join us. Within 2 weeks the staff at Washington had met and created an initial list of kids who were in gangs, thinking about being in gangs, having truancy issues, or behavior issues which concerned them. The initial list included 72 youth names and contact information. The outreach workers then trained the school leaders in use of the GRIP Request for Service form and process. *Learning: It would have been better to meet with all Washington staff who work with kids that are of concern and have the outreach worker contact them. We had a number of extra meetings and clarification points during this first "Beta" demonstration. Additionally, it took several days for the outreach request for services form to be completed, whereas that process will be streamlined in the future. The outreach workers then worked through the request for services information in an attempt to contact each youth and their family. This proved to be a very difficult process in many cases. The school did not have a way to ensure that the phone number and /or addresses were correct from enrollment, due to the mobile manner in which some of these youth are raised. If a youth was contacted, it often required a second contact to gain support from one or more parents, sometime requiring a second parent meeting in cases of joint custody, and as long as three weeks to obtain parent signatures for the next steps. We also provided a well- educated translator who knows many of the Northeast Yakima families. The translator volunteered to help in those instances where parents needed a second language available. *Learning: We now know that we can streamline this process by inviting the youth and their families to a meeting at the YPAL Center. They will come in for a meeting, at which time permission will be granted in writing Families will be able to meet outreach workers and tour the Center. This facilitates a greater number of meetings per day, and is organized around schedules rather than outreach workers driving from appointment to appointment. While this does not work in 100% of the requests, we have found a majority of our families have liked this approach, and as we move forward we will continue to test this process. We also plan to test a process that will ensure a faster turnaround time for contacting youth and families from the time that we receive a request for services. We will block out times each morning to make telephone calls to those requests that include a phone number. This will be an introduction only, but an important step to show that we take the request seriously and that we desire to help. At that time an appointment will be secured, whether it be evening or weekend or at the PAL Center. Thus, we will be able to have outreach workers contacting more people, and traveling in two's will not be required since they are working out of the PAL center. We will measure the improvement in response time, as well as the speed with which we desire parental permission to proceed. *Learning: Outreach workers continued to work as a team, thus providing further training, and opportunity for "thinking out of the box" by court outreach workers. A major change for Ms. Wilson has been to provide outreach and linking, rather than case management. This also took some time to work through, practice, and to help everyone realize that we could reach many more people with the partners doing the case management rather than at the point of outreach. People drawn to outreach work have a passion for these youth, and must be reassured that there are great programs and people waiting to take on the guidance path needed for these very high - risk kids. Success Factor: With eleven weeks of these services now in implementation stage, the outreach workers have successfully contacted 48 youth and families. Each of these children were referred to the YMCA for mentoring, and the Madison House for tutoring. As of today, the referrals have not been served because of lack of volunteers. All families have now been contacted by YPAL for placement into positive life skills classes. *Learning: In order to keep the turnaround time as fast as possible for kids to access resources, the outreach workers are now offering the paper form of WARNS to the youth at the time the initial meeting is held with parents. Once the parental signature for permission is acquired, youth are offered the test in a private area. We have found this to work very well, and have eliminated a second appointment for both families and outreach workers. It also creates and assures a sense of urgency that requests be met in the most efficient and effective way possible. During the process of meeting with the families, parents will often times ask if there is help for them on being better parents. The GFI partners are looking at community resources, and YPAL is considering starting their Parent Club sooner than was scheduled for the organization. This could facilitate a number of resources coming directly to parents at the Center rather than parents traveling to multiple sites for services. The referral process to the YMCA and Madison House seem to be the most unclear process. There was not a clear definition of expectations that these service partners would take on the role of "case management" for these youth as were referred to mentoring and /or tutoring assistance. In addition, each of these partners found it difficult to locate volunteers who would be comfortable and felt equipped to mentor or tutor these high risk youth. Thus, our outreach workers were very concerned about their own credibility with the youth and families they had contacted. *Learning: Outreach workers, passionate about helping these kids, are on the front line, eye -to- eye with kids and families. In order to encourage participation in these programs, they must be reassured that services will truly be available. Outreach workers must have the trust and be credible to these families, or they may lose their ability to be effective. Law enforcement officers must also see these outreach efforts as being met with "meat and potatoes" services. LIFE SKILLS CLASSES The classes provided by YPAL are meant to provide several things. * A 12 -week consistent mentor who can encourage youth to think about what success could look like in their future and to learn to think about situations in order to respond rather to be in a reactionary mode. In addition, the expected outcomes will be improved self - awareness, communication, working with others, qualities of leadership, social issues, decision making, and problem solving. Our Beta Class was scheduled at Washington Middle School at 3:15 p.m. three days per week for four weeks. We had 11 referrals from our outreach efforts. All 11 were sent letters (to parents). We experienced difficulty in getting kids to the classes. Of the original 11, only four were able to commit. The reason that occurred was because the children were expelled through the end of the school year, and could not attend our class at Washington. All of them have been rescheduled for our summer sessions at YPAL. We have one youth who completed all 12 sessions to date. We have now contacted 32 youth from outreach services to attend our summer sessions. The sessions will be held at YPAL, using guest speakers, facilitated by Gloria Garcia. We will offer refreshments, a door prize, and a gift membership to YPAL if all 12 classes are completed. We were thinking a YMCA membership would be offered, but we are not sure if that will be offered at this time. We also have seven college interns who will be assisting with class dynamics as support to Ms. Garcia. In order to make the curriculum work for the classes we held, we adjusted lesson plans and modified the curriculum activities so that they would work without the appropriate number of attendees. We are already receiving calls for the next series of classes, and we are anticipating our changes and improvements will ensure a successful summer session. Madison House Since my last meeting with Tina Wilson, on May 14, to discuss the partnership with GFI and the Madison House, I have received (in total, to date) referral forms from Bridget. Many of them were dated on the day received. Bridget has brought five students through the Madison House on a tour to meet staff and to see the facility, and of those five, only one chose to begin the program. He /She has been a part of the Madison House since he /she was brought to us through GFI. He /She has been identified as a "tough kid" though the staff and students here would characterize him /her otherwise. Since beginning our tutoring program, first because "I was forced" and then later seeing that when an emphasis is placed on studying and doing/turning in homework, grades improve. Now, he /she would say that he /she is proud of himself /herself. After some light prompting, he /she chose to go shopping with a staff member to purchase clothing that did not associate him /her with his /her chosen gang color. Since this shopping trip, he /she has not worn red or made jokes about his /her affiliation with the local Northenos. His/Her attitude has improved since he /she arrived here, and where he /she once had a persona that communicated, "DON'T talk to me." He /she is now very open, lighthearted, and likes a good joke. Approximately three weeks ago, during the night, we were visited by a tagging crew who had a field day on our property, creating a serious mess. By this time, the staff at Madison House had done enough cleaning. The individual volunteered after school to clean it, and even suggested that we call the cops to let them know. We told him /her that we had, but the significance was that he /she had made the suggestion. Later that week, Yakima Police Officers came to photograph the graffiti and one of them recognized the individual. The officer commented to our Program Director that he hadn't seen the individual at the park (where apparently he /she had been hanging out and causing trouble) for a few months. He also stated that the individual looked "happy," which was unusual, but also, good to see. We may not be serving hundreds of kids, as they are not coming in droves as Bridget originally promised (in my first report). While we may not be changing everyone, it appears that we have definitely changed one... and right now, that is progress! People for People 211 Objective 1: Develop screening tool and protocols to facilitate a brief assessment of the youth's current status to determine immediate /intermediate individual and family priorities. Deliverable(s): GFI Screening Tool Status — Complete: GC 2 -1 -1 will use the "Grip Outreach Request" form to make the appropriate referral to GFI partner agencies. We have created an electronic version of the form that can be easily sent directly to our partners. Our Gang Free Yakima Connections Policies & Procedures manual provides a flow chart with screen shots for staff to navigate through the initial brief program eligibility assessment to determine if a program referral (completion of the GRIP form) is appropriate. Objective 2: Establish call center screening and referral service capacity to field calls during peak and off peak hours. Deliverable(s): Gang Free Yakima Connections Call Center. Status — Complete: We have extended Call Center hours from 8am -5pm to 8am -6pm. Individuals that call in to receive GFI assistance will be asked 1. If they are a resident in the City of Yakima, 2. If the person of concern is a youth, and 3. If they are concerned the youth is involved or at -risk of becoming involved in gangs. If they answer "yes" to the 3 initial questions, a GRIP Outreach Request form will be sent to Bridgette Wilson to follow -up. GC 2 -1 -1 will follow -up, via phone, with each caller approximately one week after the initial referral is made. Objective 3: Develop policies and procedures for making referrals. Deliverable(s): GFI Call Center Policies & Procedures Manual Status — Draft Complete: We submitted our first draft version of the Gang Free Yakima Connections Policy & Procedure manual to Magallan Consultancy on April 26, 2013. We incorporated the new GFI information and requirements into our existing AIRS accreditation Standards and GC 2 -1 -1 Policy & Procedure manual. The Policy & Procedure manual was presented to the GFI Advisory Group on June 6, 2013 and will be presented to the Yakima City Council on July 16, 2013. YMCA Report not submitted Multisystemic Therapy The contract with Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health has been submitted for Council approval. The contract will provide facilitation services over the GFP Youth Development Team (providing collaborative case management over highest risk youth) and mental health treatment services for high risk, gang involved youth. GFI Development Activities The following are descriptions of the development activities undertaken over the past four months. Washington Criminal Street Gangs The Yakima GFI is currently receiving funding from the state of Washington CSG program. Continued funding has been included in the 2013 state budget and we are awaiting information on the continuation process. AmeriCorps The City of Yakima was invited to submit an application under the AmeriCorps National Governor's & Mayor's Initiative grant program. We were specifically selected based on the work of the GFI and were the only community in the state of Washington invited to participate. If successful at the national competition, the project would provide 20 full time AmeriCorps volunteers to expand GFI services into the other targeted communities along with $250,000 in federal funding to support the initiative. Funding announcements are expected in June. Community Based Violence Prevention The federal Community Based Violence Prevention project will be resubmitted in partnership with the Yakima County Juvenile Court. The project is due April 22" d and, if successful, will provide up to $750,000 to the City of Yakima GFI expansion over the next three years. Funding announcements are expected in August. GFI Next Steps Continuing into the 3rd quarter of 2013, and for the remainder of this year, the GFI Advisory Group will focus on expanding core services into the North Central neighborhood. The group will also be working to identify additional service partnerships to consider with emphasis on truancy prevention and positive youth development programming. The Coordinator will also focus efforts on promoting services through PSA's and, if possible, securing corporate sponsorships. Finally, the Coordinator is working with the Washington State Department of Commerce Research Services to develop the evaluation protocols. This partnership may lead to j oint development efforts leading toward federal and state agency funding for program expansion. Formal evaluation is scheduled to begin as early as the 4th quarter of 2013. Submitted on July 10, 2013 by Steve Magallan Gang Free Initiative *A{ In partnership with: >> Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health >> Madison House >> YMCA >> People for People - 211 o YPAL 0 rtheast Youth & Family Development Center located at Yakima Police Activities League (YPAL) 602 N. 4th Street Yakima, Washington 98901 For more information, visit.. C ity0f Yakim aGang Free In it i at i ve.TownSquare I nteractive.c orn call 509-575-6180 Youth Development �Te aim City of Yakima Gang Free Project 1' The Yakima Gang Free Project (GFP) incorporates a network of evidence based prevention and intervention services targeting gang- involved youth, and those at risk of gang involvement and victimization. The Youth Development Team (YDT) is a major component of the Yakima Gang Free Project. The purpose of the YDT is to manage the needs of gang involved youth and those at high risk for gang involvement and victimization. ,> Facilitate collaborative case management planning meetings ,> Construct individualized service plans >> Engage youth in direct intervention services to address their specific needs ,> Work with outreach workers and partners to remove barriers to accessing services » Assist gang members in transitioning out of the gang lifestyle >> Improve the effectiveness of partner agencies >> Facilitate the exchange of information through routine reporting Youth and Family Development Center The Youth and Family Development Center is a centralized service location for the Yakima Gang Free Project. The center also functions as a resource center where youth, parents and concerned citizens can obtain information on gang prevention, intervention and suppression. Youth and I Ramily pe�relopment Center Actiritiess » Positive Youth Developmen- Programming (e.g., Life Skills, Academic Enrichment, Career /Employment, and Recreation) » Information Dissemination >> Outreach >> Family Resource Services >> Parent Development >, Professional Development & Training These services are provided in part by the City of Yakima and the State of Washington. Gang Free Project participation is available at no cost. Rh - 1 yoo u t h n� d FOAMP Project of t - - � Developmean, t Center Gang Free Initiative In partnership with. >> Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health Madison House >> YMCA >> People for People - 211 >> YPAL Northeast Youth & Family Development Center located at Yakima Police Activities League (YPAL) 602 N. 4th Street Yakima, Washington 98901 For more information, visit: CityofYakimaGangFreelnitiative .TownSquarelnteractive.com or call 509 - 575 -6180 milk City of Yakima Gang Free Project The Youth and Family Development Center functions as a hub for the community's anti -gang single point of access for information and services related to gang suppression, intervention and prevention. Youth and Family Development Centeoactivities t"Al ude•: Positive Youth Development Programming Life skills, academic enrichment, career /employment, and recreation Outreach Gang awareness Individualized screening and referral services Family Resource Services Single point of access for information and services related to gang suppression, intervention and prevention Functional family therapy and family management Parent Development Improve applied family management skills, expand single parent and nontraditional family support networks Professional Development & Training Data sharing, joint planning, and partnership development Yakima Gang Free Project (GFP) services are made possible and supported by partnerships with law enforcement, probation, outreach, education and social services. ON Map- M " Northeast Youth & Family Development Center is located at Yakima Police Activities League (YPAL) 602 N. 4th Street, Yakima, Washington 98901 To participate in the Yakima GFP or to request outreach for someone you feel is at risk of gang involvement, contact your local school counselor or visit the website at CityOfYakimaGangFreeinitiative .TownSquareinteractive.com These services are provided in part by the City of Yakima and the State of Washington. Gang Free Project participation is available at no cost. 1 • } ,*s 1 - - W-.- r- 4 �.