ORANGE : Program Focuses on Barrio Youths

In the city’s barrios, a movement is growing to save Latino youth.

Born of drive-by shootings and drop-out statistics, the movement promotes education, positive thinking and communication to Latino teens and their families.

The Youth Alternative Program, funded with a $125,000 city grant last year, was developed and is administrated by Latinos. Some of the leaders were born and grew up in the city’s two barrios, commonly known as Cypress Street and El Modena.

“We’re destroying ourselves as a race because we’re letting negatives control us instead of positives,” said John Lozano, an El Modena native and program counselor. “It’s an avalanche and we’ve got to stop it.”

The program targets more than 40 families with junior high school-age students and aims to keep children in school and out of gangs.

Students who participate in the program are expected to attend twice a week for tutoring and discussions, while counselors maintain records of school attendance and grades.

Counselors also serve as role models to students and sometimes as liaisons to parents or school officials for students who find themselves in trouble. For their participation, children are rewarded with praise and special field trips to museums or the mountains.

“I think any individual would rather get a pat on the back for doing something positive than a pat on the back from a gang member for doing something negative,” Lozano said.

Parents also attend once-a-week sessions where they learn additional skills, with the focus on the importance of education.

At a gathering last week for parents and youth, speakers stressed that change must come from within the family and community.

Sgt. Juan Marujo of the Orange Police Department and veteran of the El Modena beat urged parents and students to rise above neighborhood troubles.

“We’re losing the flower of our youth,” he warned. “They’re being shot, they’re being killed simply because they don’t get along.”

“We’ve got to keep our kids in school,” he said. “Keep the Spanish language, but you’ve got to learn your English . . . and know where your kid is going.”

The program is the first of its kind to serve Latino youths in Orange, Lozano said. The city has made a three-year commitment to fund the program at least partially.

Gangs have a long history in the city, but the program has become a lifeline because times have changed, Lozano said.

“When I was 16, there were problems between the kids from Cypress and the kids from El Modena. There were fights, but that was it. You got a knife every now and then, but it wasn’t predominant.”

Today, more than 50 gangs have been identified within the city, according to police. The most recent drive-by shooting was last week.

“Somebody else is not going to take care of the problem,” Marujo told the crowd. “It’s us. The answer isn’t going to come from Sacramento or from Washington, D.C. We have to help ourselves.”