SANTA PAULA : Group Hopes to Help At-Risk Youths

After two Santa Paula teen-agers were slain last fall in what police believe was a case of gang rivalry, shaken residents joined civic leaders in an effort to find ways to stem the rising tide of gang violence.

But rather than rely exclusively on police to control the estimated 125 hard-core gang members in the town of 25,000, the concerned residents explored ways to reach childrenconsidered at highest risk of joining gangs.

Meeting as the Santa Paula Youth Task Force, the residents have identified programs they hope will make a positive difference for the town’s most troubled youths.

“We hope to work with the schools and law enforcement to identify youngsters who need help and get help for them,” said Donna Nelson, one of the task force’s co-chairs and a high school district trustee.

The group has agreed to create a mentor program to offer adult guidance for at-risk youths, and is working to increase the number of summer jobs available to children in one of Ventura County’s poorest cities.

Also among the group’s plans is the creation of a youth council, made up of a cross-section of the town’s youths, which would serve as a steering committee to the task force.

The key to implementing the programs, leaders say, is the acquisition of a site for use as a teen center, a place where teen-agers can drop in to talk to a counselor, shoot a game of pool or attend weekend dances.

“As far back as I can remember, teen-agers have said there is nothing to do in town,” said task force co-Chairman Bob Borrego, who with group member Terry Nelson has approached the Bank of America about acquiring a vacant branch of Security Pacific Bank. The task force has so far received $43,000 in grants from Ventura County and Santa Paula, a small amount of private donations, and is planning to approach charitable foundations.

Even if efforts to acquire a permanent site are delayed, the task force plans to rent temporary quarters so it can make the programs available to the city’s youths this summer.

Chances are also good that the task force’s efforts will receive official backing from the city as soon as the pieces are in place, Mayor Margaret Ely said.