Grant Finances Project for Youngsters at Risk

The Santa Clarita Child and Family Development Center received a federal grant for nearly $115,000 this week to launch a program for at-risk youths in conjunction with the city, area schools and the Sheriff’s Department.

At the core of Steps to Success is a 15-week group-counseling program for seventh-graders in the city’s three junior high schools, said Liz Seipel, the center’s executive director.

The after-school program, which will serve about 70 students a year, targets students who have had poor attendance records, declining academic achievement and behavior problems.

“There’s a linkage between school failure and involvement with gangs and delinquency problems,” Seipel said.

The grant, to be given over three years, will pay for a counselor to head the one-hour weekly group sessions with students referred by school counselors.

“Working with teens as a group works very well because they are so susceptible to peer pressure,” Seipel said. “They really listen to each other, whereas they won’t always listen to an adult.”

The program also includes a presentation by a therapist and a city official to sixth-graders at each of the Santa Clarita Valley’s 26 elementary schools to discuss delinquency and the responsibility that comes with growing older.

“If we can get the kids at the time that they are just starting to get in trouble, we think we can make a difference,” city spokeswoman Gail Foy said. “We’d rather see grant money for this than added law enforcement in some cases, and rather than adding more jail cells.”

After the three years of federal money runs out, Seipel said, the center hopes the city and the United Way will take over the project’s funding.