PACOIMA : Quake Puts Damper on Youth Program

A program that offers recreation to poor youths has been dealt a blow by the Northridge earthquake, which decimated apartment buildings that housed many of its teen-age recruits and volunteers.

Its organizers said that Keep Youth Doing Something seemed to be gaining momentum before the Jan. 17 temblor. But since the quake, many of the children and teen-agers who used to flood local parks on Friday nights for KYDS sports events have disappeared, leaving organizers with the arduous task of recruiting new kids to take their place, said Sandy Kievman, the program’s director.

Organizers said the number of kids who come to KYDS-sponsored softball games and dances on Friday nights has dropped 30% to 50% since the quake.

Hardest hit has been the organization’s newest branch in Pacoima, which has ceased offering activities temporarily because there are simply not enough kids to keep it running.

Before the earthquake, games at Lanark and Reseda parks attracted as many as 125 kids each, and the Pacoima games, which were held at Hubert Humphrey Park, drew about 75, Kievman said.

Rayna Gabin, liaison to the program for City Councilwoman Laura Chick, said KYDS participants for the most part came from large apartment buildings near the three parks, some of which were abandoned by residents after the quake.

“Some have moved, and some kids dropped out to work. I saw one of our kids selling flowers on a street corner the other day,” Gabin said.

KYDS started three years ago as a small, federally funded two-year pilot program in Lanark Park in Canoga Park. In recent months, private donations have swelled its coffers and the program has expanded. Kievman has even made an appearance on national television to talk about the program’s efforts to combat gang membership.

Both Kievman and Gabin say they will go door to door in apartment buildings, visit schools and scour parks to find new recruits, and they predict that KYDS will soon be back in full swing.

“You can always find kids, there are plenty who don’t have anything to do on Friday nights,” Kievman said.