Residents Plead for More Youth Programs

Responding to a crowd of residents who filled a church auditorium Monday night, Mayor Tom Daly promised he would urge the City Council to grant their plea for more youth programs to combat violence in the city.

Leaders of a grass-roots organization called Orange County Congregation Community Organization complained that gang violence has increased sharply in recent years, while the city has made deep cuts in its Parks and Recreation Department programs.

They asked for old programs to be restored and new ones introduced to give low-income children an alternative to drugs and crime.

“This is a real deadly, terrible situation,” said the Rev. John Lenihan, pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church, where the meeting was held. In the last year, he said, he had buried 10 young parishioners who had died because of drug overdoses or shootings.

The Rev. Steve Mather, another leader of the church-based organization that claims more than 50,000 county families as members, drew enthusiastic applause from the audience of about 350 people when he asked for their support of an action plan. That plan, which he said was drafted after an extensive survey and 54 meetings, includes these measures:

* Creation of a teen center for after school and on weekends;

* Creation of a computer lab;

* Expansion of youth programs at the George Washington Community Center;

* Development of a “sweat equity” program that would enable children to get discounts on parks and recreation fees by doing community work;

* Development of an industry-driven apprenticeship program to prepare youths to enter the work force;

* Expansion of the city’s summer jobs program.

Daly said he would encourage the City Council to “use all the ideas in one shape or form” from “our plan for the future of the city.”

He suggested that people who want more youth programs show up at the City Council meeting tonight, which will focus on projects to be funded in next year’s budget.

The Orange County Congregation Community Organization, an interfaith group representing 15 churches countywide, already has a track record for attracting government attention and support. In May, it presented the mayor of Santa Ana and the city’s public school superintendent with a plan to help the youth of Santa Ana.

More than 1,500 Santa Ana residents packed into St. Anne Catholic Church to show their approval of the proposal, which was designed to reduce gang violence and provide jobs, security and after-school programs to Santa Ana youth.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young said he endorsed all of the group’s goals, although he noted that some of the suggestions could not be implemented without funding from the federal government or private industry and others would require more planning meetings.

Now the organization is trying to focus more attention and resources on the needs of Anaheim’s youth. Its leaders said they have held 54 meetings with experts in education, law enforcement and crime prevention to get at the root of the city’s youth problems.