Catching Children, Lest They Fall : Services: San Clemente Youth At Risk program reaches out to 80 mostly disadvantaged youngsters with social support in two neighborhoods.

Even among the poor children who participate every day in the city’s Youth At Risk program, 8-year-old Martin stood out.

To recreation leaders, the feisty, brown-eyed boy seemed more like a little man in child’s clothing, except that Martin seldom wore a shirt or shoes.

They discovered that Martin’s mother was in jail for drug possession. Left with his mother’s roommate, the boy wasn’t going to school.

“He seemed to be a little adult,” said recreation supervisor Jaimie Ochs. “He has a little 3-year-old brother, and he watched over him when they came out here to play. I had a feeling there were problems in his life, but when he showed up without shoes on a rainy day, I knew I had to do something.”

It took one phone call to county social services to turn Martin’s life around. Social workers found his uncle, and for now, Martin is being cared for by relatives and is back in school.

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Youth At Risk was founded in the turmoil and painful introspection San Clemente residents experienced after 17-year-old Steve Woods died at the hands of other young people last year.

Speared through the head by a paint-roller rod thrown from a group of Latino youths at Calafia State Beach, the teen-ager’s death polarized this racially diverse city. Woods’ relatives and residents blamed the killing on San Clemente gang members--and some Latinos saw that reaction as racism.

“San Clemente’s community image was really tarnished by the Steve Woods killing,” Mayor Scott Diehl. “But his death crystallized the city. We decided we really needed to reach out to kids.”

Some new youth programs were already being organized, but the tragic death hurried their formation. Created were the city’s Task Force for Youth and the high school’s Peer Assistance Leadership program. Both groups reach out toward young people by sponsoring multicultural events, and establishing mentorship and tutoring programs along with other services.

The city set aside $40,000 in July to start Youth At Risk--a program that does far more than throw out a few balls and set up table games for about 80 youths who participate.

There are pickup games of grass hockey, checkers and all the standard recreational fare run by city staff members who aren’t that long out of school themselves.

But Youth At Risk goes further. It works primarily with the poor, predominantly Latino population of San Clemente, especially preschoolers through young teen-agers.

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Every week, sheriff’s deputies visit two sites served by the program to discuss drug abuse, then stick around to play with the kids. Youngsters such as Martin, who never had been away from home by themselves, go on overnight beach camping trips. Family counselors offer free advice to parents and children.

“I went to Max Berg (Park) the other day and saw our counselor sitting in a car with a child’s parents,” said program director Julie Lamphear. “We’re showing them that somebody does care.

“Slowly, I think we’re creating unity in the community,” she said. “I think this program could be the start of something big.”

Something big for 15-year-old Christina (not her real name) is a $4-per-hour, after-school job that she landed with the help of Kids At Risk.

“We started her off by helping out with the program,” Lamphear said. “But she had an attitude. For one thing, she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t bring cigarettes to work.

“I pulled her into the office and told her that she needed to be a role model, and from then on, I began seeing positive changes in her,” Lamphear said. “We gave her a reference that helped her get a part-time job and I hear she’s doing well. That’s what I consider a success story.”

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San Clemente real estate agent Jim Miranda, a longtime organizer of Latino programs in the city, said Youth At Risk helps young people “who might become wanna-be gang members.

“Programs like this give them things to do and keep them involved in quality activities,” he said. “This program winds up helping the whole community.”

Although aimed at underprivileged youths, city officials say the program helps other children. To spread the benefits, the city operates Kids At Risk in two neighborhoods: The affluent hillside homes served by Truman Benedict Elementary School and the overcrowded, modest apartments near Max Berg Park.

Martin and up to 40 other children participate in the program at Max Berg Park, a large, circular patch of green that residents say used to be the turf of a local gang.

“Max Berg Park has long been the focal point of the Hispanic community,” said Miranda, who organized a soccer league at the park two years ago.

In recent years, the city increased police patrols and instituted a neighborhood cleanup program. With the added presence of Youth At Risk counselors, “It’s nice now,” said Elvira Orta, whose two preschoolers participate in the program. “It feels safe here.”

For 5-year-old Jaime Alvarez, who has never heard of Steve Woods and doesn’t know a social program from a polo match, Youth At Risk “is fun. I like playing here.”

Orta credits the recreation staff and counselors with providing a safe, enjoyable atmosphere for the children.

“They teach them how to be polite and how to play nice with other kids,” she said. “They talk to them like real people.”