Forum to Explore Issues Affecting Youth

Should residents of the Ojai Unified School District pass a bond measure to fund more after-school programs? Can the Ojai Valley support a public pool? Does the city of Ojai live up to its reputation as a safe place to live?

These are some of the questions likely to be discussed tonight during a public forum on the Ojai Valley Youth Master Plan at Nordhoff High School in Ojai.

Since February, community leaders, educators, parents and youth supporters have conducted focus groups, public meetings and surveys to determine how to meet the needs of young people in the Ojai Valley, according to Caryn Bosson, coordinator of the youth master plan.

About 1,200 people between the ages of 5 and 17 live in Ojai, according to a study by the master plan committee. But the city’s youth population grows to more than 2,700 on school days. “This significant daily influx has an impact on many city services, from recreation to police,” according to the report.

Ojai’s school district serves 4,200 students, 1,500 of whom live within city limits, according to the survey. “The city of Ojai only has approximately a third of the school population. The majority of the students live in the unincorporated areas. Yet the majority of the programs are in the city,” Bosson said.

Master plan committee members hope to use school sites for fee-based after-school programs to provide students with activities.

The committee is considering forming a nonprofit foundation to pay for more expensive proposals, including a swimming pool, skate park and teen center. Other goals, including promoting interracial understanding and conflict resolution, will rely less on money and more on persuading adults in the valley to share their talents with youth.

Another goal is getting the generations talking to one another. “The kids feel that adults need to treat them with more respect, and the adults say they need to be treated with more respect,” Bosson said.

“If this project accomplishes anything, we hope it will be that after the community has its awareness raised about what kids need, everybody will say, ‘What can I be doing in my life to help youth?’ ” she said.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at the high school, 1401 Maricopa Highway.