South Oxnard’s Image Getting a Make-Over

OXNARD —  The south side of this blue-collar town has a reputation, too much of a reputation.

As in too many gangs, too many kids ditching school, hanging out, looking for trouble. Too much graffiti, too much crime.

With one of the highest crime rates in Ventura County, south Oxnard can be a tough place. By Ventura County standards, it’s as tough as they come.

There were more than 225 reported juvenile crimes during a 12-month period in 1995 and 1996, including six homicides and 11 drive-by shootings.

Although only 21% of the county’s youths live in Oxnard, the city’s youth constituted 64% of those in local juvenile institutions and 40% of those on probation, according to a 1997 report.

But now an army of probation and police officers, drug counselors and mental health workers is trying to scour away south Oxnard’s stained reputation.

Armed with a $4.5-million grant from the California Department of Corrections, about 30 staff members with south Oxnard’s Challenge Project have worked closely with hundreds of troubled teens for two years, trying to steer them from gangs, drugs and crime and toward school and jobs.

The Challenge Project is unusual in two respects.

First, rather than just doling out punishment, the program attacks causes of juvenile crime--poverty and parental neglect--by involving the teens’ families. Second, the program invites neighborhood leaders to help decide the youths’ punishment.

“The ultimate goal is that when we are not around anymore, the people in the community will take on this program so they can have something for the next generation of kids,” said Deputy Probation Officer Sandy Carrillo, who is assigned full time to the project.

The Challenge Project brings together the county, city of Oxnard and several nonprofit agencies, including Interface Children Family Services and El Concilio de Condado de Ventura.

Rather than working independently, the agencies have collaborated to identify about 300 young offenders and decide on ways to help them.

The project is housed in a community center building at Bard Street and Saviers Road in the heart of south Oxnard, an area of aging houses, tattered apartments and 75,000 residents.

Offenders must be 12 to 18 years old, live in south Oxnard or Port Hueneme and have experienced an assortment of problems from truancy to drug and alcohol use.

Although most of the youths are referred by probation, they also are sent by schools, police and other agencies.

To participate, youths must sign a statement agreeing to take responsibility for their actions. In exchange, the youths are paired with mentors, or “navigators,” who help them through the program.

They spend up to nine months attending drug and alcohol counseling groups, working with mental health counselors, meeting with probation officers and receiving tutoring.

In the summer they participate in city recreational activities, such as bowling and hiking. The youngsters also are required to do community service.

Local neighborhood councils help identify suitable projects--removing graffiti, sweeping streets and cutting weeds. Some offenders are also confronted by their victims.

“We try to make them realize that they have a responsibility to give back to the community,” Carrillo said. “So when they are out there, they’ll think twice about committing another crime.”

Diana, 17, began sniffing paint when she was 12, was soon smoking marijuana and then stopped going to school. She committed minor crimes and was placed on probation. Still she used drugs, and violated her probation consistently.

When first referred to the Challenge Project, she was angry and resistant. But a few months into the project, Diana’s mentor helped enroll her in a six-month, away-from-home camp for at-risk teens.

During that time she earned a high school equivalency diploma. She is now applying for jobs and plans to attend Oxnard College.

“I know what I want to do with my life now,” said Diana, whose long, reddish hair rests on muscular shoulders. “That wasn’t a life I was living before.”

At a recent meeting in Diana’s home, Carrillo looked over Diana’s resume and talked about job prospects.

“I’m proud of you, girl,” she told Diana. “It wasn’t easy. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Now the only place to go is up.”

Sylvia Preston, a 26-year south Oxnard resident who chairs the project’s community advisory board, praised the program.

Preston said there has been an awakening in south Oxnard and people now finally realize the tremendous need for services. The challenge grant, she said, fills some of those needs.

“Certainly it is having an impact on not only the lives of the kids, but also the families,” she said. “They are getting a great deal of support and assistance.”

Despite such glowing reviews, there is some question as to how much good the program does.

An evaluation by the RAND Corp. done after the first year reported the recidivism rate--though relatively low--was essentially the same among youths who were supervised by the Challenge Project and youths on traditional probation.

About 34% of program participants on formal probation committed criminal offenses during the time they participated in the project, compared with 48% of youths not in the program, according the RAND findings. And 35% of Challenge Project youths on informal probation committed criminal offenses, compared with 27% of those not in the program.

But RAND’s evaluator, Jodi Lane, said the numbers are preliminary and don’t tell the whole story. More than anything, she said, the project has the ability to guide youngsters in the right direction.

“This sort of comprehensive approach deals with the kids’ needs now, so we can prevent crime later,” Lane said. “There is no way to guarantee who’s going to commit crimes in the future. There’s not even a way to predict that.”

Oxnard Police Det. Steve Kawaguchi, who is assigned to the Challenge Project, full time, agreed.

“If you go by just the statistics, you don’t see any change in crime,” Kawaguchi said. “But it is helping somewhat, because it’s giving the kids resources. It’s a step in the right direction.”

When Tiffany, 13, was referred to the Challenge Project, she was reluctant to participate. But after realizing that people wanted to help her stay out of trouble, she started getting more involved.

Tiffany spent a recent afternoon at the Hueneme High School swimming pool with recreation leaders Lauren Newman and Adaly Armenta.

She said the Challenge Project keeps her busy and off the streets. If she were not in the program, she said, she would probably be hanging out with friends and getting into trouble.

“I’ve learned my lesson,” she said. “I did it and I don’t want to do it again. Now I know what you have to do when you get in trouble, and it’s not worth it.”

Unlike Tiffany, some participants are so entrenched in bad habits that they aren’t ready to receive help.

“Some of these kids’ problems go so deep, and nine months just kind of scratches the surface,” Kawaguchi said.

One client, now 16, continued to use drugs even while enrolled in the program. He refused to attend drug-counseling sessions. Now, the teen has another dilemma--his girlfriend is pregnant.

His mentors still hold out hope he will get his act together, but they admit it can be frustrating.

“If you want the help, you can get it,” said Newman, who helps the teens with their homework and organizes recreational activities. “But these kids have to want to participate.”

The parents also have to be motivated to participate. And that isn’t easy, because often they also have alcohol or drug problems. The project offers family counseling, parenting skills classes and parent/child mediation to help get parents on the right track.

The program is now in its third and final year of funding, and staff members are looking for ways to keep it going.

Carmen Flores, who directs the Challenge Project, expects it to continue--but in a more skeletal way. In addition to asking the county to help continue the funding, Flores is encouraging each agency and nonprofit group to raise funds to keep their part going.

The community board is also considering turning the project office into a family resource center.

“Our focus from now on is sustainability,” Flores said. “We do feel that the model we are using is worthwhile and we want to keep as much of the project as possible.”