By Mario A. Cortez
Last Friday morning, South Bay Community Services (SBCS) held a briefing regarding their youth programs. The services offered by SBCS involve a comprehensive approach to risk factors through prevention and intervention.
School officials as well as local, state, and federal leaders gathered at the Chula Vista Police Department’s headquarters to learn more about the support services for at-risk youth and their families that are being offered in our region, and to get updates on these ongoing programs.
The program for Friday’s briefing covered three main aspects that SBCS manages in their Youth Prevention and Intervention initiatives.
The efforts of the Community Assessment Team (CAT), a dedicated staff team providing round-the-clock service to at-risk-youth and their families, were introduced and detailed to the attendees. Issues such as stressors in the youth’s personal life, drug factors and academics, can be grounds for referral to CAT.
“In many cases, what the CAT does is catching kids before they have problems or before issues start becoming a pattern which later involves the juvenile justice system,” said Mauricio Torre of South Bay Community Services to La Prensa San Diego in an interview after the Friday briefing.
“We want to make sure that we pay attention that kids are getting involved in our services so we can begin working before it starts costing the community a lot more money and resources,”
Referrals for CAT services involve youth who have mental afflictions and issues such as domestic problems and trouble fulfilling their basic needs. County law enforcement, school districts and community agencies have all trusted South Bay Community Services for 40 percent of referrals in the time period analyzed, from October 2014 to June 2015.
“The flow of referrals is key . Once you move into intervention work, the time it takes to get back to a family or individual in crisis is important. If you catch a family in crisis their odds of falling through with services increase exponentially. And because we are at the Police Department an officer can make a referral right there. There is no two week waiting period, most of the time we can provide service on the spot,” stated Torre in regards to accessibility to referrals.
With the help of local organizations, such as school districts as well as law enforcement in Chula Vista and National City, CAT was able to successfully close 478 cases out of 505 cases, an outstanding 95 percent success rate.
The second aspect of the YPI framework that was talked about was the Juvenile Diversion division, which develops treatment plans with parents and first time offenders in order to avoid more encounters with law enforcement.
The treatment regimen for youth in diversion programs might range from counseling, anger management and mental health services to academic support, community service and peer activities among other alternatives.
SBCS reports a total of 396 cases of youth intervention with a success rate of 99.75 percent; in comparison, Orange County reported a success rate of 70% in the same sample year.
“Public officials from throughout the state of California are always jealous when they hear how well we are able to respond to community and family needs,” stated Kathryn Lembo, CEO of South Bay Community Services.
Alternatives to detention are also a vital part of the diversion efforts undertaken by SBCS. In cases that do not require secure detention, South Bay Community Services can provide holistic choices like family services, case advocacy and non-secure shelter in lieu of confinement in juvenile hall facilities.
“In the past we’ve only had to work with the first time offenders. Now we’ve been able to work with kids before they can commit their first offense and before they can step foot inside Juvenile Hall,” remarked Lembo.
According to a Los Angeles times report from February 23, in San Diego, the average cost of youth incarceration is an annual $127,750 per individual case. The costs of each incarceration case rises dramatically as soon as a senior detention facility overtakes the case.
“We are keeping at risk youth out of a cycle that worsens for everybody as soon as they reach the age of 18,” stated Lembo.
Over the span of the 3 year pilot program, SBCS was able to serve 295 cases with a success rate of 87 percent.
“We just want to be open about the programs we offer,” Torre said in regard to why the briefing was held.
“ As a data driven organization, we need to make sure that the programs we run are successful and we need to have accountability so everybody knows the strides we are making,” Torre concluded.
South Bay Community Services currently has over 500 staff members working throughout San Diego County which serve over 50,000 members of the community every year through respectful services based on community needs and goals.