Gangs began making their mark in Napa during the 1990s, but some programs slated to prevent gang violence and juvenile crime have been in place for decades.

Because they focus on preventing gang affiliation before it happens, measuring the programs’ success rates would be difficult. Nonetheless, staffers at these local agencies push on, continuing the work which they believe has the potential to transform young people’s lives for the better.

Boys & Girls Club

Boys & Girls Club staffers prioritize academic achievement, after-school programs and curbing youth and gang violence — often in the same local neighborhoods where it occurs most. Besides running clubhouses in Napa and American Canyon, they are making their presence known at eight local middle and elementary schools, including Harvest, Canyon Oaks, McPherson, Napa Junction, Napa Valley Language Academy, Pueblo Vista, Salvador and Silverado.

Providing students with a place to study after-school, the club’s school site sessions kick off with a homework “Power Hour,” followed by art programs, sports and other character-building activities. The club’s mission, according to Jaime Gallegos, program director of the Harvest Middle School satellite site, is to bolster students’ social and educational progress in addition to reaching at-risk young people before trouble finds them.

Napa County Office of Education Superintendent Barbara Nemko — whose organization boasts a gang violence suppression coordinator — said an effective strategy for gang prevention must include prevention, intervention and suppression.

“(Gang members are) getting younger and younger ... Once a kid gets into a gang, it’s really hard to get them out,” Nemko said. “Then there’s a whole fear thing for their physical safety. Clearly, it works better if we can get to them before they get into the gang. If we can intervene in that earlier stage, we can avoid some serious problems later on.”

With the help of a gang prevention grant through the Napa County District Attorney’s Office, Nemko said, NCOE Gang Violence Suppression Coordinator Vanessa Luna keeps parents and teachers in the know about recognizing the signs of gang affiliation. Luna also recruits speakers to visit local schools to educate students about youth violence and the consequences of gang allegiance.

In NCOE’s court and community schools, probation and resource officers from the Napa County Sheriff’s Office are a constant on-campus presence, where they establish a rapport with students, Nemko said.

“They get to know the kids pretty well. ... They find out what’s going on so they are able to intervene before something happens. ... Our kids develop such a good relationship (with them) that if you talk to many of them about what they want to be when they grow up, a lot of them want to be probation officers,” she said.

Your Alternatives to Risk

Also joining the fight to keep Napa’s young people safe is Lisabel Dolne, Clinic Ole’s Your Alternatives to Risk gang prevention program coordinator. Dolne, who has been with the program since its inception in 1994, said YAR targets clients in middle school through adulthood and reaches hundreds annually.

Dolne said the program provides gang awareness group sessions at Silverado Middle School and St. Helena High School for students who have been put on “no red” or “no blue” color lists — meaning they are prohibited from wearing colors which signify gang affiliation.

YAR representatives also visit at-risk clients’ homes and participate in street outreach, she said.

“People talk about outreach today and it’s very common. ... But back in ‘94 when we started, we were one of two projects doing this on the streets,” she said, adding that in 1998, YAR was the first program “to establish a successful truce session in Juvenile Hall” between Sureño and Norteño gang members.

When YAR staff members hit the streets, Dolne said, they seek out gang members where they congregate and try to establish a rapport with them.

“If we meet someone and clearly they’re expressing challenges in getting out of a gang environment, we try to link them to local resources. (But) if that person doesn’t know where they’re sleeping that night, that is more of a priority to them,” she said.

Consisting partly of teen educators, she said, YAR staff also travel to the homes of gang-affiliated and at-risk teens, where they try to get a sense of how the family units operate.

“What we really focus on for parents is ... what do you know about your child or your child’s friends or your child’s friends’ parents? What is the culture in your household? Is there drug or alcohol abuse?” she said.

Although YAR members launched their gang suppression mission nearly 15 years ago, On the Move — a local program for young people which originated five years ago — hones in on prevention.

In addition to running an agency called Voice Our Independent Choices for Emancipation Support, a center for emancipated foster youth, On the Move also provides student leadership opportunities in local schools, said Leslie Medine, the organization’s executive director.

The agency contracts with the Napa County District Attorney’s Office to fulfill a mission that is “much more than keeping kids off the street,” said Medine, who added that high school members of the organization are mentoring students at Silverado, Harvest and McPherson Elementary.

The agency also runs leadership academies in area middle and high schools, where students take on issues such as underage drinking and come up with their own solutions to gang violence.

“It’s a big deal when kids tell parents, ‘These are the things you need to look out for.’ ... (We want) to create an environment that offers leadership opportunities for kids, especially the kids who might be right on the cusp of making some not-so-good decisions,” Medine said.

The organization’s high school and Silverado leadership academy participants are gearing up to create a county-wide gang violence prevention campaign this year, she added.

CLARO

Created by a now-defunct agency called Nuestra Esperanza, an organization called CLARO — or Challenging Latinos to Access Resources and Opportunities — is moving forward in spite of shrinking funding since its inception in 1999, said Claudio Fuentes, a volunteer and soccer coach for the program. But the close-knit organization provides more for at-risk youth than the experience of belonging to a sports team. Fuentes said it provides culture-centered support groups for young people and their parents at St. Helena High School and Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School.

“CLARO goes out to schools and teaches curriculum that provides Latino youth with an understanding of where they come from, who they are and what the expectations of the community are,” he said. “It teaches them their background history and provides them with a strong sense of identity and belonging. ... (Because) right now in our community, every poor kid is at risk.”

Big Brothers

Unlike CLARO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay did not get its start in Napa, but the organization has been around much longer.

Edward Kaufman, the agency’s executive director, said the agency began serving young people in Napa, Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties in 1970.

“Mentoring in itself is a gang prevention activity. ... We know that young people that are in our programs are four times less likely to get arrested and four times less likely to use violence as a means to solve problems,” Kaufman said.

Big Brothers Big Sisters matches young people with mentors sharing similar interests and backgrounds and about 200 children are on the waiting list in the four counties which the organization serves, Kaufman said. Seventy-five percent of them are boys.

“The allure of a gang is very powerful for a young person. It’s an opportunity for connection, for involvement ... for leadership. Obviously, it’s not really the avenue we want people to be taking to get these needs met. Anytime we can develop a program to help young people meet those needs in a positive way ... we’re going to see young people not getting involved in gangs,” Kaufman said.

Sheriff’s Activities League

Tucked away on Napa State Hospital grounds is a fully equipped boxing ring and weight room, which typically draws at least 50 middle school students each weekday afternoon. The Sheriff’s Activities League — also called SAL — is another resource for Napa’s youngest residents, some of whom are at-risk.

“Our program is for (all) kids in Napa County,” said Deputy Sheriff Mike Jarecki, who runs the program. “We run the whole gamut, from low income to not. Most of our kids live in the Imola district and are within walking distance.”

The free program also boasts off-site activities including soccer, bicycle racing, dance and baseball, according to the organization’s Web site. A wrestling program outgrew the facility and moved to Vintage High School, while a judo program is offered in Calistoga, Jarecki said.

The program opened in 1992, in response to a flare-up of local gang activity the same year, he said.

“The mission at that time was to create a community-based crime prevention program for Napa County youth ... and kids could come to the gym and work out and cops were there and there was trust-building on both sides,” he said.

The free program continues to grow in popularity, with more than 1,200 students registered today.

“The kids really seem to like it. A lot of the kids are surprised ... that cops are nice. I think it’s good in that respect. It shows them that police officers aren’t just out there trying to arrest people, but they can be nice and helpful and that goes a long way in building rapport and trust in the community with the young people,” he said.