A coalition of concerned citizens, law enforcement, government officials, educators, support organizations, and faith community leaders have organized the group One Community Action in an effort to address and reduce gang violence in Santa Maria following a year of increased homicides and gang-related violence.
The latest meeting on Dec. 17 included a talk by a researcher from UCSB, Jill Starkey, who shared information she collected while studying gang involvement by youth at Los Prietos Boys Camp. Attendees also heard from local law enforcement and government, including Mayor Alice Patino, who likened the issue to a puzzle, saying that several different pieces of the community need to come together to address the issue.
“This is a community issue; it’s not just up to the schools or the churches or the government,” Patino told the Sun. “It’s the entire community that’s going to have to come together to address these issues.”
One Community Action has already been meeting for several months, but the sense of urgency to organize effectively to address the situation was present at the Dec. 17 meeting, since Santa Maria Police Department Chief Ralph Martin mentioned a possible turf war among rival gangs as a cause for the increase in homicides over last year’s number.
The SMPD has yet to determine whether a double homicide that occurred on Dec. 26 was gang related, but it puts the total number of homicides in the city to 13 during 2015.
Though One Community Action is still in the planning phase, Patino explained, the outpouring of concern and support by community members in the face of violent crime is a crucial step toward addressing the ongoing problem.
“I think everyone there felt really good about the meeting,” she said. “It was about people not pointing the finger, but talking about ways they could help these kids. It was really positive. I didn’t detect any anger or negativity—it felt like we were going to attack this issue and do something about it.”
Organizers included Santa Maria High School Assistant Principal Peter Flores, Center for Employment Training Director Gabriel Morales, Santa Maria Foursquare Church Pastor Joel Arreola, and others, who stressed the importance of connection and communication between the city’s various support organizations, government agencies, and community groups.
The Community Action Commission (CAC) dispatched several managers to the meeting, explained the organization’s family and youth services director, Tracy Lang Wood, who told the Sun that CAC already provides prevention and intervention programs for youth in danger of or already lured in by street gangs. One aspect of prevention and intervention, she explained, is involvement from youth themselves.
“I think having everybody at the table is really important and having intentional time to connect is important,” Lang Wood said. “One of our managers was suggesting that the meetings include youth so that we could get their perspective on what they are experiencing and seeing out there and what they see as possible solutions.”
Making sure the community understands the range of support that is already available to them was a subject of concern at the meeting as well, Lang Wood said, offering the 211 hotline as one repository of information. The CAC updates the county’s 211 hotline, a nationwide health and human support hotline, and hopes to include any more resources not currently included in the service.
“I think it’s really important to coordinate among organizations, and I think sometimes we don’t make intentional efforts to do that because we are so busy with our own work,” she said. “Safety is everybody’s responsibility, not just the government’s or nonprofit’s, but parents and schools; everybody has a part in resolving the situation in the community.”
A date, time, and place for the next One Community Action meeting hasn’t been set yet, but locals can receive information from the city and the organizations involved.
This article appears in Dec 31, 2015 – Jan 7, 2016.