Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino’s task force on youth safety is kicking off a series of public forums this month, looking for community input on how to best curb violence among young city residents.
Earlier this year, Santa Maria’s City Council approved the formation of a youth safety task force, in response to what Recreation Services Manager Teresa Reyburn called “an unprecedented amount of violence for youth” in the city.
Reyburn, who is helping to lead the task force, said the collaborative is currently collecting information on why children become involved with gangs and plans to use that data to develop programs that divert youth from gang activity.
“That data will help us as we get through this process and see how successful we can be in luring children away from these types of situations,” Reyburn said. “It’ll be very good for this community once it’s finished.”
She said the task force model has worked well for other California cities, including Modesto, Long Beach, Santa Rosa, and San Jose.
“We’re fortunate that our problems weren’t as strained as those other communities, so I think we’re getting a good jump on this and taking the bull by the horns before it grows any further,” Reyburn said.
The task force includes representatives from elected officials, community organizations, schools, faith community members, and local law enforcement—but Reyburn said it’s important to involve the general public, as well, hence the forums.
“We want to not make this just a government document. We want to make it a community document, by gathering information from people of all walks of life, parents, children,” she said.
The task force held its first public forum on June 7, and additional forums are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on June 8, 12, 26, and 27. All will be held at the Veterans Memorial Community Center with the exception of the June 12 forum, which will take place at 911 S. Miller St. in Santa Maria. The forums on June 12 and 26 will be held in Spanish.
This article appears in Jun 8-15, 2017.