Santa Maria Valley Future Search is back on the radar. Technically, it never really disappeared—it’s just ready to step back into the spotlight. Last February, approximately 100 Santa Marians gathered at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center for a three-day conference addressing youth violence in the area.
Based on an internationally recognized model, Future Search brings people from all walks of life—those with resources, expertise, authority, and need—into one conversation. The group works together to solve overarching problems in the community.
The Santa Maria conference was kept under wraps because some of the people involved were—and continue to be—active gang members.
“It was the best-kept secret in Santa Maria for a while there,” said Greg Nims, an educational psychologist who attended the event.
Conference organizers asked members of the media and other individuals who couldn’t attend the entire event to stay away so participants could focus on the issues at hand. But now they’re ready to share their progress with the public.
Earlier this month, Northern Santa Barbara County United Way posted the Future Search conference report on its website, uwcentralcoast.org.
According to the report, attendees were grouped depending on their expertise and experience to ensure all members of the community would be represented and able to serve as leaders.
“[Everyone was] asked to share ways violence has affected them personally, ways in which violence has affected their community, and the role violence has played in the global landscape,” the report said.
People responded with some of the following answers: “My family and myself [are] part of the gang lifestyle;” “Violence at home and my dad [is] a heroin addict;” “My brother killed himself;” and “[My] friend committed suicide due to being bullied.”
Other more widespread responses included references to the 2004 Pepper Tree Plaza shootings and other local homicides. According to information provided at the conference, the community suffered five homicides over the last two years, and robberies and aggravated assault cases more than doubled. Globally, people referred to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Iraq War, racism, and increased drug use.
Locally, participants attributed violence to seven key trends: poverty, the media, broken families, alcohol and substance abuse, mental health issues, a lack of resources, and a lack of parental awareness.
Some parents at the conference said today’s youth are living in a materialistic world and don’t have the coping skills, empathy, or compassion to relate positively to people. Some of the young people responded by saying, “Adults want to discipline us, but none of them want to educate or show us,” and, “Adults don’t even see us as people. They are scared of us. They have no idea how to relate to us.”
Since that three-day conference in February, one of the main focuses has been helping adults and youth feel more connected.
Patricia Solorio, an employee at Future Leaders of America, is one of the conference attendees establishing a youth and family organization named Familias Unidas Buscando Esperanza (Families United Searching for Hope). The group started meeting in August and continues to meet the first and third Wednesday of each month.
“We’ve been looking at the root causes of violence,” Solorio said, adding that common sayings among the youth at the meetings were: “‘People just don’t care,’ and ‘There’s no hope for young people.’
“That’s where the [group’s] name came from,” Solorio explained.
The purpose of the conference and the group meetings is to empower youth and families to organize and find their voices.
Solorio recalled overhearing a young person say at one of the meetings, “‘I’m not a politician. I can’t do anything about that [problem].’ And I said, ‘But wait a minute—that’s what this is about. You can do something about it.”’
For example, Familias Unidas Buscando Esperanza is currently compiling a resource directory for youth in crisis.
“Through talking, we found that there really aren’t many places a kid could just show up to or call and say, ‘I need help,’” Solorio said. She also said the group is interested in introducing a ballot measure to fund a youth crisis facility.
Of course, Familias can’t do everything by itself. Luckily, it has lots of help from the other Future Search participants—government officials, churches, law enforcement officials, educators, attorneys, senior citizens, and more—who are working toward the same peaceful goal.
“We have to start pulling together, not in different directions,” Solorio said.
Contact Managing Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 6-13, 2011.