Local agency evolves to provide alternatives
by Erica Grimaldo, Outpost staff
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Gang crimes in
Reno
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Gang Alternative Partnership underwent a radical transformation last fall. The nonprofit organization, established by a group of community members in 1991 to reduce juvenile violence, closed the popular Fourth Street Youth Center they had been running since 1993.
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GAP director Julia Ratti in her office.
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"The youth center was the first program for GAP and it was extremely successful in targeting kids that hadn't been looked at before," GAP director Julia Ratti said. "On some weeks we had 300 junior high kids playing soccer or hanging out at our dances, and that was great but now there are at least nine new facilities where kids can do that."
Board members spent a year of research before closing the center in May. GAP opened again to the public in September, with a new location and a new approach.
The organization no longer maintains a site for youth to 'hang out.' The new office, at 355 Gentry Way Ste. A, houses four different intervention programs.
- The Outreach Program works in conjunction with other community organizations. Manager Larry Calhoun and two other outreach coordinators get kids involved in recreational activities such as football , soccer, guitar classes, a model rocket club and a DJ club at several locations throughout Reno, Sparks and Sun Valley. His job also involves making referrals to other GAP services.
- The Employment Program works with teens 14 - 21. Hellen Quan-Lopez, a 1998 University of Nevada graduate, teaches youngsters how to find open positions, fill out employment applications, write resumes and prepare for their interviews. She also helps dropout youngsters get back in school or find alternative programs to continue their education.
- The Mentoring Program targets middle school youngsters 11 to 14 years of age. Molech Blythe coordinates the program screening youngsters and adult volunteers, and then pairing them up. The program's objective is that mentors spend at least three hours per week with their assigned mentees providing them with the positive individual attention they might lack at home.
- The Youth and Family Program targets the whole family, not just the child. Lisa Ruggerio Rogers often works as a link between parents and their children, and parents and the school system. Her job includes identifying an individual's problems within a family, facilitating positive family dynamics and when necessary, making referrals to other community agencies.
About 90 percent of the youngsters GAP helps are of Hispanic origin, most of them between the ages of 16 and 18, said coordinator Quan-Lopez.
"They (the teens she helps) are all very different," Quan-Lopez said. "Sometimes they'll come with their friends or they'll be referred by outreach. Other times their parents will call me directly because they know I speak Spanish."
Regardless of how they get to GAP, every teen is given the same priority, Ratti said. Staff members will go to their homes and schools and work around their schedules, she added.
"These kids have issues that need to be taken care of and they won't just happen on a 9 (a.m.) to 5 (p.m.) basis," Ratti said. "We've made it a priority (for) the program to offer more intense staff support."
Ratti said the difference between GAP and other agencies dealing with teens in gangs is that Gap's staff members work hard for the kids but only as far as the kids want to go, they don't force them into rigidly structured patterns.
"The thing we stress in every program is goal setting,whether it's personal, academic or related to drugs or other things," Ratti said. "We don't ask kids to leave gangs. In some scenarios that is not a safe option for them. What we do is help them focus on the positive, on their assets."
Carlos Carrillo spends most of his work-
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At the same time, outreach activities keep those 'other' kids involved in positive activities.
"About 85 percent of the kids we see associated with gangs are not hard-core," Ratti said. "They are good kids making bad decisions."
After dealing with so many of these youngsters, Quan-Lopez has developed a way to identify the other 15 percent.
"One thing that I've noticed is that they are really charming and talkative, or they will have very low self-esteem," she said. "That will make either leaders or followers.
"The kids that come in here and are very polite and they know what to say, we know they're in a gang as the leaders. The kids that come in and are shy and soft spoken, they are the followers."
Calhoun said both of these types of kids benefit from participating in outreach activities because they are forced to interact with people outside of the gang setting. They also meet teens that might live in a different neighborhood but who have the same interests as them.
 Hellen Quan-Lopez volunteering during a Christmas shopping program for low-income kids.
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Most of the kids Quan-Lopez sees are in their late teens. A large portion of them are school dropouts involved with gangs and some of them have criminal records. But when they sit in front of her she treats them all like professional career people, Quan-Lopez said.
"I ask them, 'Where do you want to see yourself in two years and how can we get you started on it?,' " she said.
Quan-Lopez's job is to help these kids get back in school, if possible, and get jobs.
"We address their short-term needs such as helping them look for jobs that are open and filling out an application," she said. "At the same time they're getting long-term employment skills because they learn how to write a resume and how to prepare for an interview."
Molech Bly, left, is GAP's mentoring
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"I like my job a lot," said coordinator Molech Blythe. "But it depends on mentors. If people are not willing to make the commitment to be mentors then my job doesn't prosper."
Blythe said having a mentor makes a big difference to the kids he works with because many of them lack positive role models.
But the benefits are not all for the child, he said. Blythe has personally been a mentor to about half a dozen children in the past seven years and he said he would recommend the experience to anyone who can give three hours per week.
"There is no set schedule," Blythe said. "They can figure it out with the kids and it can be through the phone or in person."
GAP mentors must also be at least 21 years of age, able to commit to the program for 12 consecutive months, go through a background check and complete eight hours of training.
Lisa Ruggerio Rogers has many years of experience working with teens and families. Her job at GAP is to help the children who have more complex problems.
"She works with the kids that we know that a job or a mentor won't help," Quan-Lopez said. "She deals with the whole family. We know that if the family is healthy then the kids will be healthy too."
Ruggerio said one of the main issues she helps kids and parents deal with is negative school experiences, most of these caused by language barriers.
Students who have language problems tend to get discouraged. When the parents try to communicate with teachers or school officials and can't, they get frustrated too, Ruggerio said.
"Many of the parent's don't understand the kid's school system, mainly because of that language barrier," Ruggerio said. "We help by going with them and translating, whether it's to enroll the kid, for a parent-teacher conference, or for discipline. We make sure they get the information they need."
Another issue she often deals with is her client's anxiety over confidentiality.
"Confidentiality is a big issue with these kids because they don't want their gang-member friends to know they're helped here," Ruggerio said. "We're extremely careful to honor their confidentiality wishes.
"The kids I've had the opportunity to work with are extremely bright and respectful who want to have a better life but they've had great barriers in their lives. Our job is to help them get over these barriers."
Posted Feb. 25, 1999
Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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