I am a strong believer that our City’s youth are our future, and as adults, we are responsible for preparing our youth for the best future possible. Focusing on at-risk youth depends on community-based initiatives, including services integration, effective case management, parental involvement, mentoring, tutoring, fundraising, and closely monitoring outcomes and successes. And it takes a village, which means collaborating with our local schools, our police, parents, Riverside County and our churches to be effective. One organization that is helping make this happen is the non-profit, Workers Assistance Program, through their “Peer Assistance and Leadership” (PAL) program. The mission of the PAL program is to enable young people to use their potential to make a difference in their lives, schools and communities. PAL recognizes an innate capacity for social understanding, personal well-being, and community participation within every student. And, PAL nurtures and builds capacities to help youth increase resiliency and build protective factors to help them achieve school and social successes which lead to a productive life.
The youth of our city also benefit from our City of Desert Hot Springs Future Leader’s Program. The mission of the program is to provide an avenue for the youth of Desert Hot Springs to engage in City government by instilling the importance of civic value and developing civic skills. The eight-week program is geared towards high school Juniors and Seniors and covers an introduction to local government, elections and community advocacy, job applications, resumes and interviews, council meeting protocols, mentoring and holding a mock City Council Meeting. Participants will receive recognition at an actual City Council meeting.
I support these programs in DHS, and it is just a part of my overall focus on at-risk youth in our City