An Ounce of Prevention

How much is it worth to steer young people away from gangs and delinquency?

How much is it worth to build a sense of pride and accountability in a neighborhood where many residents are poor, homes are often overcrowded and hope is in short supply?

How much is it worth to show that community and its youth that there is a brighter future waiting for those who work hard, work together and obey the law?

These are the goals the South Oxnard Challenge Project has been pursuing for two years, funded by a $4.5-million grant from the California Board of Corrections. Now in the final year of its three-year trial run, the project must find new funding if it is to continue.

Should it?

The reviews are mixed. A RAND Corp. report on the project’s effectiveness in its first 1 1/2 years shows that the recidivism rate was not much better among probation youths who were supervised by the Challenge Project and probation youths in the regular system. But the individual stories of project participants and community members tell a different tale, as recounted in an article by staff writer Anna Gorman in today’s edition of The Times.

We believe the Challenge Project’s innovative, community-based approach is a good one that should be continued with state and county funds. In a staunch law-and-order county willing to spend freely on police, prosecutors and prisons, we consider this ounce of prevention to be an outstanding investment.

The South Oxnard Challenge Project is an experimental program designed to reduce juvenile crime by providing troubled teens with mentors and counselors--and giving the community a say in their punishment. It aims to combat such underlying causes of juvenile crime as poverty and parental neglect, rather than just meting out punishment.

Youths in the program are given an opportunity to make amends by participating in service projects, such as graffiti removal, or by making restitution to victims. The Challenge Project also offers them recreational activities, family therapy, parenting workshops, anger management classes and tutoring.

The Challenge Project brings together the county, the city of Oxnard and several local nonprofits, including the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, El Concilio del Condado de Ventura and Interface Children Family Services.

South Oxnard was picked for the grant because it has one of the highest rates of juvenile crime in Ventura County. During a 12-month period in 1995 and 1996, there were more than 225 crimes committed by juveniles in south Oxnard. There also were six homicides and 11 drive-by shootings in the area, according to police. And although Oxnard accounts for only 21% of the county’s youth, at the time the Challenge Project began that city’s youngsters represented 45% of those in juvenile institutions and 40% of those on probation.

We believe in the Challenge Project’s strategy of reducing juvenile crime by involving community members and reinforcing the expectation that young people will contribute to, rather than undermine, quality of life in the area. We like its recognition that there are many reasons why youths go wrong, and that addressing those problems is more cost-effective than focusing on punishment. And by “cost-effective,” we aren’t talking about money alone.

How much is it worth to turn even one teenager from a potential loser into a potential solid citizen?

The South Oxnard Challenge Project is a bargain.