COA – Riverwest S.A.F.E. Program
Jan 1st, 2010
The Safe Places at COA Youth & Family Centers – Riverwest Center provides youth enrichment programs weekdays from 2:30 – 8 p.m. from their location at 909 E. Garfield Ave. in the Riverwest neighborhood. COA’s Riverwest Center has received a $40,000 grant from Safe & Sound for 2010 to conduct a S.A.F.E. program aimed at youth (ages 10-19) with higher than average risk for either being involved in crime or becoming victims of crime. Children and youth at the Riverwest Safe Place are growing up in a community where 81% of all births are to single mothers, and 86% of the families served by COA report yearly incomes of less than $15,000.
The Riverwest Safe Place program is making a difference in the lives of youth at their site using four main tools. The first tool is weekly AODA education using the Too Good for Drugs and All Stars Jr. curricula to help youth learn how to say no to drugs and alcohol. Second, there are tools to provide anger management and conflict resolution education using programs like Dare to be King, Dare to be Queen and Too Good for Drugs. Third, the Riverwest Safe Place partners with law enforcement, gang diversion educators and community members to offer prevention and intervention training to prevent youth from involvement with gangs and gang-like activity. The fourth tool used by the Riverwest Safe Place is employment readiness training. A lack of job skills and opportunities for employment for youth in Milwaukee is an even more pressing issue now that the nation is experiencing the worst economic environment in decades.
Youth-Led Crime Prevention
The COA Riverwest Safe Place is partnering with Safe & Sound to lead the youth-led Crime Strategy initiative (CSI) at their site. The CSI – a signature piece of Safe & Sound youth development process – operates under the premise that young people themselves are in the best position to detect and solve the problems they experience in their daily lives. Underlying this approach is the belief that when given decision-making authority, young people will become more socially aware, academically motivated, and resilient in dealing with community, schools, and family problems.
Youth at the Riverwest Safe Place are concerned about the increase in gang-like activity in their community. Through preventative education and skill building COA gives youth the tools needed to avoid the influence of gangs. Over the next few months, the Riverwest Safe Place Center youth will develop a lesson plan using what they learned about gangs in a series of gang forums and other informational sessions. Armed with this knowledge, they will work to educate their peers at their site and within the community about gangs and the crushing impact gangs and their involvement in gangs can have on their own lives, their families and the community.
For more information about the COA Riverwest Safe Place Center go to http://www.coa-yfc.org/.
