California  Voter	Juvenile Justice in California
	Fostering a More Supportive Society

In this section... FOSTERING A MORE SUPPORTIVE SOCIETY Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods How Do We Change Smaller Cities? Building Communities with Help from the Press Using Data to Strengthen Communities and Improve Services Forging the Essential Connections Between Schools and Work School-to-Work Update Young Men as Fathers Drug Prevention Education Conference TABLE OF CONTENTS

School-to-Work Update

The initial federal commitment of 5-year funding for demonstration projects has run out. In California, the state has established a small budget for school-to-career, but nothing large enough to create a viable program for all students.

The watchword in school-to-career development has been, "All means all," meaning that every student, regardless of post-high school plans, should learn the skills to succeed in the marketplace. Yet many decision makers, teachers and other professionals in education and guidance, parents, social workers, school boards and other policymakers in and out of government continue to see the school-to-career initiatives as merely another "vocational education" program, relevant only to those students intending to move directly into the workforce after high school.

At the first inter-site meeting of the School-to-Work Intermediary Project in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in May 1999, the 25 participating sites and 8 project partners agreed to a broad definition of the priority principles of school-to-work. School-to-work:

Young Men as Fathers

Young Men as Fathers is a program developed by the California Youth Authority to help break the cycle of violence. The program reaches out to 14- to 18-year-old young men in its facilities who are parents or in a parenting relationship, that is, in a relationship with a woman who has a child, or as a father figure to a sibling or the child of a sibling. This 24-hour, 12-week program works to empower teen fathers to be responsible parents and to enable them to use support services effectively.

The Los Angeles County program called L. A. Dads is a collaborative effort between the Los Angeles County Office of Education's Juvenile Court and Community Schools Division and the L. A. County Probation Department. These young men may be on probation or incarcerated, but all are required to attend schools directed by the county Office of Education. In addition to the classroom program, this course provides each young father with a one-on-one mentor for six months to reinforce the lessons and model positive parenting skills and family activities such as Father's Day picnics and storytime at a local bookstore.

Research shows that many, if not all, of these young men severely lack the knowledge, mind-set, skills and intervention they need to be caring, competent fathers. Furthermore, studies show that one of the strongest predictors of delinquency is being the child of a former delinquent.

Drug Prevention Education Conference

The League of Women Voters of California has agreed to cosponsor a drug prevention education conference in early 2000 to bring together drug prevention education researchers, schools, local policymakers, community organizations, parents and youth to discuss what is working and what is not working to prevent substance abuse among young people. The purpose of the conference is to improve communication between those who evaluate drug prevention, those who implement the programs and those who make policy affecting the content and availability of those programs.

Substance abuse among youths is a growing concern, seriously affecting young people's chances of success in school and in later life. According to the California Student Substance Abuse Survey in 1995-96, alcohol, marijuana and inhalant use are all on the increase among 12- to 16-year-olds, and the proportion of children attending school while under the influence of alcohol or another drug has risen by about 50 percent since 1989, to nearly 25 percent of ninth graders and one-third of eleventh graders.

From 1991 to 1994, the federal government spent $3.5 billion on drug prevention and education programs. In California alone, $400 million a year is spent by the state for school-based programs. Yet according to the conference organizers, many of the strategies being implemented by schools and communities simply do not work.

Last year, the U. S. Department of Education ruled that school districts and communities may only use funds from the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act for substance abuse programs that have been proven effective through solid research, with coordination between schools, communities and government. For more information and these new rules, see www.ed.go/offices/OESE/ESEA/prospectus

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