NATI’S HOUSE dba NEUTRAL GROUND (2)

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Exhibit A disproportionate Minority Contact -Technical Assistance Project (DMC-TAP) Summary Report and Recommendations in Orange County, California, even though Latinos are only 46%of the general population, they are overrepresented in Juvenile Hall and represent 75% of the population, the majority coming from Santa Ana and Anaheim. Truly this data demonstrates the need for prevention of our younger at -risk youth and young adults. In order to be effective, it is imperative to provide guidance, social - emotional support, hope and a pathway toward change. Violence is the leading cause of death among adolescents and a violence prevention program can focus on the various risk factors and highlight the protective factors (Oscos-Sanchez et al., 2021). When developed and implemented on a community level, engaging adolescents can address the health benefits that help empower this population to address the mental health imbalances, family dysfunction, dysregulated structure to routine, social instability and safety/security that have all been heightened in this community by the COVID-19 pandemic (Oscos-Sanchez et al., 2021). Due to this need for violence prevention, Neutral Ground's proposed program will fulfill the gaps of services that are traditionally unavailable in the densely populated areas of need. The youth will also be motivated to make positive life choices as they learn from positive role models who have followed traditional and non-traditional pathways to success and have effectively redirected their lives, overcome obstacles, and built rewarding lives for themselves. The youths in turn will experience a culturally inclusionary and culturally competent, healthy and safe environment where supports are accessible, and barriers traditionally blocking success have been removed. 4. Details of Collaborations with Local Oraanizations Neutral Ground has been operating in the heart of Santa Ana for the past 30 years and has established a strong network of collaborative partners. The founder, Nati Alvarado, was a teen father himself at the age of 15. His passion to help others and avoid the trauma and heartache that he and his family experienced in his youth have given him the desire to pursue this work and lead his agency with a strong collaborative spirit. His deep commitment to new and existing partnerships demonstrates a strong foundation of collaborative readiness to serve Santa Ana youth through a wide range of community activities and events. Over the past 10 years Neutral Ground has participated in The California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities (BHC) Initiative within Santa Ana Unified School District, developed the Friday Night Lights Program with funding from the City of Santa Ana which served thousands of youths from all over the city. In addition, Neutral Ground was selected as a partner to provide job preparation and drug abuse prevention in the Prop.47 grant with the alternative education programs within SAUSD and funded to provide Restorative Practices at secondary schools throughout the community. Neutral Ground also implemented the Proud Parent grant in SAUSD which included a collaborative partnership with community agencies and OC Probation Department. The partnership was so successful the Memorandum of Understanding has been renewed although the grant ended several years ago. Throughout the years Neutral Ground has been a reliable and cutting -edge community agency ready and willing to serve the community through collaborations and partnerships with law enforcement agencies, school districts and other community agencies. Memorandum of Understandings are already active for two of the major law enforcement partners in this grant. 5. Innovation in Service/Delivery NG has developed an innovative proposal including evidence -based practices that will prove effective with this uniquely vulnerable population, the NG-YVP will Implement a comprehensive case management system that will support highly impacted youth of COVID-19. Neutral Ground will be providing staff who will coordinate linkages to urgent resources to mitigate the gaps in basic needs while simultaneously facilitating restorative circles to rebuild social -emotional health. NG has a long-standing commitment to serving the most vulnerable and is known for incorporating trauma -informed care into services. Trauma -informed care is a strength -based approach that emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety to create an environment for participants to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment (Hopper, Bassuk, & Olivet, 2010) NG activities will be conducted in safe spaces where youth feel culturally, emotionally, and physically safe. NG staff have extensive training on the evidence -based services, and many have first-hand understanding of the life struggles that impact the youth of today. The majority of the NG-YVP team will be from Santa Ana and are culturally proficient and bilingual. Their youth -driven, evidenced -based, support services are customizedbased on the needs and the input from teachers and support personnel from their schools. NG will maximize t he potential of each participant by setting and achieving individualized goals and plans. The NG-Youth Violence Prevention program is also innovative due to its ability to be up and running in less than a month. The partnership is already solidified with Memorandums of Understanding with Santa Ana Unified School Police and Orange County Probation. Communication and collaboration will be developed with the Santa Ana Police Department once the program is funded. Referrals have already been committed by several partners and staff have already been recruited and on stand-by in order to begin the program upon approval. A famous quote from a student in San Francisco once advised a conference room of service providers, "A child will walk around trouble and away from trouble, if they have someone to walk with and somewhere to walk to." By receiving funding for Youth Violence Prevention, Neutral Ground will be able to expand and fulfill this dire need for so many of the lost and impacted youth in our city.