WSA_Youth and Family Master Plan Phase I - September 2009

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Executive Summary Youth in the City of Santa Ana today face immense challenges and barriers to physical activity and safe play. Rising levels of childhood obesity constitute one of the nation's biggest health concerns, and recent studies show that Santa Ana has one of the highest levels of childhood overweightlobesity rates in the State of California (MMWR, 2006; OCHNA, 2005). Inadequate parks and open spaces and insufficient programming for youth services combined with high levels of youth violence and street gang activity suggest serious burdens that young Santa Ana residents must deal with as they grow into adulthood. With a shortage of safe places to play and mounting budgetary restrictions at the state and local levels, times are tough for the youth of Santa Ana. This report, the first phase of the Santa Ana Youth and Family Master Plan (YFMP), responds to the challenges of obesity and gang activity facing the city's youth. Beginning in August 2008, Ersoylu Consulting assisted the City of Santa Ana's Parks, Recreation and Community Services Agency (PRCSA) in conducting a thorough assessment of the resources and programs available to young people and families. The assessment started with an assumption that the childhood obesity epidemic and relatively large gang presence in the city were two major issues facing the youth of the community. The research on obesity prevention and youth violence is clear: the provision of safe, open spaces and the availability of quality structured programming for youth physical activity are critical to putting youth on a path to better health and positive growth. The report outlines the results of amulti-faceted assessment of community resources. Results and conclusions are based on extensive interviews, focus groups, and surveys that were conducted with a wide variety of parties, including city officials, staff from community based organizations, Santa Ana youth, and the parents of youth involved with organized soccer leagues. The assessment also included the analysis of secondary data, including GIS maps, crime statistics from SAPD and county officials, and City of Santa Ana policy documents and reports. Analysis of the data identified recommendations of opportunities for the community at large as well as opportunities specifically aimed at improved soccer programming. Community opportunities include: • Data collection on Santa Ana youth must be coordinated and shared regularly to guide program ~rPatinn - An investment in mapping the types of physical activity opportunities offered city-wide can provide a clearer picture of where programs are located and who is being served. This will support better-targefed efforts into future needs. • Focus park funding in park-poor communities. - By directing park and open space funding opportunities to fhe areas with the highest needs, city policy can lead to the reduction of childhood obesity for the neighborhoods with the greatest struggles. • Focus joint-use and athletic programminq opportunities at schools with the lowest Fitness-gram scores. - Promoting joinf-use, the use of school grounds for after hours physical activity, in areas with the greatest needs will likely lead to improvements in healthy body compositions in fhe city's most "unhealthy" neighborhoods. • Close the coordination gap in youth programming -especially for teen programminq^ - Very few youth programs operate at nights and on weekends. Increasing outreach for teen- servingprograms and incenfivizing organizations willing to stay open later and on weekends can help to bridge the gap in services to teens in Santa Ana. Consider tailored interventions to communities with high crime. - The SALUD Initiative and Townsend Streef Task Force provide models of best practices that other communities in Santa Ana could follow. These types ofmulti-stakeholder, resident- drivenprocesses could support communities most in need. • Increase programminq in city community centers by nonprofits.