Youth Outreach Faces Fund Crisis

Jay Dodwell thinks like a teen-ager, spends his days around teen-agers and cruises teen “hot spots” on weekend nights. But he’s not a teen-ager; it’s his job.

Dodwell, 29, is an outreach worker for a Conejo Recreation and Park District program to draw young people dabbling in criminal activities, acting up in school or toying with gang affiliation into healthy activities.

“I’m not a teacher, I’m not a principal, I’m not a police officer,” Dodwell said. “I’m more like a friend they can look up to.”

But the $100,000-a-year program aimed at helping troubled youth is itself troubled by budget cuts at a time when gangs may be on the rise in Ventura County. Last weekend, there was a fatal shooting that occurred between rival Thousand Oaks and Camarillo gangs.

Already, Thousand Oaks school officials have been forced to drop the district’s portion of funding the 15-year-old program because of a budget shortfall for next year.

Now, the two other funding sources for the Youth Outreach Program--the park district and the city of Thousand Oaks--must decide whether they can afford to keep it running with one-third less money.

Park district and city officials plan to meet today to discuss the issue, said Karen Lindsey, the park district’s recreation services manager.

“My hope is that the program will stay,” Lindsey said. “We can’t just say we’re having funding problems and abandon these kids. They’ll come back to haunt us.”

Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall agreed, but he said continuing to fund the program will be a City Council decision that ultimately depends upon how much the state decides to take away from cities to balance its budget.

“I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to escape unlooked at,” Brimhall said. And he said of the program: “It’s critical. It’s a strong preventive strategy that very few other cities have. I think it has contributed to the safety quotient we’ve had to our credit.”

The park district may have to weigh the program against other vital services if the worst-case scenario comes true and the state raids $2 million from the park district’s $7.8-million budget, said General Manager Tex Ward.

“I think the city and park district will make every effort to maintain it,” Ward said. “It has been popular in the community, and perhaps that’s part of the answer.”

One of the program’s boosters said she is trying to start a fund-raising effort to recoup some of the $33,000 lost when the Conejo Valley Unified School District dropped its funding of the program as part of $2.1 million in cuts to next year’s $75-million school district budget.

“Everybody likes the idea that Thousand Oaks is the second safest city (in the nation) of its size,” said Shoshana Brower, who said she’s launching an effort to keep the program running. “But one of the things that keeps it that way are programs like this.”

Brower, who became familiar with the program as a board member of the Conejo Substance Abuse Prevention Authority, said she plans to push to keep existing funding intact while soliciting corporate and individual donations.

“Without a Youth Outreach Program, we’d see a lot more crime perpetrated in this community,” Brower said.

Dodwell and one other outreach worker make up the program’s staff, but they cover lots of ground from schools to street hangouts to the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, where they hope to attract youth to activities.

“The beauty of this program is that we’re connecting with kids not only in school but in their leisure time,” Dodwell said during a visit Tuesday to Sequoia Intermediate School in Newbury Park.

One 13-year-old said the after-school sports games and weekend dances that Dodwell steered him to have helped to “keep me out of trouble.”

The boy, who asked not to be identified, said he feels pressured to get involved with gangs like his older brother. Dodwell listens and helps him to explore consequences without passing judgment, the eighth-grader said.

“He’s like talking to another teen-ager,” the boy added. “Sometimes parents jump to conclusions and they won’t let you explain. At least Jay listens. You can tell him what’s going on.”

Another teen-ager said she was caught shoplifting and had started experimenting with alcohol before she was referred by a teacher into a discussion group that is part of the outreach program.

Dodwell has helped her to develop ways to say “no” when friends pressure her to do “bad things,” the seventh-grader said. She is also developing new friends who don’t pressure her at all, she said.

“He’s very calm and it seems like he understands,” the 13-year-old said of Dodwell. “Before, it seemed like I couldn’t get any attention.”

The outreach program has worked well at the school, although the workers will not be on campus next year because of the funding cut, said Sequoia Principal Max Beaman.

Dodwell, who handed out flyers at lunch hour advertising summer activities for kids, has helped to steer those headed for trouble into healthier pursuits, Beaman said.

“Kids want to be part of something, and if they’re not going to do it in a structured way, they’ll find it in another way,” Beaman said.