El Rancho School District (Pico Rivera, CA) | Local Initiatives Support Corporation

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded grant funding to eight local districts under the OJJDP FY 2019 Comprehensive School-Based Approach to Youth Violence and Victimization Program (CYVP). This grant program supported a comprehensive effort to address youth violence and victimization through implementing evidence-based prevention, intervention, and accountability efforts in a school-based setting. The goals of the program were to: (1) reduce the incidence of school violence through accountability efforts for offenders; (2) respond to victimization, exposure to violence, and trauma as a result of violence that occurs in the school, community, or family; (3) improve school safety and climate; and (4) prevent violence, delinquency, and victimization in the targeted community. LISC Safety & Justice provided technical assistance and training to enhance CYVP grantees’ capacity to reach their goals.

Introduction

El Rancho Unified School District (ERUSD) serves Pico Rivera, CA, a small city of about 63,000 people in 8.8 square miles on the eastern outskirts of Los Angeles. The city is predominately (91.2%) Latino/a and Spanish is the primary language for many families in the tight-knit community. A 2009 CNN feature referred to Pico Rivera as the “Latino Mayberry.” ERUSD has one comprehensive high school, one continuation high school, three middle schools, and eight elementary schools serving 7,500 students. ERUSD is also the top employer in Pico Rivera, where multiple generations of families have attended the same schools and are personally invested in the state of the schools. Many of the people that work in the school district grew up in the community. Families are engaged and active in making the city and the district a better place to live and work. This engagement is needed. There is a history of gang activity in the community, and it has been on the rise recently. ERUSD is now seeing gang activity spill over into the schools.

Program Purpose

ERUSD applied for the CYVP grant to support strategies to reduce gang Involvement and to improve school attendance among students who were experiencing challenges that kept them out of school. ERUSD planned to invest more heavily in diversion programs and create opportunities for students to participate in safe activities after school and connect with mentors.

Approach

El Rancho schools had already started youth violence prevention work with previous grant funding for violence and victimization reduction, which established a good foundation to continue the work in the schools with the CYVP grant.

Diversion programs focused on middle school students because the district knew that 8th and 9th grades, in particular, are critical periods for students becoming involved with gangs. For example, ERUSD’s P.R.O.M.I.S.E. program provides mentorship, enrichment, and diversion messaging for middle school students. P.R.O.M.I.S.E. is an intervention-based program working with specific students at risk for law enforcement involvement or negative community interactions. A collaboration between mental health experts and law enforcement, P.R.O.M.I.S.E. includes a restorative practice component, mental health services, lessons from the district’s G.R.E.A.T. program (gang resistance, education, and training), and life skills. It also includes time for kids and law enforcement officers have fun together, playing basketball or soccer and building stronger relationships.

The program works with Soledad Enrichment Action to bring in community members with lived experience in gang involvement to speak to students. The goal is to provide information about how the steps in gang recruitment work and what can happen, sometimes without the young people realizing what they are getting into. Speakers illustrate the progression from dressing a certain way and hanging out in certain places to more formal gang involvement. P.R.O.M.I.S.E. leaders aim to build connections with the students, try to help young people think about the direction they are going, and introduce the idea that they have options in their lives.

The school district also needed more after-school options. There are not many places for young people to go in Pico Rivera. ERUSD began working with the Boys & Girls club in the neighboring city of Whittier, eventually expanding the program to Pico Rivera and opening it to all kids in the Pico Rivera community. ERUSD partnered with the LA County sheriff’s office, a unique relationship for the department, and expanded the program from a handful of students to an enrollment of 70-80 young people. The program provides character building, community service, support with homework, leadership, and wellness activities. The students who participate in Boys & Girls Club often are not connected to another activity after school such as sports and might not have had experiences where they felt like they belonged or could be a leader. ERUSD brought in a new resource that did not exist in Pico Rivera before, and students in the district rose to the occasion. ERUSD students have won the Boys & Girls Club’s prestigious Youth of the Year award, participated activities and field trips, and gained access to scholarships for college.

Student mental health is another key priority for ERUSD. The school district works with Spiritt Family Services to provide services for the mental health program at the high school. Spiritt also sees students at a few other schools where there are clusters of students who have been exposed to violence. ERUSD’s Student Services office employs licensed clinical social workers who work directly with students as mental health liaisons. These staff members supported students at El Rancho High School as they took initiative to create a wellness space at their school. This quiet room with comfortable furniture gives students a place to go when they are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, unsafe, or even just alone at school. The new space has been extraordinarily successful. It is full every day, and so popular the school had to create a pass system for students to take turns. ERUSD mental health liaisons are bringing in programs and services such as mindfulness exercises and a mental health resource fair. They are planning to expand what they offer, potentially including yoga classes.

Results

Results from the recent California Healthy Kids Survey show a great improvement in perceived safety on the school campus and in students’ perceptions of meaningful relationships. ERUSD officials credit these increases to the availability of the new spaces and programs provided by the CYVP grant.

ERUSD mental health professionals have witnessed real-world examples of how intensive support and relationship building is helping students. One student worked with substance abuse counselors and the school resource officer. She was participating in programs and had stopped using, but she unfortunately experienced a relapse. Relapses are not uncommon in substance abuse recovery. Because of her strong relationship with the school police officer, however, this student was able to reach out for help and stop using again. She has since begun taking some trade skills classes and is on her recovery path. Another student is a long-term recipient of mental health services with a history of suicidal ideation and severe anxiety. Despite these challenges, the student was recently a featured speaker in a wellness committee board meeting, talking about their experiences. The student’s ability to participate in the meeting, engage with adults in the room, and take on a leadership role was a testament to their progress and the value of the supports they have received.

Challenges continue for the city of Pico Rivera and its school district. In the past year, ERUSD has seen a marked increase in fights and drug activity in the schools. The school system knows how to help students, but it cannot do this work alone. It needs families, staff, community-based organizations, agencies, and partners to work together to steer students away from gang involvement and other harmful activity. Having programs, interventions, and partnerships already in place is critical to ERUSD’s ability to address the recent challenges and the sustainability of its efforts. The district has allocated funding to continue supporting the Boys & Girls Club, the diversion programs like P.R.O.M.I.S.E., and mental health staff positions.

ERUSD staff recognize that school districts share the students with their communities, which creates opportunities for schools to collaborate and be a hub for services. For many students, school can be a safer place where there is less stigma around obtaining assistance than there is in the community at large. Bringing partners to provide those services helps students as well as the schools. ERUSD is selective in its partnerships, seeking input from students and parents on what is needed. In the design of the wellness center, for example, district staff asked what students wanted to see and used that input to guide the selection of partners and programs for the center.

Related Resources

Webinar: School Safety and Wellness Spaces
Webinar: Mental Health & Substance Abuse Support Strategies for Schools

Resources on this page are supported by Grant 2019-MU-MU-K011, awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

OJJDP provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to youth delinquency and victimization. The Office helps states, localities, and tribes develop effective and equitable juvenile justice systems that create safer communities and empower youth to lead productive lives.