Building Youth Action for Safer Communities

Community safety

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The Washington neighborhood is one of the only communities in Long Beach without a youth community center. The County has determined our parks have “poor” infrastructure conditions, and “very low” access. Further, during the pandemic our neighborhood, which has historically been one of the highest gang/gun violent neighborhoods in Long Beach, saw a 42% increase in aggravated assaults, including shootings, and 15% of all homicides. The conditions youth in this neighborhood face create a critical need for programming that builds valuable, life-long skills while encouraging them to become advocates through civic education and participation. Our program seeks to provide an alternative to gang violence, using athletics and skills-building as a bridge to advocacy and community organizing, developing youth as civic-minded leaders with a sense of empowerment and agency to make their communities better and safer through youth-led revitalization projects and systems-change.

Through the Youth Academy + Action Program, youth take a lead role in advocating for and reshaping their community to promote safety, encourage revitalization, and reduce violence. A grant from LA2050 will dramatically transform our organization, enabling Books & Buckets to scale this program to better serve our community’s youth. The summer Youth Academy provides 8-weeks of free basketball clinics, mentorship, and civics education to youth recruited through partnerships with local schools. The skills clinics engage youth in sports with positive teammates and coaches and educate them on civics and advocacy, inviting guest speakers from elected offices to discuss how government systems work and what youth can do to support their neighborhood. During the second phase, Youth Action, youth take the skills and knowledge over the summer and launch an actionable youth-led neighborhood impact project. They identify issues in their neighborhood, the actions and strategies to solve them, and navigate solutions through philanthropy, volunteering, advocacy, or awareness. Issues identified to date included “Gang Violence”, where youth organized a Gang Violence Prevention Panel with five experts that drew 70+ attendees; and “Trash/Litter”, where youth organized a community cleanup and created a trash arts sculpture that was presented to City Council and later featured at the Museum of Latin American Art.

We envision a future where youth are empowered to take an active role in community revitalization and systems change, ultimately thriving in a safe and healthy neighborhood. The Youth Academy + Action Program is an innovative tool to combat community violence, utilizing a sports-based youth development model. As cited by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, “Sport can serve as an effective tool for connecting to youth culture and subcultures in society, to give a voice to youth who are considered marginalized, and it can enable education in its various forms, including the development of long-lasting relationships with other institutions in professional networks.” Building from the aspects of mentorship and advocacy, our vision is to expand, adding structured tutoring and one-on-one mentoring to address academics and create more opportunities for youth to grow as community organizers.

We track metrics such as the number of participants, events/actions organized, and community members engaged through activities organized by youth. Additionally, we administer pre- and post-surveys to measure and assess the changes as a result of participation including: Knowledge of the levels of government and confidence in speaking with elected officials;
Level of project management and leadership skills acquired;
Use of basketball skills to promote increased physical activity and relieve stress; and Level of confidence, sense of strengths, and ability to enact change. In 2023, 108 youth took part in more than 24 hours of programming, organizing events that engaged 170 additional community members and raised more than $90,000 to support neighborhood safety and revitalization efforts. Post-program surveys indicated that 78% of participants felt their project management and leadership skills increased, and 100% felt their voices were heard when discussing issues in their community.