Successful gang prevention program in Watsonville enters its second year

The ‘Adelante Program’ is make up of Watsonville Police Department, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and the Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance. These three agencies have three goals – prevention, intervention and suppression. They say the work they’re doing is successful, and they’re able to see the results immediately.

“It’s been very successful,” Watsonville Police Lt. Saul Gonzalez said. “When you are able to pool officers and give them one task, which is to stop gang violence, it’s very effective.”

The Watsonville Police Department is one part of a trifecta of local agencies aimed at stopping gang activity. Thanks to a $380,000 grant, four officers are able to concentrate on finding major gang players.
“It creates a significant impact,” Lt. Gonzalez said. “We are able to pull guns off the street, make arrests, remove these gang members from our community, even for a short period of time, which could prevent homicides or other activities they are involved in.”

From suppression to prevention, the Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance is targeting kids from the third to ninth grade. The Pajaro Valley Unified School District identifies at-risk students. These are kids who have had previous problems such as truancy, bad grades, suspensions and expulsions, previous gang involvement and trouble at home.

Program manager Charlie Wilkins sees the district’s effort making a difference one student at a time.
“We essentially give students and parents the tools they need to get on a good track and stay on a good track,” Wilkins said. “To stay in school and put themselves in a position where they’re going to make good choices.”

It’s not easy. Some kids have to go through cognitive behavior intervention counseling. Their parents have to be schooled as well, in a mandated five-week course called ‘Guiding Good Choices.’

Good choices is what they’re seeing from some of the 33 kids who have gone through the program already.
“They were able to change their behavior,” Wilkins explains, “Change their school performance, change who they’re associated with, they were able to fulfill the program requirements and reenter regular school.”

Once a student does fulfill the requirements, their case is essentially ‘closed,’ and another spot opens for another student in need. The Adelante Program would like to expand but it comes down to funding, which they admit can be hard to come by, but they are looking for more sources.