Salinas group marches to City Council budget meeting, asking city to invest more in youth
Teens, adults, and even some council members are looking for more community services to keep kids busy in Salinas. The group, Youth Voice, surveys the community to find out what’s needed and wanted. On Tuesday, the group marched to City Hall, asking for a larger investment in activities for teens and less money spent on policing them.
“Let’s give the youth more tangible opportunities to build themselves up, to build up their neighbors, so that we can insure that the budget reflects real community priorities,” said Jeanette Pantoja, with Building Healthy Communities, supporters of Youth Voice.
Youth Voice said more community programs will help tackle the city’s youth violence problem, which is something the Salinas Police Department says it deals with too often.
“There’s a lot of crime that involves youth, whether they’re victims of violence, homicides, shootings, so it’s definitely a big deal for us,” said Seargent Lalo Villegas.
The group wants the city’s budget to reflect the demographic of the community.
“A city like Salinas has maybe $45 per person to spend on library and community services, where a city like Monterey has $933 to spend on those same services,” said Pantoja.
Services like the ones offered by the Salinas Aquatic Center. One of the few places offering recreational programs and employment options to help steer youth away from violence.
“Time management, how to create goals for themselves, how to achieve those goals, you know our focus is positive feedback in the community and really enforcing that with the kids,” said Kristen Rianda, Manager of the Salinas Aquatic Center.
Youth Voice hopes to have an impact on the budget, as the city’s budget will be approved on June 14th.