Governor Schwarzenegger recently launched the California Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGrip). The $48 million dollar effort – funded by state and federal money will focus on combating local gangs across the state through job training, education and intervention programs.
Doug Luffborough III is well aware of the problem. In 2001 he started Turning the Hearts Center (THC), a non-profit organization in Chula Vista dedicated to empowering youth and families. For the first year, the organization ran without any funding, dependent on the hard work and dedication of Doug and a team of committed volunteers. Today THC has seven full-time staff and 30 committed volunteers, serving over 4
00 people in the San Diego Community, in one-on-one meetings and weekly classes.
We had a chance to catch up with Doug this week to learn more about Turning the Hearts and get his thoughts on the CalGRIP initiative.
The ETOlutionist: You had a difficult childhood, growing up in Worcester, Mass, without a father, in and out of gangs, and eventually in your senior year of high school living on the street with your mother and siblings. How did you manage to overcome these circumstances and proceed to earning a master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, a fellowship degree for the Center for Social Innovations at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders and receive a personal invitation from President Clinton to the White House?
DL: A strong, disciplined mother, a commitment to my faith and perseverance were the primary factors in my success. Even at my lowest times, I never gave up on my dreams of attending college. After graduating from Northeastern University, and later, Harvard University, I knew I had to help others in difficult situations to show them that who they have been destined to become is not dictated by external factors but to the degree that they believe inwardly that they were born to win!
The Etolutionist: Tell me about the programs you offer related to preventing gang violence and involvement.
DL: This January we started a new program called G.A.M.E. = Gang Awareness through Mentoring and Education - it is a gang reduction, prevention, and intervention group mentoring project. The goal is to work with high-risk of joining and/or actual gang members between the ages of 13 to 21. Over forty youth are currently enrolled in the program, many referred by the San Diego Probation Department and the Sweetwater Union High School District.
The program just received a CalGRIP grant award through the state to grow and further develop the work we are doing. One major challenge is dealing/working with active gang members who are rivals in the streets, but who are expected to be peacemakers when they come to group. The other challenge is keeping, and retaining participants long enough to track and record positive outcomes. It is critical that we track the behavior and achievements in real time, which is why this February we signed on to use Social Solutions ETO platform.
The ETOlutionist: Can you share some thoughts on the CalGRIP initiative – what aspects do you expect will be beneficial? Are there any areas of the initiatives that you think might need improvement or to be revisited?
DL: Overall what is most helpful with using ETO on our CalGRIP initiative is the opportunities to case manage the services being provided and gather real time information that can be used to quickly provide proactive alternatives for positive solutions. Creating pre and post assessments to show changes in behavior over time will provide us with information that we believe can curve gang involvement. One area that might need improvement or revisited would be adjusting program design and service offering that maximize the optimum outcomes and minimize rivalry confrontations.
The Etolutionst: What is the make-up of the enrollees in the program currently?
DL: Right now 90% of the youth we serve are Hispanic, around 70% are gang affiliated. Youth range in age from 13 to 21 years old. 100% are male. Expansion of G.A.M.E. in the future will include services for women as well.
The Etolutionist: Can you expand on how tracking behavior, achievement and outcomes will help you expand?
DL: What gets measured gets done. We provide weekly one-on-one sessions and group meetings as well as provide work-readiness classes, GED classes, youth development sessions, tutoring, and parenting services to the youth in G.A.M.E. We need to track outputs and the relationship between activities to positive outcomes that can be measured over time. This is where the ETO technology comes into play. It provides us with real time information that can highlight areas of success as well as areas that we need to work on. Ultimately we expect ETO to prove that the work we do with gang members helps them lead productive and meaningful lives in our society and inevitably leaving the gang mentality and life style.
The ETOlutionist: You are in the early stages of implementing technology for performance management. How do you plan to get staff on board with this and committed to using it.
DL: Using ETO will be a mandate at THC – not a choice. All of the staff will be required to use it everyday, and we even hope to open the platform up to those we serve, so that they can enter feedback on the programs. This will be particularly helpful in deciding which programs need to be tweaked. Our weekly staff meetings include discussion on ETO – what is working, where people need help or training. It’s not looked at as another software application but part of the culture.
The Etolutionist: Thank you for taking time to participate in our blog interview today. We hope to check back in with you in the future to hear how the organization is progressing.
************************************************************************
Join Doug and Social Solutions in a discussion about managing the performance of gang prevention services in a webinar on Thursday, May 29th. Find more information and sign up here.
gang prevention CalGRIP Doug Luffborough nonprofit accountability Turning the Hearts Center