Needed: Sponsorships for youth football players and cheerleaders who can't afford uniforms and equipment. Internships for high school students. Electronic keyboards and newer computers. Sports equipment and board games. Volunteers, especially men of color, to serve as mentors. Money.
Throughout the region, programs are attempting to offer young people alternatives to gangs, drugs and violence.
Organizers know the key ingredients, ranging from jobs to mentors, from support for families to sports. But leaders of local programs almost universally say they are drawing from scant resources while striving to meet a growing need.
"We have far too many youth who could benefit, and we're serving too few," said Jim Keddy, executive director of Sacramento Area Congregations Together.
Many community leaders advocate that local government agencies invest more in after-school programs for youth, especially sports programs similar to the south Sacramento Raiders.
"We're penny-wise and pound-foolish not to put more money into that," said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon.
Capt. Daniel Hahn, who runs the youth services section of the Sacramento Police Department, lays out the statistics. Of 59 homicides in the city of Sacramento last year, 18 of the arrested suspects were juveniles, as were six of the victims. Hahn said the county's population of "at-risk" youth is expected to increase 64 percent between 2000 and 2025.
"If we as a community don't come together and provide positive programs," he said, "then the gang is always standing on the corner."
The following is a partial listing of groups working with young people in Sacramento's toughest neighborhoods:
Sacramento Raiders and other youth football associations
What they do: Provide football and cheerleading instruction and competition to 175 boys and 125 girls.
What they need: The biggest need is money -- $210 covers one boy for the season; $300 covers a girl. The organization also needs help from people with fundraising expertise.
How to reach them: Call (916) 556-4900 for the Raiders or visit www.aayfc.us for information on other teams.
Our Kids
What they do: Black men mentor 12- to 18-year-old black males every Saturday. They provide social and academic guidance, recreation opportunities and incentives for doing well in school.
What they need: The program raises money through a screen-printing and embroidery business run with the help of youth participants. They take orders for everything from T-shirts to mugs to ink pens.
How to reach them: Call (916) 266-4553 or visit www.okprogram.org.
Center for Fathers and Families
What they do: Provide educational and enrichment programs for children and adolescents, ranging from computer skills and arts to athletics and leadership. The center also exposes low- income children to travel, arts and sporting events.
What they need: Tutors and adult mentors in pursuits ranging from from golf to soccer, drama to computers. Donations of money, athletic equipment, school supplies and tickets to cultural and sports events.
How to reach them: Call (916) 568-3237 or visit www.fathersandfamilies.com
Sacramento County Office of Education
What they do: Provide a community school for students who have been expelled from school districts; offer counseling, anger management.
What they need: Mentors to volunteer an hour or two a week with students.
How to reach them: Call (916) 228-2410 or visit www.scoe.net.
Greater Sacramento Urban League
What they do: The organization's goal over the next two years is to redirect 120 "at-risk" urban youth ages 18 to 21. Volunteers help them study for GEDs and teach them computer skills, customer service and life skills. At program's end, every participant gets a job with a promise of follow-up support.
What they need: Jobs for young people with basic computer skills. Tutors. Volunteers for a youth advisory board that reviews programs. Donations of money and working computers.
How to reach them: Call (916) 286-8626 or visit www.gsul.org.
People Reaching Out
What they do: Train high school students to mentor younger students. Involve teenagers in campaigns against violence and drug abuse. Run camp for middle school students. Provide family counseling and support groups.
What they need: Money: Pledge $5 a month for school district training on preventing drug abuse and violence, $40 to train a high school student as a mentor.
How to reach them: Call (916) 576-3300 or visit www.peoplereachingout.org.
Sacramento Area Congregations Together
What they do: Help religious congregations develop youth projects. A communitywide push against youth violence also is being organized.
What they need: Tutors and mentors. Jobs or internships for youths.
How to reach them: Call (916) 447-7959, ext. 14, e-mail info@sacact.org, or visit www.sacact.org.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento
What they do: Each club provides a safe place and recreation and enrichment programs for hundreds of 6- to 18-year-olds.
What they need: Volunteers to tutor, prepare meals, coach, work in the computer lab. Donations of money, newer computers, art supplies, school and office supplies, board games and athletic equipment, electronic keyboards, video cameras, hygiene kits.
How to reach them: Call (916) 392-1350 or visit www.bgcsac.org.
Youth Connections Unlimited
What they do: Contract with the Sacramento County Probation Department to provide mentors for youth -- particularly young male adolescents -- whose parents are having trouble controlling them. Provide a mediation program for young people charged with property crimes to make restitution to consenting victims instead of going to court.
What they need: Mentors, especially men, to serve as role models for boys ages 11 to 14. Volunteer mediators for offender-victim mediation.
How to reach them: Call (916) 875-0576.
100 Black Men of Sacramento Inc.
What they do: Provide twice-monthly sessions for small groups of young men at area high schools. Put on an annual conference for young African American men.
What they need: Men to act as role models and mentors to teenage boys. Volunteers to work with boys' families. The group especially needs men of color.
How to reach them: Call (916) 428-8203, e-mail sac100blkmen@sbcglobal.net or visit www.sac100.com.
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