form gen. 160 (rev. 6-80) city of los...

FORM GEN. 160 (REV. 6-80)

CITY OF LOS ANGELES INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE

DATE: August 2, 2006

TO: The Honorable Members of the Audits & Governmental Efficiency Committee

FROM: Terry Ogawa, Executive Director Commission for Children, Yout and Ti

SUBJECT: COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES' WELL-BEING

SUMMARY

In April2006, the Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families (CYF) released the 2005-2006 Children, Youth and Families Budget and Data Report, which details the City of Los Angeles' annual expenditures on programs and services targeted to children, youth and families and also includes a wide range of information about the well-being of our children, youth and families.

On April25, 2006, the members ofthe Audits & Governmental Efficiency Committee requested further analyses of the data in the Children, Youth and Families Budget and Data Report to gain a better understanding of the issues confronting each of the Council Districts and how those issues either differ or parallel each other across communities.

REQUEST

CYF has prepared individual briefings for each Council District identifying some priority issue areas for the Councilmembers to consider.

CYF respectfully requests 60 days to complete and present the remaining Council District briefings. CYF hopes to use these briefings to facilitate conversations amongst Mayor, Council, and departments on how to best coordinate resources to address the priorities identified through the analysis.

BACKGROUND

The Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families (CYF) was established by ordinance in 1995 to act as a focal point within the City to coordinate and evaluate efforts to serve the City's children, youth and families; work with City departments to enhance their programs; advise the Mayor and City Council on policy issues; and listen to and advocate for children, youth and families both within the City infrastructure and in communities.

CYF has worked to collect, analyze and provide accurate and objective information on relevant public policy issues to policymakers, City departments and the general public, and to build intergovernmental and community partnerships focused on policy and data development, program coordination, public education and collective action to ensure better outcomes for children, youth, and families in Los Angeles.

In 2002, the Mayor and City Council adopted the Action Plan for the City's Children, Youth and Families and the following vision for children, youth and families: "Every Los Angeles child should reach adulthood having experienced a safe, healthy and nurturing childhood that prepares him or her to become a

responsible and contributing member of the community. " In order to measure the City's progress at fulfilling that vision, the Mayor and City Council also adopted the five long-term outcome areas used by the County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, and First 5LA:

• Good Health ~ Children are born healthy and grow up healthy.

• Safety and Survival ~ Children are safe and secure in their homes and communities.

• Economic Well-Being~ Children live in families with adequate economic resources to meet their needs.

• Social and Emotional Well-Being~ Children are valued and nurtured by their families and communities.

• Achievement & Workforce Readiness ~ Children are prepared to succeed in school and youth are prepared to enter the workforce.

The adoption of these five long-term outcome areas allowed the Mayor and City Council to begin tracking how children are doing in County-administered systems (e.g. health services, foster care, juvenile justice, etc.) and to track Citywide conditions across political and administrative boundaries. Data on indicators of well-being for the City as a whole and by Council District were first provided in the Children's Data Report (2003). The ensuing Children and Families Program Inventory and Children, Youth and Families Budget, FY 2004-2005 helped policymakers identify the City's programs and services targeted to children, youth and families and amount of financial support allocated to those programs.

The 2005-2006 Children, Youth and Families Budget and Data Report uses both program/resource information and demographic/indicator data to conduct targeted analyses in three of the five long-term outcome areas: safety and survival; economic well-being; and social and emotional well-being. These analyses suggest that the City must do a better job of allocating resources according to need; coordinating internally and with other entities including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the County of Los Angeles, and First5LA as well as community members; and evaluating the outcomes of programs targeted to children, youth and families.

ANALYSIS

The data in the Children, Youth and Families Budget and Data Report indicates that there exist some sharp disparities in quality of life and access to programs and services across communities. These differences mean that families disproportionately impacted by challenges such as poverty and crime often have limited access to critical programs and services supported and/or provided by the City.

CYF assessed both program and budget data to develop community profiles and to begin to define some priority issue areas for each Council District. CYF has developed individual Council District briefings for Council Districts 2, 3, and 14 (See Attachment 1) and is continuing to work on briefings for the remaining Council Districts. Each briefing contains a community profile and an in-depth analysis of specific indicators of need and the corresponding programs in each Council District.

2

Council District 2 Page I

Wendy Greuel, Councilmember Commission for Children,

Youth and Their Families

Profile: Council District 2

Los Angeles' Second Council District encompasses the communities of Lake View Terrace, La Tuna Canyon, North Hollywood, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Sunland, Tujunga, Valley Village, Valley Glen, and Van Nuys. A diverse district rich in tradition, its landscape stretches from vast open spaces and equestrian communities unique to any major urban city to major portions of Los Angeles' world-famous entertainment industry.

The communities that comprise Council District 2 are rich in ethnic/linguistic and socioeconomic diversity. Increasing commercial and housing opportunities have made it an attractive location for families. Today, over 65,000 people under the age of 18 live in Council District 2. the District's youth population has increased by 7 percent between 2000 and 2002.

Race/Ethnicit;y

Demographic

Snapshot

• 51.5% of the population is White

• 33.9% of the population is Hispanic/Latino

• 6.4% of the population is Asian

• 3.8% of the population is African-American

A~e GrouJ;!S

• 23.7% of the population is under the age of 18.

Income and Poverty

• 19.1% ofyouth live at or below 100% ofthe Federal Poverty Level

• 48.6% of youth live at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.

• 66.3% of public school children are enrolled in the Free/Reduced Price Lunch Program.

• 1,531 residents are homeless.

Birth Characteristics

• Births to mothers under the age of 18 represent 2.87% of total live births.

School Data

• The average four-year dropout rate at public schools is 15.13 percent.

• The average combined SAT verbal/math score is 912.3 (out of 1600).

Learning About our Children and Families:

The Importance of Data-Driven Decision-Making The City of Los Angeles' vision is such that "Every Los Angeles child should reach adulthood having experienced a safe, healthy and nurturing childhood that prepares him or her to become a responsible and contributing member of society." In order to ensure that this vision is translated into tangible improvements for children and their families, the City of Los Angeles must engage in strategic planning that incorporates all relevant data including, but not limited to, the distribution of the target population and the needs of that target population.

The Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families' (CYF) Children. Youth and Families Budget and Data Report paints a rich portrait of the conditions of life for the City's young residents and their families, as well as the investment that the City has made in programs and resources dedicated to improving the quality of life for those young people. This brief contains targeted analyses of the data for the purposes of helping City Council better assess the needs of their constituents and determine the best way to improve the delivery and quality of programs and services for children and families.

Council District 2

Safety and Survival: Children are safe and secure in their homes and communities.

Ensuring the safety of children and families is the paramount responsibility of the City of Los Angeles. Traffic safety is a particularly salient issue for communities throughout the City of Los Angeles; a recent study conducted by the California Highway Patrol found that the City has the highest number of traffic-related injuries and fatalities in the state of California. Decades of population and commercial growth have left Los Angeles' physical infrastructure at capacity, while the public transportation system is not yet able to support the many needs of the City's residents. As such, the California Highway Patrol posits that many communities in the City of Los Angeles, which have large youth populations, will experience higher rates of pedestrian injuries and deaths involving children in residential neighborhoods and around schools.

Accidental (or unintentional) injuries, which include traffic accidents, are among the leading cause of death for children. Preventing traffic-related injuries and fatalities is a priority for communities throughout Los Angeles, including those in Council District 2, which is home to an increasing number of families. Moreover, communities like Van Nuys and North Hollywood are increasingly becoming home to immigrants, many of whom come from countries where language, traffic laws, and safety standards differ from those in the United States. Ensuring the safety of children their neighborhoods will thus require the full engagement of parents through education and empowerment.

Providing Safe Corridors

The Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families' Safe Corridors Project provides a community-based, permanent infrastructure solution to child traffic safety issues. The project, which aims to establish traffic safety programs at I 00 elementary schools in the City of Los Angeles, focuses on the safety needs of children as they go to and from school. Unique to the traffic congestion around elementary schools is the presence of children walking, running, bicycling, and skateboarding together with the vehicular congestion resulting from parents dropping off children and motorists from the immediate area conducting their daily routines.

The Safe Corridors Project actively engages City entities (Department of Transportation, Los Angeles Police Department traffic division, etc.) school administrators and staff, and most importantly parents and community members. Parents are recruited and trained to run the programs that are best suited to the needs of their children's school, i.e. Safety Valet or KidWatch, As such, parents are given the opportunity to become active participants in the effort to better educate the community about traffic and pedestrian safety issues. Informational materials and training sessions are provided in English and Spanish, and other languages as necessary, thus ensuring that non-English speaking parents are not excluded from the program. The Safe Corridors Project is currently operating in 64 schools in Los Angeles, serving over 67,000 students.

Council District 2 is home to nine (9) Safe Corridors schools, which fall in the Foothill, North Hollywood, and Van Nuys divisions of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau. These three divisions reported 79 traffic-related injuries and 23 fatalities in 2004-2005, representing nearly half of the pedestrian injuries and fatalities in the Valley Bureau, The Van Nuys division reported the highest number of pedestrian fatalities (I I) of the three, while the North Hollywood division reported the highest number of pedestrian injuries (32) of the three. In a direct response to this data, the Safe Corridors Project has concentrated largely on schools in the North Hollywood and Van Nuys areas, with the intent of reducing the number of accidents and injuries and leaving the community better equipped to deal with the hazards posed by traffic congestion.

Figure 1:

Safe Corridors Schools* vs. Accidental Injury Deaths in Council District 2

*Apperson Elementary School- Fair Elementary School- Hazeltine Elementary School - Kester Elementary School - Kittridge Elementary School -Pinewood Elementary School !- Saticoy Elementary School - Stonehurst Elementary School - Sunland Elementary School -

Source: Healthy City Project, 2006

Council District 2 Page 3

Social and Emotional "Well-Being:

Children are nurtured and valued by their families and communities.

Teen motherhood has profound effects on the health, economic, and socio-emotional well-being of both mothers and children. Research that has examined the antecedents of teen motherhood have shown that limited involvement in school and some family background characteristics, such as family instability and declines in family income, are associated with an increased likelihood for teen motherhood. Moreover, teen mothers report higher involvement in high-risk activities and also graduate at substantially lower rates than their peers.

Indeed, births to teen mothers represented just over I 0 percent of the total live births in the City of Los Angeles in 2002. Births to teen mothers declined sharply in Council District 2 (see table below), portions of La Tuna Canyon, North Hollywood, and Van Nuys show a relatively higher occurrence of teen motherhood.

Births to Teen Mothers (Ages 0-19)

Council Dis- 2000 2002 %Change trict

534 438 -17.9%

2 383 213 -44.5%

3 245 198 -19.22%

4 320 224 -29.9%

5 68 57 -16.6%

6 557 443 -22.3%

7 494 420 -15.0%

8 670 751 12.0%

9 1044 1153 10.4%

10 416 364 -12.6%

II 98 72 -26.4%

12 276 222 -19.6%

13 401 298 -25.7%

14 598 752 25.7%

IS 618 727 17.6%

TOTAL 6722 6320 -6.0%

Source: Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 2002

Figure 2:

Intervention Programs for Girls vs. Births to Teen Mothers


Providing Healthy Alternatives

While the risk factors for teen motherhood are highly varied, experts have consistently called for the provision of programs that focus on increasing adolescents' self-esteem. This recommendation is supported by research that shows a link between poor selfesteem, sexual activity, and parenthood among both young men and women. The City of Los Angeles supports several programs that are focused specifically on providing healthy alternatives to high-risk behaviors, including violence, and giving young women the opportunity to develop their potential:

• Girls Play LA/Raise the Bar - The Department of Recreation and Parks' Girls Play Los Angeles program and Raise the Bar Gender Equity Program were created in 1998 with the goal of providing new recreational opportunities in sports league competition for at-risk girls between the ages to 13 and 15. Participation in the program has steadily increased since its initial implementation. Recreation and Parks has been actively promoting both programs and monitoring participation in various sports leagues and programs.

• Young Women at Risk - The Commission on the Status of Women's Young Women at Risk Violence Intervention Program is aimed at effectively empowering young women to make healthy, productive, and positive choices in their lives by enhancing self-esteem, teaching life skills, and increasing positive mental and social health,

Figure 2 (above) shows that while Council District 2 houses all three programs, there are significant areas with relatively higher numbers of births to teens that do not have ready access to those programs.

lei Page 4 Council District 2

Achievement and ~orkforce Readiness: Children are prepared to succeed in school, and youth are prepared to enter the workforce.

Multiple studies demonstrate that early education is of great importance to a child's subsequent development. Indeed, research shows that by age six, a child's capacity to learn is largely formed. Seemingly unremarkable childhood play teaches communication, thinking, and problem solving skills. A high level of stimulation with books and talk can mean that a child will a much larger vocabulary than children who are not often engaged with language. This early gap has long-term repercussions for a child's cognitive development. The gap between the child who is stimulated at an early age and the one who is not is likely to widen throughout the school years.

Census 2000 data indicates that children between the ages of 0 and 5 account for 8.5 percent of the population in Council District 2. The increasing emphasis on testing and accountability in the educational system makes it necessary to provide all of these children with the nurturing, stimulating early educational environments that provide children with the opportunity to develop the basic social and cognitive skills they will need to succeed in school and, eventually, the workplace.

Figure 3:

City Preschool Programs vs. Children Ages 0-5


Figure 4:

Non-City Early Education Programs vs. Children Ages 0-5


Early Education in Los Angeles:

Building Regional Partnerships

Providing accessible, high-quality early education to all children in the City will require the continued development and strengthening of key regional partners, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, First 5 LA, and Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP).

As Figures 3 and 4 so clearly demonstrate, City-sponsored preschool programs at Stonehurst, Studio City, and Sunland Recreation Centers serve different portions of Council District 2 from non-City early educational programs in the District. Coordinated strategic planning between the City and agencies such as LAUP, which bring tremendous resources to the table, is necessary to ensuring that residents throughout the District receive the programs and services they need to prepare their children for school.

The City's Child Care Policy (adopted February 2005) calls for stronger coordination between the City, First 5 LA, and LAUP in order to increase opportunities for workforce development for the child care workforce, to standardize measures of quality across the region, and to increase the supply of affordable programs to families throughout the Los Angeles area.


Dennis P. Zine, Councilmember Commission for Children,



Los Angeles' Third Council District extends west to the Los Angeles City line, to White Oak Avenue and Lindley Avenue on the east, extending to Mulholland Drive the southern boundary and the northern boundary is Roscoe Blvd. Encompassing the communities of Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Reseda, West Hills, Winnetka and Canoga Park, Council District 3 is home to 5 libraries, 20 City-owned Recreation and Parks facilities, 56 Los Angeles Unified School District schools, 38 private schools, and a wide variety of commercial and cultural institutions.

Council District 3 is also home to 258,789 residents, 65,419 of whom are under the age of 18. The number of young people in Council District 3 has increased by 5 percent between 2000 and 2002 and comprises nearly a quarter of the population in Council District 3.

Race/Ethnicity

Demographic

Snapshot

• 54.0 of the population is White

• 28.8% of the population is Hispanic/Latina

• 9.9% of the population is Asian


Aee Groups


Income and Povert;y

• 14.5% of youth live at or below I 00% of the Federal Poverty Level



• I ,524 residents are homeless.



School Data





The Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families' (CYF) Children. Youth and Families Budget and Data Report paints a rich portrait of the conditions of life for the City's young residents and their families, as well as the investment that the City has made in programs and resources dedicated to improving the quality of life for those young people. This brief contains targeted analyses of the data for the purposes of helping City Council better assess the needs of their constituents and determine the best way to improve the delivery and quality of programs and services for children and families.

• Page 2 Council District 3

Safety and Survival:

Children are safe and secure in their homes and communities.

Ensuring the safety of children and families is the paramount responsibility of the City of Los Angeles. Traffic safety is a particularly salient issue for communities throughout the City of Los Angeles; arecent study conducted by the California Highway Patrol found that the City has the highest number of traffic-related injuries and fatalities in the state of California. Decades of population and commercial growth have left Los Angeles' physical infrastructure at capacity, while the public transportation system is not yet able to support the many needs of the City's residents. As such, the California Highway Patrol posits that many communities in the City of Los Angeles, which have large youth populations, will experience higher rates of pedestrian injuries and deaths involving children in residential neighborhoods and around schools.

Accidental (or unintentional) injuries, which include traffic accidents, are among the leading cause of death for children. Preventing traffic-related injuries and fatalities is a priority for communities throughout Los Angeles, including those in Council District 3, which saw the number of deaths by accident among ages 0-1 7 increase by 200% between 2000 and 2002. Moreover, Council District 3 is home to an increasingly diverse pool of residents, many of whom come from countries where language, traffic laws, and safety standards differ from those in the United States. Ensuring the safety of children their neighborhoods will thus require the full engagement of parents through education and empowerment.

Providing Safe Corridors

The Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families' Safe Corridors Project provides a community-based, permanent infrastructure solution to child traffic safety issues. The project, which aims to establish traffic safety programs at I 00 elementary schools in the City of Los Angeles, focuses on the safety needs of children as they go to and from school. Unique to the traffic congestion around elementary schools is the presence of children walking, running, bicycling, and skateboarding together with the vehicular congestion resulting from parents dropping off children and motorists from the immediate area conducting their daily routines.

The Safe Corridors Project actively engages City entities (Department of Transportation, Los Angeles Police Department traffic division, etc.) school administrators and staff, and most importantly parents and community members. Parents are recruited and trained to run the programs that are best suited to the needs of their children's school, i.e. Safety Valet or KidWatch, As such, parents are given the opportunity to become active participants in the effort to better educate the community about traffic and pedestrian safety issues. Informational materials and training sessions are provided in English and Spanish, and other languages as necessary, thus ensuring that non-English speaking parents are not excluded from the program. The Safe Corridors Project is currently operating in 64 schools in Los Angeles, serving over 67,000 students.

Council District 3 is home to four (4) Safe Corridors schools, which fall in the West Valley division of the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Bureau. These three divisions reported 38 traffic-related injuries and 12 fatalities in 2004-2005, representing 23.5% of the pedestrian injuries and fatalities in the Valley Bureau, In addition to these schools, Safe Corridors is also recruiting and working with parents at Alta Lorna Elementary School, Canyon Elementary School, Castle Heights Elementary School, 3rd St. Elementary School, Garden Grove Elementary School, Kenter Canyon Elementary School, and Wilton Place Elementary School. The West Los Angeles and Wilshire divisions of the West Bureau reported 80 pedestrian injuries and IS pedestrian fatalities in 2004-2005, representing 58.4 and 53.5% of the total pedestrian injuries and fatalities, respectively, in the West Bureau.

Figure 1:

Safe Corridors Schools* vs. Accidental Injury Deaths in Council District 2

*Canoga Park Elementary School - Hart St. Elementary School - Serrania Avenue Elementary School - Winnetka Elementary School -


Council District 3 Page 3 • Safety and Survival:

Children are safe and secure in their homes and communities.

The Children. Youth and Families Budget and Data Report shows that I 19 youth under the age of 20 died as a result of homicide in 2002, a 20 percent jump from 2000. However, some Council Districts' youth homicide rates remained virtually static or declined, indicating that some Council Districts experienced disproportionately high youth homicide rates.

Indeed, youth homicide is a particularly salient issue for Council District 3. Data from the County Department of Health Services shows that the number of youth homicides jumped by 25 percent between 2000 and 2002; while the number of homicide victims ages 18 to 19 decreased, the number between the ages of 0 and 17 increased. Closer analysis of the data reveals that the bulk of youth homicides occurred in ZIP codes comprising the Canoga Park and Winnetka communities.

Youth Homicides in the City of Los Angeles

Council Youth Youth Change %Change

District Homicides: Homicides: 2000 2002

I 9 8 -I -II%

2 2 3 I 50%

3 4 5 I 25%

4 5 6 I 20%

5 I 0 -I -100%

6 3 4 I 50%

7 I 4 3 300%

8 18 26 8 44%

9 17 19 2 12%

10 6 6 0 0%

II 4 I -2 -67%

12 I 2 I 100%

13 7 2 -5 -71%

14 5 19 14 280%

15 18 15 -3 -17%

TOTAL 99 119 20 20%


Figure 2:

CLASS Parks, LA Bridges, and Operation Bright Future vs. Deaths by Homicide


Keeping our Children Safe:

Operation Bright Future, LA Bridges, and CLASS Parks

The City has historically invested heavily in youth development/juvenile crime prevention programs to support the work of the Los Angeles Unified School District and various other organizations. The Community Development Department's LA Bridges I program, the Department of Recreation and Parks' CLASS Parks program, and the City Attorney's Operation Bright Future program are all aimed at ensuring that middle-school aged youth go to school and are safe in school and the communities around their schools.

The map above illustrates that there are gaps in the distribution of those programs relative to the incidence of violent crime in Council District 3 particularly in Canoga Park. Portions of the district experiencing the highest rates of violent crime do not have ready access to these programs, which help keep children in school and also provide healthy alternatives to high-risk behaviors such as drugs and gangs. The Department of Recreation and Parks, the Community Development Department, and the Office of the City Attorney should utilize data like crime rates in order to assess the placement of their programs, and should also work together to identify opportunities for closer coordination in an effort to leverage resources to maximize the benefit to the community.

lei Page 4 Council District 3

Good Health: Children ore healthy and grow up healthy.

Childhood overweight and obesity is a major public health threat to the United States. The rates of obesity have doubled in preschool children and tripled in adolescents in the past 25 years. Childhood overweight and obesity is related to the development of a number of chronic diseases in childhood and adulthood, such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Childhood overweight and obesity is preventable but requires changes in children's homes, schools, and communities.

National studies report that more than one third of young people do not meet recommended guidelines for physical activity. Indeed, only 20.1 percent of Council District 3's public school students met the standards of the Healthy Fitness Zone outlined in the 2004 California Physical Fitness Test administered by the California Department of Education. Those standards, which were established by the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, include measures of physical fitness, body mass index, and body fat. The importance of early intervention is clear in the data: only 12.5 percent of high school students met all 6 standards versus 22.3 percent of elementary school students in Council District 3.

C) c en ~, Q) ... Q) ca ::E"'C c Q) ca m-stn eN Q)I.L

~J: Q)U)

0..

California Fitness Examination Results: Council District 3

20% II Met 6 HFZ Standards

• Did Not Meet 6 HFZ Standards

California Fitness Exam Results by School Level: Council District 3

30.00% ...,.,....,.~.,.,.,.,.

25.00% ~~.:--6 20.00% 15.00% 10.00%

5.00% 0.00%

Elementary School

Middle School

School Level

High School

Figure 3:

Fresh Food Access, Gardens4Kids LA, and Youth Recreation and Nutrition Programs in Council District 3


Improving Children's Nutrition

In recognition of the growing importance of the issue of childhood overweight and obesity, the City of Los Angeles created and adopted the Child Nutrition Policy, which focuses on providing nutrition education, improving the nutritional makeup of foods served and sold at City facilities, and increasing opportunities for physical activity.

The Department of Recreation and Parks' Youth Recreation and Nutrition Program provides school-age youth in lowincome areas with access to quality recreation programs, including nutritional programs. The Community Development Department's Fresh Food Access Program provides lowincome families the opportunity to purchase or grow fresh fruits and vegetables at community gardens. Similarly, the Environmental Affairs Department's Gardens for Kids LA brings gardens to schools throughout the City in order to enhance nutritional opportunities and bring agriculture into an urban environment.

The City should assess the level of coordination between these programs to ensure that they are leveraging resources to work towards the same goal. For example, Youth Recreation & Nutrition Program sites should share information about the Fresh Food Access program with the parents of the children they serve, and coordinate nutrition education programs with both Gardens for Kids and the Fresh Food Access program.


Jose Huizar, Councilmember Commission for Children,



Council District 14 is comprised of the communities of Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Eagle Rock, Hermon, and portions of Highland Park, Glassell Park, Mt. Washington, and Downtown Los Angeles.

The history of these communities is a reflection of the multicultural growth pattern of the City of Los Angeles; throughout its history, the area has been home to waves of immigration and many different ethnic and cultural groups. Today, Council District 14 is home to over 70,700 children and youth under the age of 18, as well as their families. The number of young residents in Council District 14 has increased by 4 percent since 2000.

There exist tremendous opportunities for growth and development in Council District 14., including the ongoing historic preservation of Highland Park and Glassell Park and the development of the Eastside Extension of the Gold Line through Boyle Heights.

Race/Ethnicity

Demographic

Snapshot

• 72.4% of the population is Hispanic/Latino

• I 1.1% of the population is White

• I 0.6% of the population is Asian


A~:e Groups


Income and Pover1;y

• 26.9% of youth live at or below I 00% of the Federal Poverty Level



• 5,036 residents are homeless.



School Data





The Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families' (CYF) Children. Youth and Families Budget and Data Rej;>ort paints a rich portrait of the conditions of life for the City's young residents and their families, as well as the investment that the City has made in programs and resources dedicated to improving the quality of life for those young people. This brief contains targeted analyses of the data for the purposes of helping City Council better assess the needs of their constituents and determine the best way to improve the delivery and quality of programs and services for children and families.

Council District 14

Safety and Survival: Children are safe and secure in their homes and communities.

The safety of children and families is the paramount concern and responsibility for the City of Los Angeles. The Children. Youth and Families Budget and Data Report shows that I I 9 youth under the age of 20 died as a result of homicide in 2002, a 20 percent jump from 2000. However, some Council Districts' youth homicide rates remained virtually static or declined, indicating that some Council Districts experienced disproportionately high youth homicide rates.

Indeed, youth homicide is a particularly salient problem for Council District 14. Data from the County Department of Health Services shows that the number of youth homicides jumped by 280 percent in Council District 14 between 2000 and 2002. Closer analysis of the data reveals that the bulk of youth homicides occurred in ZIP codes comprising the Boyle Heights and Highland Park communities. Moreover, the number of youth between the ages of 18 and 19 that died as a result of homicide jumped from 2 to 14 (a 600% increase) between 2000 and 2002. In that same period, the number of youth between the ages of 0 and 17 that died as a result of homicide increased by 67%.

Operation Bright Future, LA Bridges, and CLASS Parks vs. Youth Homicide


Youth Homicides in the City of Los Angeles

Council Youth Youth Change %Change

District Homicides: Homicides: 2000 2002

I 9 8 -I -II%

2 2 3 I 50%

3 4 5 -I 25%

4 5 6 I 20%

5 I 0 -I -100%

6 3 4 I 50%

7 I 4 3 300%

8 18 26 8 44%

9 17 19 2 12%

10 6 6 0 0%

II 4 I -2 -67%

12 I 2 I 100%

13 7 2 -5 -71%

14 5 19 14 280%

15 18 15 -3 -17%

TOTAL 99 119 20 20%


Keeping our Children Safe:

Operation Bright Future, LA Bridges, and CLASS Parks

The City has historically invested heavily in youth development/juvenile crime prevention programs to support the work of the Los Angeles Unified School District and various other organizations. The Community Development Department's LA Bridges I program, the Department of Recreation and Parks' CLASS Parks program, and the City Attorney's Operation Bright Future program are all aimed at ensuring that middleschool aged youth go to school and are safe in school and the communities around their schools.

The map to the left indicates that there are major gaps in the distribution of those programs relative to the incidence of violent crime in Council District 14, particularly in Boyle Heights. The three departments should utilize data like crime rates in order to assess the placement of their programs, and should also work together to identify opportunities for closer coordination in an effort to leverage resources to maximize the benefit to the community.

Council District 14 Page 3

Economic VVeii-Being:

Children live in families with adequate economic resources to meet their needs.

The specter of financial insecurity can be one of the most daunting ones facing children and families in Los Angeles. With the cost of living constantly on the rise, many people do not have adequate access to highquality programs, services, and resources that they need in order to thrive and grow, including housing, education, transportation, child care, and health care. Indeed, financial insecurity often results in a sense of collective isolation and neglect for entire communities.

Los Angeles was recently ranked the second most expensive city in the United States, behind New York City. The cost of living in Los Angeles is reflected in the fact that over a quarter of youth in Council District 14 live at or below I 00 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, defined as an income of $20,000 for a family of four.

City of Los Angeles Homeless Count Results

Council Dis- Council Mem- Point-in-Time %of Total

I Ed P. Reyes 4,587 9.5

2 Wendy Greuel 1,531 3.2%

3 Dennis P. Zine 1,524 3.2%

4 Tom LaBonge 1,929 4.0%

5 Jack Weiss 2,066 4.3%

6 Tony Cardenas 2,254 4.7%

7 Alex Padilla 1,769 3.7%

8 Bernard C. 6,484 13.5%

9 Jan Perry 8,425 17.5%

10 Herb Wesson 3,143 6.5%

II Bill Rosendahl 2,526 5.3%

12 Greig Smith 1,123 2.3%

13 Eric Garcetti 2,858 5.9%

14 Jose Huizar 5,036 10.5%

15 Janice Hahn 2,850 5.9%

TOTAL 48,103 100.0%

Source: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, 2006

Moreover, the Los Angeles Homeless Services' Authority's recent Homeless Count shows that the City of Los Angeles is home to one of the largest homeless populations in the nation. At any given point in time, the Homeless Count estimates that there are just over 48,000 homeless residents in Los Angeles. Council District 14 has over 5,000 homeless residents, or I 0.5% of the City's homeless population.

The Homeless Count also highlights the fact that there are increasing numbers of homeless children and families. Moreover, nearly I 0 percent of the homeless youth in the City are classified as unaccompanied youth. Despite the difficulty in obtaining solid numbers, the Los Angeles Unified School District estimates that approximately 440 homeless youth attend schools located in Council District 14.

Meeting the Needs of Homeless Youth

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's (LAHSA) recent Homeless Count revealed that there are over 9,400 children under the age of 18 who are classified as homeless in the City of Los Angeles. This number represents 20 percent of the total homeless population in the City of Los Angeles.

Homeless children face a daunting set of challenges, including a lack of regular housing; transportation; health care and mental health care; and educational support services. Most importantly, these children often do not have access to safe, nurturing communities. The United Coalition East Prevention Project's 2005 report, Toxic Playground: Growing Up in Skid Row, details the many challenges that homeless children face daily. 49 percent of the youth surveyed in the report indicated that they had witnessed a death; 33 percent had not visited a dentist in the previous year; and 50 percent have been punished at school for not having a proper uniform.

The City of Los Angeles has the opportunity to work with a variety of agencies-the County of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and community-based organizations-to address the needs of homeless children and families, not just in the area of housing but also in supportive services for school-aged children and youth. The City's network of programs in libraries, recreation centers, Youth and Family Centers, and funded community organizations can help to support and improve the educational experience for homeless children. The City should take an active role in collaboratives such as the Los Angeles Countywide Coordinating Council for Homeless Families and the LAUSD Homeless Collaborative to identify the best way to leverage resources with its partners and to support the needs of homeless children and families.

Council District 14

Achievement and VVorkforce Readiness: Children are prepared to succeed in school, and youth are prepared to enter the workforce.

The constant evolution and sophistication of the Los Angeles economy has resulted in fundamental changes in the skill set required for success in the workplace. As such, schools and communities are faced with the challenge of providing the skills and training that are necessary for our young people to have real postsecondary choices. Indeed, students today are increasingly needing to complete a broad range of coursework in English, mathematics, science, and foreign language in order to succeed both in college and the workplace.

That coursework, generally known as the A-G curriculum, is required for admission to California's public university systems, the California State University system and the University of California system. But surveys of employers also indicate that they view the skills imparted in the A-G curriculum, regardless of whether an individual has a college degree, as necessary for success

Supporting the Educational Experience

The City of Los Angeles provides a number of supportive services that are designed to support children's education. In particular, the City funds programs that provide safe, supervised environments and tutoring and homework assistance services through its libraries, recreation centers, youth and family centers, as well as the Housing Authority's Community Service Centers and Computer Learning Centers.

While each of these programs provides an important service to young residents, it is especially important that these programs seek to link with each other so that their respective service populations have the opportunity to access slightly different services-such as SAT preparation at the libraries versus tutoring at the Community Service Centers-at different locations. The various departments' programs can and should work together to raise awareness about the breadth of resources that are available to them and to increase utilization of programs. In addition, the programs should work with each other to evaluate their performance so that they can work together to improve their collective impact on youth.

in the workplace. Even blue-collar jobs are increasingly requiring technical, reading, and comprehension skills that were not necessary in the past.

A significant number of young people ( 12,822) attend public high schools located in Council District 14. However, the California Department of Education reports that the average four-year dropout rate for high schools in the area is an estimated 25.58%, meaning just over a quarter of students enrolled in high schools will drop out over a four-year period. Similarly, 42.07% of public high school graduates in Council District 14 have not completed the coursework in the A-G curriculum.

Council District 14: Educational

Supportive Services

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