Napa Valley Leaders to Recommend Countywide Gang Intervention Program

A subcommittee of the Napa County Gang and Youth Violence Commission was appointed Wednesday to look into which gang intervention and prevention program would work best locally.

"We need to build on what we've already done," said Napa County District Attorney Gary Lieberstein, an executive board member of the 26-person commission, at a meeting in Yountville. "The survey and inventory of resources that we did over the past year is a great starting point."

Ivan Chaidez, a member of the Napa Valley Unified School District board of directors, was appointed chair of the subcommittee. Alex Shantz, a community activist and student at Napa Valley College, volunteered to assist Chaidez in the efforts.

Chaidez and Shantz will work with several other commission members, including those who worked on a Gang and Youth Resources Inventory over the past year.

The results of the inventory were presented Tuesday to the Napa County Board of Supervisors.

Some 24 agency personnel responded to the survey, according to a copy of the commission's report to the Napa County Supervisors

Of those, 14 were in education; four were in nonprofits; three were in law enforcement; two did not specify; and one was in government.

Gang Commission Chairperson Charles Rose said Wednesday that many more potential responses could be collected.

"The committee on the survey and inventory needs to continue its work," Rose said.

Rose proposed that the commission collapse several subcommittees involved in researching gang intervention and prevention programs into one major subcommittee under Chaidez.

"I think we need to look at the bigger picture here," Rose said.

He was referring to earlier plans to investigate specific gang intervention programs -- such as G.R.E.A.T. or Legacy -- or to do a "targeted outreach" to Latinos and other groups through the area Boys and Girls Clubs.

"We need to look at what programs we think would be best for Napa," Rose added.

Eric Dreikosen, operations director for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Napa Valley, said he applied last year for a federal grant to establish a Napa gang intervention program through the Boys and Girls Clubs, but the county could not compete with major metro areas such as Los Angeles or Oakland.

"We applied for a grant for an 'evidence-based' program," said Dreikosen, who is also a member of the gang commission's executive committee. "But we lost out to the major metro areas."

Lieberstein said the subcommittee's challenge will be to determine how existing programs can be enhanced and improved without a major federal grant for financial support.

Both Rose and Lieberstein said the commission as a whole needs to return to its original master plan that established the group about two years ago.

By targeting goals of the original master plan, the commission will be better prepared to recommend a countywide gang intervention program to the Napa County Board of Supervisors next June.

"We need to focus on the master plan," Rose said. "I want all of you to bring a copy of it to the next meeting."

In other business, the commission is considering adding several new members. Those include: a second youth representative; a representative of Napa-area faih-based organizations; a public defender's office representative; and a county health and human services agency representative.

The group next meets at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in Napa, at a location to be determined.