Mission and Vision
Mission
“The mission of the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership is to improve and support the safety and quality of life for youth, families, and community.”
Background
On March 14, 2007, 15 year-old Luis Angel Linares became the victim of a gang stabbing homicide during a gang brawl that took place in downtown Santa Barbara. A 14 year-old was charged and found guilty of the homicide. Following this tragic incident the City of Santa Barbara launched an effort to address youth gang violence. It quickly became clear that the problem of youth gang violence is a community problem that will require a collaborative community effort to find a solution.
The Strategy Planning Committee on Youth Violence was established in January 2008 in response to Santa Barbara City Council direction to improve communication and coordination with other government agencies and non-profit organizations who are engaged with providing services and programming to local at-risk youth. In March of 2009, the South Coast Task Force on Youth Gangs was formed based upon a recommendation of the Strategy Planning Committee on Youth Violence.
Mission of the Strategy Planning Committee on Youth Violence
- Represent youth and family service providers, education institutions, government agencies and community foundations.
- Provide support to key agencies and organizations who are working to produce a comprehensive directory of youth and family services available on the South Coast.
- Provide leadership to determine the framework for, and then to initiate, a foundation process for engaging the community in developing a strategic plan to comprehensively address youth violence issues for implementation by an institutional structure charged with that on-going responsibility.
- Initiate immediate actions to improve coordination of activities and programs that are currently underway to focus more successfully on at-risk kids.
- Establish and appoint a Steering Committee to follow-through with the direction from the Strategy Planning Committee.