Luz Southside Partnership –> Juntos Sin Violencia
Juntos Sin Violencia
Contact: Noel Valle, BS CPS, Director of Program Services
E-mail: [email protected]
Luz Southside Partnership
3819 South Evans, Suite 304
Tucson, AZ 85714
(520) 294-7620
(520) 294-1142 fax
The Juntos Sin Violencia project is a community effort to provide coordinated and comprehensive services that address the issues of youth violence in our community. The project has a three pronged effort to facilitate this goal:
- An extensive needs assessment to determine what the community views as needs and resources
- The implementation of a specialized curriculum in the school system to address the individual and school domains of the issue
- The development of a community network to better facilitate communication between agencies and coordinate services for the community
The Juntos Sin Violencia project is managed out of the LSSP office, and the funding source is the Center for Mental Health Services. The project is a two-year grant from September 2001 to September 2003.
The first component of the JSV project is comprised of three community needs assessments to assist in identifying factors of youth violence in the Tucson community. A Southside Community Household Telephone Survey is conducted with a random sample of 500 families to identify needed substance abuse and violence prevention services for the community. Focus groups (pláticas) will be conducted with four groups of community members (ages 14 – 55+) of the Southside community to measure the needs and resources of the community. The Arizona Youth Survey (AYS) is an alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs survey that will be administered to youth, ages 11-18, to measure knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to document the needs of at-risk youth.
The second aspect of the JSV project is a school component that is introduced in the Tucson school system. Currently, the Luz Southside Partnership in collaboration with Van Buskirk Elementary School is planning to implement a “Best Practice” prevention curriculum, PATHS, that is focused on reducing individual anti-social behaviors and increase school bonding.
The third aspect of the JSV project is to continue increasing community mobilization, networking, and capacity by utilizing the resources available through community organizations and service providers in Tucson, Arizona. Collaborators for the Juntos Sin Violencia project are Project Yes, Kino Teen Center and CODAC Behavioral Health Services.
Current and Anticipated Activities
At the present time, various activities are being implemented with the project. Firstly, focus groups are being facilitated in the Tucson Southside community. Three of the eight proposed focus groups have been completed. The phone survey is being administered to community members, and the goal is to complete 500 household surveys. A Summer Youth Leadership Symposium is planned for July 2002 utilizing youth from the Southside community. Planning meetings were held in February, March, and April in order to create an action plan and complete this event. More meetings will be held in May and June 2002. Collaborators for this event include youth from LSSP, Project YES, CODAC, and Kino Teen Center. A prospective site search to implement the PATHS curriculum is ongoing. Currently, prospective sites include Julia Keene Elementary, Lawrence Elementary, or Headstart Centers in Tucson, AZ.
