Youth workers press Mass. for funds

Aid crucial to troubled teens, they say

Block by block, day after day, James Davis walks the Chelsea streets where he grew up. A former convict who is now a youth outreach worker, Davis preaches to drug dealers and gang members about avoiding the mistakes he made and rising above the streets that once dragged him down.

"They're going through the same thing I went through," he said. "We just try to tell them there's a different way to live and we're here to help you. We meet them where they're at."

For "hard-headed" teenagers he works with, youth programs are pivotal, potentially their best hope for a better life, he said. Davis, a 23-year-old who works for Roca, a Chelsea youth development organization, will join hundreds of other youth workers at a State House rally today in a show of support for increased funding for violence prevention programs.

Sponsored by a coalition of 25 community and youth organizations, the rally marks the beginning of National Youth Violence Prevention Week. Governor Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley, Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Secretary Kevin Burke, and Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis are scheduled to speak at the 1:30 p.m. event.

In the coming weeks, lawmakers will debate Patrick's budget, which calls for increased spending on a range of outreach, mentoring, substance abuse treatment, and jobs programs aimed at reducing youth violence. With the state facing a budget gap of more than $1 billion, the extent of funding for such programs is in question, and advocates say they worry the Legislature will not consider it a pressing priority.

In response, youth advocates, law enforcement officials, and teenagers affected by drugs and gang violence from cities across the state, including Lowell, New Bedford, Brockton, and Springfield, plan to showcase successful antiviolence programs.

"It's definitely a statewide problem, not just a Boston problem," said Emmett Folgert, director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative. "We now know where and when violence is likely to happen with a level of specificity we've never had before, and when you have that level of specificity, you can do something."

Youth advocates say focused community programs are a proven way to reduce inner-city crime, drug addiction, and poverty. Mentoring troubled teenagers, helping them finish school and find jobs, and showing them alternatives to dealing drugs and running with gangs can steer them away from crime, advocates say.

James Davis said that although teenagers and young adults sometimes think of outreach workers as "Roca police," and are slow to trust them, they are more likely to respect those who have shared their experiences.

Strong, stable relationships with adults, Folgert said, is by far the most accurate predictor of whether a teenager will succeed as an adult.

With more generous funding, youth organizations could follow law enforcement's lead in targeting high-crime areas and provide teenagers in those neighborhoods with a range of prevention programs, Folgert said.

"We need to give people in the dangerous places safe places to go," he said.

Folgert praised $1.6 million in new grant funding from the state Department of Public Health, announced in November, as a major advance for community prevention programs that has prompted immediate gains.

In Lowell, for example, a $160,000 Department of Public Health grant helped the United Teen Equality Center expand peacemaking efforts among rival gangs blamed for the bulk of the city's violence. After hiring more outreach workers, center officials were able to create a citywide coalition that arranged dozens of meetings and three summits between gang leaders.

Gregg Croteau, the center's executive director, said efforts at broad change, while successful, will take time to make lasting progress.

"Funding for us needs to reflect the context of the services, and there's still a lot more work ahead," he said. "Change takes a significant amount of time and takes a major investment."

Lewis Finfer, director of Massachusetts Communities Action Network, said advocates have been pressing lawmakers for increased spending for several months. Specifically, they are calling for boosting the budget for antigang violence from $11 million to $15 million; for youth development programs from $2 million to $7 million; for summer jobs for teenagers from $6.7 million to $9.2 million; and for after-school programs from $2 million to $14 million.

Relatively modest investments in reaching out to at-risk adolescents, Finfer said, can yield profound dividends. He urged lawmakers to consider raising taxes on cigarettes and corporations, or dipping into reserves, to increase funding.

Frank Garvin, a former police chief in Chelsea who now works at Roca, said outreach workers are addressing the root causes of inner-city violence and drug abuse.

"They're going to the heart of the problem," he said. "They take the kids from dysfunctional families, the kids who no one wants, and they embrace them. When you intervene in their lives, you give them a little hope."