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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SCHC wins grant funding to launch 
Santa Rosa, CA — Building on a six-year foundation of working with Santa Rosa youth, Southwest Community Health Center is launching Xinachtli: Young Men's Empowerment, a gang prevention program. SCHC, a federally qualified community health center that operates teen clinics in Southwest Santa Rosa as well as the school-based Elsie Allen Health Center, won a Measure O grant award from the City of Santa Rosa in September to fund the new program. Xinachtli targets Latino and Native American young men in Santa Rosa, ages 13 to 18 years, who are at risk or already involved in gangs. Xinachtli (pronounced "sheen ASH tli") means "the germinating seed," a Nahuatl word from the Chicano movement that refers to the moment of transformation when a seed germinates. Xinachtli will use a culturally-based prevention and education approach to increasing young men's awareness and personal responsibility by redefining the concept of manhood and addressing such issues as male responsibility, pregnancy prevention, and relationship violence prevention. Santa Rosa voters approved Measure O in 2005, a quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund critical public safety improvements including crucial youth development programs and other activities designed to address the community's gang prevention and intervention needs. Measure O funds are supporting the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force as well as the start-up and operation of new after-school recreation programs. Developing partnerships with existing community organizations is a key element of Measure O's implementation plan. "SCHC won this grant because we are proven collaborators who coordinate well with other agencies. Our Teen Advocacy Group or TAG program is clearly successful and we have a strong group of committed outreach staff," says Rory Gibbens-Flores, Director of SCHC Outreach and Health Education. "Plus, the program we proposed is a great one!" In early 2007, Xinachtli will begin recruiting young men through existing SCHC programs and establish relationships with them, leading to their participation in weekly class sessions to help them develop life skills, gain a deeper understanding of cultural and social influences, and foster a desire for personal growth. Xinachtli may also serve as a mandatory diversion program for young men who would otherwise enter the juvenile justice system. Xinachtli focuses on redefining manhood and masculinity, what it means to be responsible for one's own actions, and how to reduce the effects of bad choices. The holistic curriculum and program are designed to take into account the role social factors play in demonstrating risky behavior, such as drug and alcohol abuse or peer pressure. Once participants complete the 12-week class sessions, they can join a mentoring group for continued support in education, job training, and personal relationships. This builds on the indigenous concept of maintaining "palabra" or "credible word," and provides a rite of passage experience that enables participants to draw valuable lessons from traditional cultural rituals. The goal is to inspire a powerful new tradition that instills young men with positive cultural values, a sense of personal responsibility, and profound respect for others in the circle. "We know from our experience in working with youth who are either associated with gangs or who are gang members that many of them need to feel empowered," says Gibbens-Flores. "Being in the juvenile justice or alternative education systems can be a disempowering experience. Xinachtli offers empowering opportunities for these youth so they do not choose self-destructive alternatives. Redefining empowerment is the key to avoiding self-destructive behavior." SCHC in highly qualified to work with at risk youth, with a well-established track record of engaging them through the Teen Clinic, Elsie Allen Health Center, Teen Advocacy Group (TAG), and Teen Theater Group. These are youth who live in local neighborhoods with significant gang activity, as identified by the 2005 Gang Summary Report from the Santa Rosa Police Department. More than 90 kids have participated in the TAG program, increasing their self-confidence and life skills while developing peer leadership skills. Many of these youth who were considered at risk were able to learn alternatives to gang membership. Because young people continuously access SCHC clinic services through either the main Lombardi Court clinic or at the Elsie Allen Health Center, SCHC staff members are familiar with the challenges these youth face and work to help them avoid risky sexual and social behaviors that often lead to gang membership. Xinachtli offers a strong complement to SCHC's existing youth outreach programs. "While some youth find it cool to be in a gang and eventually grow out of it, we cannot look at gang involvement as a fad. There are some real issues that need to be explored in terms of why gang activity exists," Gibbens-Flores says. "Many young men are in the alternative education system and their specific needs are not being addressed, especially a need for more positive male role models. Young men who are at-risk of becoming gang involved need job training and educational advising." Xinachtli will address drug and alcohol abuse during the 12-week sessions, and work with other agencies to provide academic counseling and and employment resources. Finally, Xinachtli plans to work with the participants' fathers (to the degree possible) to foster better male role models in these young men's lives. Ultimately, Gibbens-Flores says, Xinachtli's vision is "to give these young men an alternative version of what it means to be a man." About Southwest Community Health Center SCHC is a nonprofit federally qualified health center (FQHC) providing comprehensive health care to uninsured and underinsured people regardless of their ability to pay. SCHC services include primary care, family planning, obstetrics, mental health, adult day services, specialty care, outreach, health education, and advocacy. The majority of SCHC patients live below the federal poverty level. SCHC operates five sites serving more than 12,000 patients annually:
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