Our Participants

The majority of youth we serve live in inner-city communities where up to 40% of residents live below the poverty threshold, compared to 13% regionally. They experience higher rates of substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, unintended teen pregnancy, and youth violence as well as lower rates of high school graduation than youth in other county communities. The central and southeast San Diego neighborhoods where we work experience among the highest rates of gang membership and juvenile referrals to probation in the county, and neighborhood public schools have among the highest student drop-out rates and lowest academic performance scores.

Ethnic representation in our programs consists of 50% Hispanic, 30% African American, 15% Caucasian and 5% Asian/Pacific Islander. Approximately 60% of participants are male and 40% are female.