MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR FORMER GANG MEMBERS SERVED BY AZTECS RISING: A GRANT PROPOSAL

1. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR FORMER GANG MEMBERS SERVED BY AZTECS RISING: A GRANT PROPOSAL By: Monica T. Gardiner California State University, Long Beach May 2013

2. Introduction • Currently, there are an estimated 750,000 active gang members nationwide (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , 2010). • Although gang life can be a temporary solution for vulnerable youth, gang life can forever negatively impact the youth’s future (Los Angeles Police Department [LAPD], 2012). • Gang membership creates an unsafe environment for the individual as well as those who surround the individual (LAPD, 2012). • Community members can experience a sense of hopelessness and helplessness as they see gang members take over control of their neighborhoods (Kataoka et al., 2009). • Most gang intervention programs have focused on preventing youth from joining gangs; only a few programs have been established to provide remediation services for former gang members. Two of the primary needs of former gang members are vocational services and mental health services. • The primary purpose of this project was to write a grant proposal to create and fund a mental health program that would provide mental health services to clients of Aztecs Rising, a nonprofit gang rehabilitation center located in Los Angeles, California.

3. Social work relevance Addressing the needs of oppressed and marginalized groups is a fundamental principle of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics (1999). The NASW Code of Ethics addresses six core values, which are (a) competence, (b) dignity, (c) integrity, (d) importance of relationships, (e) service, and (f) social justice. These values are relevant for social workers attempting to address the needs of former gang members who have been marginalized due to their criminal past, making it difficult for them to find legitimate employment and have a normal family life.

4. Multicultural relevance Ethnic segregation is an important factor to consider due to the fact that memberships to some gangs are based on ethnicity (OJJDP, 2010). Gang involvement is most common among oppressed minority ethnic groups. In Los Angeles, the fastest growth of gang involvement is in the Latino community.

5. methods • Target population: The program will serve individuals who identify themselves as former gang members. In addition, the services will be extended to family members who experienced trauma through gang life. Aztecs Rising is located in the east side districts of the city of Los Angeles, which is primarily populated by Latinos and Latino gangs. • Identifying and Selecting a funding source: The grant writer began to investigate potential funding sources for this project by using web-based search engines. For the purpose of this project, the following online directories were used: the Grantsmanship Center (http://www.tgci.com), the Center for Nonprofit Management (http://www.cnmsocal.org), the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership (http://www.lbnp.org), U.S. Grants (http://www.grants.gov), and google. These directories led the grant writer to tthreepossible funding options: the California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundationand Cedars-Sinai. • Funding Source: The grant writer selected The California Endowment for to fund this project. • Sources used for the needs assessment:Needs assessment data was gathered from books, published government reports, peer-reviewed articles, and websites. Additionally, the grant writer met informally with key informants from Aztecs Rising.

6. Methods continued • Projected budget range and categories: The total projected budget for this program is $ 231, 580, with an estimated $ 26,940 in in-kind donations. • Salaries and Wages • Program Director $58,000 • Employee-Related Benefits (@25%) $14,500 • Therapist $98,000 • Employee-Related Benefits (@25%) $24,000 • Outreach and Data Specialist $31,200 • Employee-Related Benefits (@25%) $780 • Intern Stipend $1,000 • Total Salaries and Wages $227,480 • Operations and Expenses • Office Expenses $1,200 • Data Collection Software $2,000 • Staff Development $900 • Total Operations and Expenses $4,100 • Total Budget $231,580 • Projected In-Kind Resources • Rent $20,000 • Utilities $1,440 • Computer Equipment $5,500 • Total In-Kind $26,940

7. Grant proposal • Program Summary and Description: The goal of the proposed program is to provide mental health services for former gang members and their family members. The therapeutic framework provided to the clients is going to be a brief treatment model. The clients will be meeting with a therapist once a week for about 12 weeks. In addition to the individual therapy, the program will also provide a support group for those who would like to participate. The support group will be an open group and will run twice a month. • Population Served: This mental health program called Cemelli (Aztec term for serenity) is intended for former gang members, clients at Aztecs Rising, 18 years of age and over, who self-identify themselves as former gang members. • Sustainability: The Program Director will be in charge of allocating additional funding sources for the years to come. Program feedback will be taken into consideration for program improvement. • Program Objectives: • Objective 1: To provide mental health services to former gang members and their family members. • Objective 2: To improve the psychological well-being of former gang members and their families. • Objective 3: To provide mental health education to the community through support groups.

8. Grant proposal continued Evaluation: The program success will be measured by several different methods. The individual therapy component to Cemelli will be measured by the number of participants served and by three different evaluation tools(PTSD Checklist-Civilian, Patient Health Questionnaire, General Anxiety Disorder tool). Each therapist will be responsible for turning in monthly statistics of the amount of participants served each month. The outreach and data specialist will be in charge of collecting statistics every month. The data collected will be password protected to ensure confidentiality. In addition, individual therapy clients will be evaluated by three different mental health screenings.

9. Lessons Learned/Implications for Social Work Lessons Learned : Lessons Learned :The grant writer learned many lessons about the process of completing a grant proposal. The grant writer was able to quickly learn that the grant writing process is very time consuming. However, most importantly the grant writer was able to identify that grant writing gives social worker’s the opportunity to advocate and fund programs for the underserved. Implications for Social Work : Many social workers obtain positions in nonprofit organizations where grant writing is one of the requirements of the job. Further, grant writing skills are an essential skill for social workers to be competent in during economic downturns when raising funds becomes more difficult. Additionally, the grant writer learned that grant writing and advocacy are tools that can be used to fund innovative ideas to develop services for underserved communities. Being able to fund programs that provide services to underserved communities, the social worker is then able to be a change agent at many levels.

10. References Los Angeles Police Department. (2012). Gangs. Retrieved from http://www.lapdonline.org/get_informed/content_basic_view/1396 Kataoka, S., Langley, A., Stein, B., Jaycox, L., Zhang, L., Sanchez, N., & Wong, M. (2009). Violence exposure and PTSD: The role of English language fluency in Latino youth. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 18, 334-341. National Association of Social Workers. (1999). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkers.org/ pubs/code/code.asp Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2010). History of street gangs in the United States. Retrieved from www.nationalgangcenter.gov/ History-of-Street-Gangs.pdf