Think Creative - Issue 3

transforming towns together

Alexis de la O Romero, 15, shakes hands with his teacher and bumps fists with a friend before sliding into a desk at school and pulling his notebook and pencils from his backpack. He hands in homework and is attentive to the lesson. But not so long ago, he’ll tell you, he was a different person. “I was always on the streets. I wouldn’t listen to my family. I wouldn’t go to class,” he says. In Cojutepeque, a city as renowned for its crime rates as for its world-famous chorizo, these be- haviors can be an indicator of risk for engaging with the local ecosystemof gangs and violence. Concerned Alexis would fall into the same pattern as so many other youth in Cojutepeque, a teacher referred him to a family counseling program, part of the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project. The project, which is funded by USAID and implemented by Creative, evaluated Alexis – and 1,040 other youth – on his level of risk using a method known as the Youth Service Eligibility Tool. The tool assesses youth risk across individual, peer and family level domains using a series of nine risk factors—such as a critical life events, substance abuse and negative peer influence. Of the more than 1,000 youth the project assessed in that cycle, 142, including Alexis, displayed factors placing them at high risk for violence, referred to as secondary level risk. Of that group, 105 opted into the secondary violence prevention program. Over the course of 18months, Alexis and his family worked in close partnership with a trained family counselor to address prob- lem-solving, change negative family dynamics and lower risk factors for joining a violent group. After just the first six months, 92 percent of those 105 youth, including Alexis, no longer demonstrated four or more risk factors, placing them below the threshold of risk for violent be- havior or joining gangs—a service to the youth, their families and communities. “It’s a lot of help, both for them [the youth] and for us parents and, in addition, for the family

After completing a family counseling program, Alexis improved his performance and behavior at school and began planning his future.

“If I hadn’t joined the program, I don’t know where I would be right now.”

– Alexis de la O Romero, 15, participant in a family counseling program to reduce youth risk for violence

Diagnosing the problem, focusing on the hot spots As youth like Alexis work within their own homes to build resiliency to violence, com- munities like Cojutepeque are taking action in the streets, informed by improved access to crime data. Pulling information on crime froma range of actors like police, hospitals and schools, the CojutepequeMunicipal Crime and Violence Observatory discerns patterns in violent activity that can and have helped themunicipality take practical steps so families can venture out, kids can walk to school and vendors can sell their goods inmore secure environments. With details about types of crime, weapons used, time, location andmore, themunicipalities have implementedmeasures including postingmore police in locations where theft is more likely or installing lighting to illuminate streets. The observatory is one critical piece of a multipart effort in Cojutepeque and 54 other high- and medium-risk municipalities, from bustling San Salvador to coastal Conchagua, to bring all hands and resources on deck to reduce crime and violence and expand oppor- tunity for residents.

environment and even with neighbors,” says Alexis’s father, Víctor Manuel Marroquín. He says he and his son’s relationship changed as they worked together to address issues within the family and those his son confronted. Alexis became more open with his family, and his behavior outside the home improved too. “I was always getting into fights. I would disre- spect professors,” says Alexis of his past. “But the programhelpedme understand that that wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Well, I thought about it and I started going to class. I would paymore attention tomy teachers. I would no longer disrespect them. I calmed down.” As he thinks about the possibilities for his fu- ture, he is grateful to have been given the tools and opportunity to change. “If I hadn’t joined the program, I don’t know where I would be right now,” he says. But imagining where he may go and what he may achieve is becoming easier as his commu- nity also undergoes a transformation—through the recovery of public spaces, crime data collec- tion that makes streets more secure, skills and jobs for youth, and innovative measures to reach youth just like him.

16 | Think Creative | Summer 2018