Duarte on its Way to Creating a Youth and Family Master Plan

The City of Duarte is on its way to having a Youth and Family Master Plan that will enhance the community’s programs, services and quality of life for youth and families.

A volunteer 27-member Advisory Committee, appointed by the City Council and headed by co-chairs Doug Edwards of Westminster Gardens and Dr. Vincent Castro of Maryvale, is made up of a cross-section of the community including parents, teens, educators, child development professionals and others.

The role of the committee is to develop a measurable action plan that will guide the City of Duarte, the Duarte Unified School District, community organizations, and others over the next five to ten years regarding youth and family programs, services, and facilities. Plans are to present a completed action plan to the Duarte City Council by July 2010. It will include action steps, benchmarks and timetables for meeting the goals of the plan, said Duarte Recreation Director, Donna Georgino, who is overseeing the committee with consultant Dick Guthrie.

At its December meeting, the committee approved a Vision and Guiding Principles Statement drafted by a task group chaired by Helen Nwangwu with members Gerald Delker, Yovana Bruno, Michele Kirschenbaum, Becky Michaelis, and Vanessa Stumbaugh. The Vision Statement reads:

“To develop a supportive environment, Duarte is committed to ensuring safe neighborhoods, fostering unity, and promoting dialogue among youth and families from diverse cultural, religious, social, economic, and educational backgrounds. This commitment promotes use of and provision of necessary educational, recreational and positive activities, as well as support services in the community to meet the wide range of needs of young people and their families. Our goal is to provide nurturing opportunities for safe practices that support young people in becoming responsible members of the community through the attainment of environmental, physical and mental health.”

Among the Guiding Principles adopted by the committee, were:

• Harness the power of youth and families through volunteer services to make the community safer and stronger.
• Treat youth with respect; give them opportunities to contribute and recognize them for positive actions.

Guest speaker for the meeting, K. Yip, Instructional Technology Outreach for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, underscored the importance of all adults in the community connecting with youth so that they feel valued. Yip presented a talk on 40 Developmental Assets identified by the Search Institute as building blocks that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.

These important assets include Support by family, non-parent adults, neighborhood, school, and parent involvement in school. Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, Constructive Use of Time, Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies, and Positive Identity. Based on a 2003 Search Institute survey of almost 150,000 students in grades 6-12 in public and alternative U.S. schools, the more assets young people experience the less likely they are to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors and the more likely they are to engage in positive behaviors.

“We need to shift from looking at young people problems to looking at young people’s strengths. Instead of looking at kids as users of resources, we need to look at kids as resources,” said Yip. Stressing that focusing on creating new programs alone won’t solve problems, instead he urged adults to form relationships with young people, and to encourage their strengths and talents.

Committee task groups are working on various aspects of the Master Plan development process. Damon Colaluca, CEO of the Santa Anita Family YMCA is heading the task group assigned to Review Current Programs and Facilities. He is assisted by Cynthia Davis, Lillian Cabral, Sagar Desai, Brenda Smith, and Carlos Cortez. Communication and Media task group is headed by City of Duarte employee, Roxanne Alatorre. Members of the task group are: Erica Christianson, Kyle Garza, Mirtha Hernandez, and Ana Lisa Hernandez. Resident Thaddeus Smith is chair of the Community Outreach task group which is in the process of surveying community members to explore their insights, issues, ideas and concerns related to youth and families in Duarte. Members of the task group are: Lisseth Duenas, Eloise Hart, Terri Burns, Elsa Moreno, and Beverly Haynes. The Youth Outreach task force, headed by Michelle Trail of the Duarte Unified School District will query students on their assessments of life in Duarte for kids. Students from elementary school to high school will be surveyed. Members of the task group are Melissa Pereyda, Erik Quezada, Nick Lopez, Henry Perez, and Sheriff’s Department representative, Robert MacLean.

Committee meetings are open to the public at large. Committee and task force meeting schedules are posted on the Committee’s Facebook page, Duarte YFMP. The committee also updates the City Council on their progress at the first council meeting of each month.

The community is invited to attend the Youth and Family Master Plan Advisory Committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 25 at the Duarte Teen Center to provide input on the Master Plan process. Community comments will be key in determining the direction of Duarte’s plan. Youth are especially encouraged to attend and share their views with the committee.

For more information, call Donna Georgino at Duarte City Hall, (626) 357-7931, or Email questions or comments to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .