Boys & Girls Club Opioid Mentoring Project

The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs West San Gabriel Valley & Eastside is to enable all young people to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. This project will be housed at the community-based Monterey Park Clubhouse and at the Estrada Courts Clubhouse (within a public housing site). The Estrada Courts Clubhouse is located a designated Qualified Opportunity Zone and high-poverty area. The Club serves West San Gabriel Valley, which is part of the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) as designated by the U.S. Department of Justice. West Los Angeles and particularly the Clubs within housing authority locations are plagued by a multitude of issues. The Los Angeles HIDTA is one of a few in the United States that serves as a national-level drug distribution center for all four major drugs of abuse, as well as for the distribution of MDMA (Ecstasy) and PCP. Drug use has escalated during the current public health crisis. Approximately 85% of Club members qualify for free/reduced school meals, and 81% report low, very low or extremely low annual incomes based on HUD income limits for Los Angeles County. No child is ever turned away due to an inability to pay. This project will specifically focus on 2 sites that house our Club-within-a-Club, Brent’s Club, a sober living Club. The overarching goal for this 3-year program is to improve pro-social outcomes for at-risk youth within the vicinity of Monterey Park and Estrada Park while reducing negative outcomes (juvenile delinquency and substance use) through mentoring. There are 3 objectives: 1) To provide mentoring services tailored to the needs of at least 50 identified at-risk youth ages 10-17 each year (150 total children served within the 3 year grant period) who are currently using or have used opioids, youth at high risk for using opioids, and youth with family members who are currently using or have used opioids. 2) To implement program design enhancements within the 3 identified interventions (Brent’s Club, Positive Action, SMART Moves) that further align with research and evidence on effective mentoring approaches, all of which have been documented as effective at deterring opioid use among youth. 3) To  evaluate outcomes for all 150 youth served over the 3-year period with a focus on drug testing, NYOI data, and program sustainability.