City of Oceanside - Oceanside Community Safety Partnership, Gang Prevention and Intervention Program.

The OJJDP FY 09 Earmarks Programs further the Department's mission by providing grants, cooperative agreements, and other assistance authorized by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, to organizations identified in the Explanatory Statement Regarding H.R. 1105 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), 155 Cong. Rec. H1653 (daily ed. Feb. 23, 2009) (statement by Rep. Obey, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House).

The City of Oceanside, with approximately 600 documented gang members and 400 gang affiliates in 12 gangs, has the largest number of gang members in North San Diego County. The larger gangs are multi-generational and territorial, putting youth living within neighborhoods where they operate at an extremely high risk of gang involvement. The City of Oceanside, OCSP Gang Prevention and Intervention Program's primary activities will be to continue two Critical Hours After School Programs located in high risk Oceanside neighborhoods and to support the Transitional Youth Academy, a community based intervention program, in directing 88 at-risk youth who are involved in gangs or criminal activities towards a better future. The Critical Hours After School Programs are primary prevention programs sanctioned by the OJJDP as a "best practice" for juvenile crime prevention. Both programs will serve youth under the age of 18. Due to the current ecomomic hardships faced by State, County and City governments, and a reduction in private funding availability in California, these programs would not be funded but for this earmark and would be a great loss to the communities and youth that they serve. Funding for youth outreach activities, and to update and improve the OCSP Website (www.ocspdatabase.org) is also requested. NCA/NCF