Targeted Outreach - Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention ...

54 Targeted Outreach
The Getting Out program focuses heavily, although not
exclusively, on Asian gangs as a result of the location of
the Clubs participating in the initiative. Clubs are located
in and around a large Hmong community. The unique
issues in this community, resulting from their immigrant
experience, appeared to contribute to the gang problem.
In particular, family dynamics had changed as a result of
immigration. Youth have developed greater language
skills and familiarity with American culture than have
their parents and, as a result, have more power in the
family. But conversely, youth are left feeling more vulnerable.
Reports indicated that Asian youth are often picked
on in school because of language and cultural differences,
so they join gangs as a way of protecting themselves. St.
Paul developed a gang task force that works closely with
the Boys & Girls Clubs, and the school system adopted a
policy of zero tolerance for gang-related behaviors.
History and Development of Getting Out
The St. Paul Gang Task Force and BGCA approached the
St. Paul Boys & Girls Club about beginning a program for
gang-involved youth. For some time, the Gang Task Force
and local social service agencies who work with ganginvolved
youth had recognized the need for a tattoo
removal service. Because of the expense, however, no
agency in St. Paul had been able to provide it. The
Minneapolis Boys and Girls Club had temporarily offered
the service but was forced to discontinue it.
When the idea was initially proposed, staff at the St. Paul
Club were reluctant to become involved. The project asked
Club staff to reach out to a higher-risk population of youth
than they were used to serving. Eventually they became
more comfortable with the idea and began to develop the
program. Staff at the Club worked closely with the Gang
Task Force who, along with BCGA, provided the initial
funding. The Gang Task Force also identified a plastic surgeon
who was willing to do pro bono tattoo removal once
a month. Once these services were in place, a coordinator
was hired and the program began to receive referrals
immediately.
Referral, Recruitment and Target Population
Youth are referred to the program by schools, police, probation,
community agencies or Boys and Girls Club staff or
parents. Youth may also find out about the program by
word of mouth and may initiate contact on their own. One
successful outreach strategy has been for staff to go to
schools during lunch to meet and recruit youth. Outreach
staff have also attempted to recruit at the Clubs by making
evening visits to make contact with gang youth.
Through experience, the target population for the program
has been refined to focus on youth who want to
leave the gang. The Club made a decision to focus on this
population because they felt that youth who were not
ready to make a change demanded too much of the staff’s
time. Because the program is providing free tattoo
removal, they felt it important to reserve this service for
those youth that were ready to leave the gang. This is an
important stipulation because some youth may want a tattoo
removed so they can switch gangs. Their referral
sources are aware of this policy.
Intake and Tracking
Once the youth are informed about the program, the
referring adult contacts the Getting Out staff to arrange
for someone to come and speak to the youth. The staff
member describes the program and attempts to engage
the youth’s interests during a 20- to 30-minute interview.
They then provide the youth with next steps, i.e., a phone
number to call for follow-up. They require that the youth
take the initiative to call the staff for an appointment. The
youth are then expected to complete their first month of
community service before they can begin tattoo removal.
The intake meeting is usually held with the parents, and a
case history, medical information, goals and interests are
obtained. In addition, a pre-screening questionnaire is
given to youth during the interview process to help assess
their level of motivation for changing their lifestyle.
In addition to the information on the standard tracking
forms used by all the sites, Getting Out staff keep logs of
conversations, phone calls and the goal-setting activities
they do with the youth.
Project Staffing
Initially, the project had significant staff turnover—three
coordinators in the first year. In February 1998, five new
staff members were hired, including a new program coordinator.
The program expanded its staff at this point to six
full-time employees. The program coordinator is responsible
for overseeing all program operations including
staffing and budgeting. She also served as a case manager
for a few of the participants. The program coordinator
reported to the Club’s director of operations. The remaining
five staff were outreach coordinators, the primary case
managers. They also arranged community service assignments,
networked with community agencies and organized
parent outreach. One outreach coordinator served as the
primary contact for police and parole officers.
Changes to the Club
According to staff, no specific changes had been made to
the Club facility to accommodate the Getting Out program.
Fire code requirements prevented the addition of
security to the building, such as locking additional
entrances. There were changes, however, in policies and