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Youth Empowerment Center News

By Sara A. Carter
Staff Writer

POMONA - March 10, 2005 — Last April, a 16-year-old’s decision to take the life of a California Highway Patrol officer became the catalyst for change in a city overwhelmed by gangs.

Even those who didn’t know Officer Thomas Steiner or Valentino Mitchell Arenas, who stole his grandfather’s gun and shot Steiner dead in front of the Pomona Courthouse Complex, found the callousness of the killing hard to comprehend. "At some point in time, we as society have to face ourselves and God for the choices that we have made," Mayor Eddie Cortez said.

He started the Mayor’s Youth and Family Task Force last June in response to the shooting. "Never in the history of Pomona has the entire community come together the way it did last year. We learned that progress comes in how we treat the youth, how we empower them and what services are offered to them so that a tragedy like this never happens again."

The city has struggled to find answers to the complex problem of youth violence. City leaders fought one another; neighbors voiced concerns in town hall meetings; police took on the south side’s hard streets with early morning raids on parolees homes.

Amid the chaos, leaders and residents concluded that the children of Pomona were desperately crying out, and their needs could no longer be ignored.

Nearly a year after the shooting, the City Council unanimously decided to draft a youth master plan. It will initially cost $100,000 to develop.

The city’s first-ever plan will make the children of Pomona the most important resource for generations to come, said Councilman Dan Rodriguez, who threatened to quit the task force two months ago when the group seemed stagnant.

The plan would make nonprofit organizations accountable for their work with youths, add more recreational and after-school programs and assess the needs of individual neighborhoods. The complete overhaul will allow the city to offer programs with proven results, Rodriguez said.

And police have also stepped up their efforts.

After Steiner’s death, officers from across the region raided 140 homes of known gang members. Later, the CHP loaned nearly 40 officers to help patrol the city. However, the arrangement lasted only a few months.

Because the Pomona Police Department has been struggling with one officer to every 1,000 residents for years, many were disappointed to see the extra manpower leave. The department was dealt a devastating loss when the county’s Measure A failed. The measure would have raised $1 million for youth programs and enough money for the department to hire 50 officers.

"There is a similar proposition for next year," Police Chief James Lewis said. "We are certainly hoping that the new proposition passes."

He said he is hoping that the tide of youth violence and gang involvement will shift when more resources are allocated to gang-diversion programs, recreational facilities and after-school sites.

"I think we’re moving in the right direction," said Lewis, who heads the Community Engagement Group, an arm of the task force. "People cannot get frustrated at the speed of change. Sure, we need to focus on less meetings and more action, but we also need to take comfort in the small victories."

Last September, the police department began a 13-week gang diversion program for nearly 400 middle-school students. More than 50 students have graduated from the Gang Resistance Education and Training program, Lewis said.

He is applying for a federal grant to extend the program through the summer and add a class for parents, he said.

Meanwhile, the city was awarded a $1 million federal Weed and Seed grant this week that will assist the police department in fighting and preventing crime in the city’s most troubled neighborhoods.

The Pomona Boys and Girls Club doubled its budget to nearly $600,000 last year, and Lewis is hoping to establish 12 more after-school extension sites with the club.

During the past year, the Pomona Unified School District has shown little involvement in the task force, but it recently promised full cooperation when the youth plan is finalized, Cortez said.

"It’s going to work when we all work together," he said. "The district has promised me that when I’m ready to move, they’ll be waiting."

Superintendent Patrick Leier said in a statement that the Board of Education will back the youth master plan, and it welcomes partnerships with parents, students and other institutions.

However, Leier did not elaborate on the district’s role in the development of the plan or if any programs to deal with the district’s high-risk students have been implemented during the past year.

Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8552.

Answer the Phone: Your Identity is on the Line

Beverly Hills, CA -- (ArriveNet - May 06, 2005) -- There hasn't been much good news in the battle against identity theft lately, with fraudsters staying one step ahead of the game. But don't panic, our old friend the telephone has come to the rescue.

We're all aware of the problem of identity theft, but did you know that your local pizza chain has had a solution for years? You recognize it as the system that prevents little Johnny from having twenty pizzas delivered to your door at midnight: the pizza chain calls you immediately after the order is placed to verify the validity of the order. Because little Johnny is afraid to be caught, he'll think twice about causing this pizza-related havoc.

TeleSign's patent-pending verification system has transferred this pizza concept to the high-tech world. It works like this: after filling out a form on a website, the user is prompted to enter his phone number. A robotic system then places a call to that number and speaks aloud a unique three digit code. Once that code is entered into the website, the authentication is complete. This system can be implemented at any point on a website: at registration, purchase, a specific time interval, or at the request of a user.

Email verification is the current standard for user authentication, but email may end up filtered, junked, bulked, or trashed. Because of spam, viruses, and phishing, email filtering has become so aggressive that even legitimate emails don't reach the inbox. But a telephone call cannot be stopped, making this the perfect time for the introduction of TeleSign’s solution.

The future of ecommerce is threatened by rampant fraud and lack of trust. TeleSign will force anonymous users to expose their faces by revealing their working phone numbers.

To try an interactive demo, visit (http://www.telesign.com/demo2/demo.asp) and have your phone ready.

For more information about TeleSign’s products and services, visit (http://www.telesign.com/demo2/) or email press2@telesign.com.

About TeleSign Corp.
TeleSign is a leader in innovative internet security solutions and provider of intelligent telephone-based verification solutions for any entity conducting business online where trust is essential and where fraud is a concern. TeleSign’s patent-pending Verification System provides a critical layer of security for the e-commerce world and is a proven deterrent against ill-intentioned web users. The company’s first product, the TeleSign Verification System, blends the latest internet, security and telephony technologies into a powerful new tool to combat fraud and enhance trust in e-business.

TeleSign Corp. seeks to provide simplified solutions for any company conducting business online where trust is essential and where fraud is a concern. TeleSign’s patent-pending Verification System provides a critical layer of security for the e-commerce world and is a proven deterrent against ill-intentioned web users. TeleSign’s Verification System is able to legitimize a web user’s claimed identification at a miniscule cost and with little inconvenience to all parties involved.

TeleSign’s Verification System is based upon the premise that ill-intentioned web users hesitate to disclose their working phone numbers. By placing a computer-generated telephone call coupled with a unique security code, we insist that a web user provide a legitimate telephone number or be rooted out. The company’s first product, the TeleSign Verification System, blends the latest internet, security and telephony technologies into a powerful new tool to combat fraud in e-commerce.

Visit http://www.telesign.com/demo2/ or call 310-276-5900 for more information.

TeleSign Corporation
Contact: Sam Gonen
Telephone: (310) 276-7843
Email: press2@telesign.com

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Youth Empowerment
Lorraine Bowman, President
4249 Manzanita Drive
San Diego, California 92105
info@empowering-youth.org