Published November 6, 2024
BY AVERY PALSHAW
Dedicated to preventing Monterey Peninsula youth involvement with violence, crime and drugs, Community Partnership for Youth is actively serving as a way for children to build healthy life habits along with holding annual events to benefit local families in need.
Born out of tragedy, CPY was formed in 1991 by Monterey Peninsula community members after Seaside High School senior Ramon Avila, a promising athlete, was shot and killed in an alleged drug deal. Those who banded together after this community shock discovered that youth violence commonly occurs in outside-of-school hours and that prevention begins early on with elementary school children, prompting them to create CPY.
Recently, Community Partnership for Youth took their students to MEarth, where they learned about sustainable farming. (courtesy of CPY)
“CPY was born with the idea that it would serve elementary school youth and give them a solid foundation in academics, behavior and life skills,” explains program director Ben Bruce.
Now CPY is present at four school sites in the Seaside area and has a Mentor/Tutor Program, Middle School Leadership Program, High School Leadership Program, Summer Intersession, and Visual and Performing Arts Academy. The program includes students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, with high school students able to volunteer.
“Over the summer when [children’s] parents have work, it gives them a place to go and people to hang out with,” says Carmel High School junior Skylar Schlenker, who volunteered at CPY over the summer. “It also helps them academically.”
A typical day at CPY includes checking the children in after school, giving them a snack, starting them on their homework, spending time outside doing activities and reciting the program’s longtime “standards,” which are to greet others every day, to address others with appropriate language and speech, to value others’ personal space, to be mindful of what is true and honest, to treasure diversity and rich heritage and to reflect beauty both inwardly and outwardly.
In the Summer Intersession program, children learn through experiencing the natural world. (courtesy of CPY)
Rosalinda Macias, a site coordinator at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, explains that she prioritizes connections with the students and their families and encourages the implementation of the standards at home.
The prevention program also places emphasis on improving the reading and writing skills of the children.
“Literacy is very important,” says executive director Shari Hastey, a founding member of CPY. “A lot of our children are behind in literacy, so we try to have a time every day to just sit and read or have somebody read to them.”
The hours during the school year at the after-school program are usually 2:25 to 5 p.m., but the sites remain open until 6 p.m. for the guardians that need additional time picking up their children.
Many adolescents that go through CPY go on to volunteer in high school and, in some cases, even work in the program as adults.
“I was kicked out of Seaside High with a very low grade point average and ended up going to a continuation school,” says Derreck Tyler, now a site coordinator at Dual Language Academy of the Monterey Peninsula. “From there, I learned about CPY through one of my friends, and working here has helped change my life for the better.”
One of Community Partnership for Youth’s standards is to value and respect all cultural backgrounds. (courtesy of CPY)
Like Tyler, Bruce also went on to work for CPY after going through the middle school leadership program in 1999, where he initially assisted with a group of second graders.
“I was a quiet kid at the time, and I needed someone to show me I had a voice,” says the program director. “I found myself wanting to stand out more, to use my voice, to be seen more, and it made me feel valued.”
Community Partnership for Youth is partnered with National Charity League and California State University Monterey Bay, from whom they receive volunteers throughout the year. Currently, the organization is planning their annual contribution to the Angel Project, where they work with the community to aid local families during the holiday season.
As Hastey says, “We’re trying to show [children] that it’s not what life gives you, but it’s what you do with it.”
