Partnership changes to adjust to COVID-19
Community Partnership for Youth was established in 1991 as a prevention program to provide children and teens, ages 5 to 19, with alternatives to gangs, drugs and violence, by helping to build upon the strengths of each individual. The genesis of the organization was the death of Ramon Avila, an outstanding athlete at Seaside High, who was shot and killed during an alleged drug
deal. Local community members and leaders came together, seeking a solution to increasing crime in their neighborhoods, and its effects on their most vulnerable youth. CPY Executive Director Shari Hastey, who had served many years as regional director for Young Life — a nondenominational Christian ministry that reaches out to adolescents through club meetings and camps — joined the first board of directors for CPY. Mindful of the Young Life motto: “Loving kids,
regardless of their responses,” she was intent on creating the same culture at CPY.
CPY, which gained 501c3 status in late 1991, opened six sites, each of which has its own culture, its own identity, but they all work to provide a total of 400 youth with a safe, structured environment that encourages healthy boundaries, positive self- esteem, and the ability to make good choices for a full and successful life.
And yet, on March 13, when COVID-19 came to this commu
nity, operations ceased. Schools were closed, and CPY shut down.
“We might have remained closed had we not changed gears,” said Hastey. “Working with a reduced staff, we’ve spent more than 7,000 hours doing remote mentoring and tutoring. We started reaching out to our families, most of whom are the working force of the Peninsula, to really understand the impact of the pandemic on the CPY community.”
CPY staff found food insecurity among their families. They learned that many households lacked computers and internet services essential to keeping their kids engaged in distance learning.
“Parents wondered how to provide for their families at this time, how to advocate for their children when they didn’t have the resources to do so,” said Hastey. “It was important that we figure out how to bring dignity to these parents by supporting them emotionally and physically when most of us were feeling out of control of our own lives.”
An important goal of CPY, says Hastey, has been to get all children reading by third grade, so they are no longer learning to read but are reading to learn. This, she says, empowers them to believe in themselves, to engage in their learning and their lives, and to envision a productive future.
Right now, CPY is just trying to satisfy basic needs — make sure kids are fed — while keeping them in class. To that end, they have partnered with the Food Bank for Monterey County and community group ALL-IN Monterey, from which CPY staff picks up food and brings it to their Seaside office, so families can encounter someone who knows them.
“From the moment I met Shari Hastey, she inspired me with her pure kindness,” said ALL-IN founder Tonya Kosta. “She simply does what she can to care for the families of CPY. It is a good place with good people leading it, and that creates children growing into good humans.”
“We usually serve 400 kids a day,” said Hastey. “Since July, we’ve been serving 230 kids, daily. Our numbers are down, but we’re doing more.”
Community spirit
Ben Bruce remembers not wanting to go to CPY. It was the summer after seventh grade, and he was happy to stay home and look after his sister. But their mom had just gotten out of a difficult relationship and wanted her kids to have a productive place to go while she was at work.
“The real need for me was mentorship,” said Bruce. “I was a quiet kid. I got assigned to be a junior leader, which elevated my personality. I found myself wanting to help out more and more, which caused me to keep coming back to CPY to have those mentorship experiences.”
Although Bruce graduated from Seaside High and went off to UC Davis to major in psychology with a minor in human development, he never really left CPY. And, for the past eight years, he has worked as program director for the organization.
“Every year, during breaks from college,” he said, “I would return to work with CPY. As I was getting ready to graduate from Davis, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I wanted to work with youth, and that my strengths were patience and listening.”
Bruce was thinking about joining the Peace Corps when a position came up at CPY through AmeriCorps, a civil society program, which engages adults in public service work to meet critical needs in the community. He joined AmeriCorps and has been with CPY ever since.
“At the heart of CPY is mentorship and satisfying unmet needs for kids and their families,” said Bruce. “We support academics, and foster behavior and life skills in a safe, structured environment. A common thread is to look back to our own childhood to consider mentors who had an impact on us.”
CPY has grown out of need. Kids show up, every day, year after year, to enter what Bruce calls an ecosystem that provides guidance, leadership opportunities, and a chance to give back to their community. The majority of CPY staff are folks who have been in the program since elementary school.
“Then COVID came to our community, creating new needs,” said Bruce. “The way we were able to figure out what those new needs were was by checking in with families we’ve been working with for years. Although our programs shut down, we were able to keep mentors who worked remotely to do outreach with our families.”
Bruce heads to ALL IN twice a week, himself, to pick up groceries.
“What strikes me,” said Kosta, “is he is working and picking up groceries for the families of CPY, but we get the feeling he is shopping for his own family and would do this, whether he was on the job or not.”
Once CPY found ways to address food insecurity, they turned their attention to distance learning.
“We were fortunate that we went into shelter-inplace during spring break,” said Bruce, “which gave us time to figure out a remotelearning format, and then help families navigate this new dynamic.”
CPY has partnered with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District to access their Community Cares program, which assigns staff to work with cohorts of 10 students who are not in an ideal environment for distance learning.
“I’ve been so incredibly proud and thankful for my CPY staff and our partners,” said Bruce, “who are willing to take risks and to think outside the lines, as they come together to serve this community with such compassion. This is who we are, a community of partners on behalf of our youth.”