Funds for anti-gang program may be cut

Official says housing vouchers are needed

Victor Granillo says he was just 9 when he started running with gangs.

He did and sold drugs, among other trouble on the streets.

“I thought I would never be able to leave this life,” he told Albuquerque city councilors last week.

Now the 17-year-old says he’s getting A’s and B’s in high school and committed to turning his life around. The difference was a gang-intervention program run by the nonprofit group Youth Development Inc., Granillo says.

But the gang program is emerging as an early point of contention in budget talks at City Hall.

Mayor Richard Berry’s administration has proposed trimming $144,000 from its contracts for gang prevention and intervention.

The money would instead go into voucher programs that provide long-term housing for people who are homeless and connect them with services.

Doug Chaplin, Albuquerque’s director of family and community services, said it “was not an easy move.”

But providing services to people struggling with mental illness and homelessness

is a priority, he said, and the extra money had to come from somewhere.

“It’s always gut-wrenching when we have to take funding and move it from one area to another area,” Chaplin said. “We felt like a cut would allow the (gang) program to continue with a bit of a narrower focus.”

Funding for the gang program would fall from about $1.4 million to $1.3 million.

Tough choices

The debate centers on the city budget for the year that begins July 1.

The mayor has proposed a $505 million budget for basic operations. City councilors have until the end of May to approve or make changes to the proposal.

The work to keep youngsters out of gangs is among a host of social-service programs funded through contracts handled by the Department of Family and Community Services.

Besides the gang-intervention funding, the social-services program includes:

$2.5 million for mentalhealth services.

$1.1 million for emergency shelter.

$4.5 million for substanceabuse prevention.

$167,000 for transitional housing.

$1.8 million for supportive services for the homeless.

Overall, the budget provides about $17.9 million in funding for social-service programs, or about the same as this year’s.

Layoffs loom

Sally Sosa, director of the program for YDI, said a $144,000 reduction in the gang contracts would have real consequences. Her group would have to lay off four people who work with gang members or young people at risk of joining a gang, she said.

“We are the front line” in trying to keep children out of gangs, said Michael Parra of YDI.

Granillo, for his part, said he’s turned his life around in the last month and half. YDI helped him find his first job.

“They support me and push me to do better in life,” he said.

In a recent budget hearing, city councilors didn’t commit to finding extra money for the gang program. But they did press the administration for an explanation of the change.

“It’s been a successful program for many, many years,” Councilor Ken Sanchez said.

Chaplin said he had nothing against the gang program itself. But there’s also tremendous demand for housing vouchers, he said.

Indeed, the city has been breaking up camps of homeless people, trying to get them into housing and connect them with services to help.

“I felt like I needed to come up with the dollars for housing vouchers,” Chaplin said.

A combination of housing and services is the most effective way to lift people out of homelessness permanently, Chaplin said.

“This is absolutely a national best practice,” he said.