San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)

Poor Salinas Valley town doesn’t scrimp on its kids

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If California were to put the needs of its poor kids first, what would that look like?

A lot like Gonzales, a city of 9,000 — many of them farmworker­s — in the Salinas Valley.

The people of Gonzales lack educationa­l credential­s (less than 10 percent of adults older than 25 have a college degree) and wealth (the median income is less than $17,000 annually). But they have an abundance of youth: 36 percent of the population is younger than 18.

Against the odds, Gonzales has assembled such a rich suite of services for children — 27 programs — that it spends more on youth than on its Fire Department. Gonzales residents are poor, but they still voted for a half-cent sales tax that helps fund youth services. And while leaders in this Monterey County town don’t have much power, that didn’t stop them from sharing power with their own children, who help make decisions on spending and policy.

Gonzales, for all its challenges, has real strengths. It has developed an industrial park and agricultur­e-related businesses that produce steady tax revenue. And it has stable and thoughtful local leadership.

Early in his 16-year-long tenure, City Manager René Mendez asked the City Council members to make drawings of what was most important to them in Gonzales. They all drew pictures of parks, playground­s and other places for kids. That exercise, in combinatio­n with recommenda­tions from a panel of young people put together by the city, triggered a shift in the council’s focus to kids.

The city started by ramping up yearround sports programs, and then added full-day, five-day-a-week summer camps that working parents can afford ($50 a week). The city now provides this same full-day coverage during spring break, winter break, and any other weekday when schools are closed. In 2016, the city joined with the school district to start a robust afterschoo­l

Cindy Aguilar, youth commission­er

program, with a focus on homework assistance.

Because most child care in Gonzales is performed by grandmothe­rs and family friends, the city used a United Way grant to start the Friends, Families & Neighbors Playgroup, which offers training to unlicensed caregivers. The city is also working on initiative­s that would create a city preschool program that could also help the city’s informal caregivers become licensed.

As much as possible, Gonzales employs the city’s own children as parttime workers or interns in its programs. Students as young as ninthgrade­rs are asked to interview and fill out applicatio­ns — giving them experience. The city also gives part-time work to college students from Gonzales to keep them connected to the town.

Mendez, who doubles as high school tennis coach, says Gonzales has more money for kids because it limits spending on other things. The city doesn’t offer retiree health benefits and keeps its police force small. Gonzales can do this because crime is well below state averages.

One reason Gonzales youth programs succeed is that the kids help govern them.

When the city needed a new playground structure at its tot lot, staffers were required to give a presentati­on on options to kindergart­en and transition­al kindergart­en students. The kids then had a binding vote to determine the structure. “No one over the age of 5 got to vote on that,” says Sara PapineauBr­andt, the city’s parks and recreation chief.

I got a taste of youth democracy recently in the City Council chambers, where the Gonzales Youth Council meets two Wednesdays a month. In 2014, the city and school district jointly appointed two youth commission­ers, who are 18 or younger and attend City Council and school board meetings; those commission­ers lobbied to create the Youth Council, which consists of middle and high school students.

Youth Council members set their own agenda and take on various tasks, from researchin­g local cannabis regulation­s to surveying the community about Police Department conduct. In 2017, the Youth Council drafted an ordinance on underage drinking that was unanimousl­y adopted by the City Council.

At the recent meeting, youth commission­er Cindy Aguilar, 18, discussed plans for a Youth Innovation Center, with computer labs and a music studio. Sales-tax dollars are helping the project, but the council will need to raise money as well.

“We got to meet again with the architect,” Aguilar said. “We said we wanted it to smell like chocolate chip cookies.”

They may get their wish. With representa­tion comes power. Perhaps the state should form its own youth legislatur­e.

“We got to meet again with the architect. We said we wanted it to smell like chocolate chip cookies.”

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicl­e.com/letters.

 ?? Larry Crowe / Associated Press 2007 ??
Larry Crowe / Associated Press 2007

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