FLINTRIDGE CENTER

Youth of Promise (YOP) is a youth development program serving youth in the Northwest Pasadena and West Altadena communities who have been impacted by poverty, community violence, gangs, and incarceration. Our goal is to see all of our youth finish high school and enter college. We provide them with support, resources and positive alternatives to joining gangs and becoming entangled in the justice system. Our youth live in high-need, high-risk circumstances, but have tremendous potential when they receive support from adults who believe in them. We call them Youth of Promise because when we care for and invest in them, they are full of promise.

YOP provides youth with comprehensive services, including academic tutoring, community service opportunities, life skills workshops, college and career planning, mentoring from caring and supportive adults, and fun and educational field trips and events. Committed volunteers recruited from the Pasadena and Altadena communities serve as mentors, providing emotional support through life's challenges and transitions. Flintridge staff case managers provide advocacy and referrals for youth and their families to ensure that their immediate needs are met.

The results we see go beyond just improved grades — the YOP program leads our youth to healthier relationships and lifestyle choices, improved interpersonal skills and increased self-esteem. We have witnessed youth grow from barely attending class to graduating high school and going off to college. It's amazing what youth can achieve when they are supported and encouraged.

We offer reintegration services for community members returning from incarceration. The reintegration process can be overwhelming, so we provide case management and systems navigation services to help ease the transition between incarceration and the outside. We help community members set goals and make plans, navigate complicated processes to get social services, and complete necessary steps to successful reintegration, such as getting a driver's license, finding housing and employment, paying child support, and much more.

Coordinated by Flintridge Center since its formation in 2010, the Reintegration Network is a coalition of local service providers and public agencies working together to meet the needs of formerly incarcerated individuals returning to our community. Trying to prevent recidivism, the multisector coalition includes the Pasadena Police Department and community-based, faith-based, philanthropic, business, civic and educational organizations. By providing a safety net of effective and comprehensive services and resources for out-of-custody life, the Network seeks to lower the rate of recidivism. The Network's key initiative is the Pasadena/Altadena Community Team (PACT) monthly resource fair. Flintridge Center coordinates these monthly events and follows up with each community member who attends the fair.

Using a dignified and compassionate approach, we seek to help community members meet their needs and leave the cycle of violence, repeating offenses, and poverty. Moreover, with the efforts to reduce recidivism, we are also working to ensure the safety and well-being of our entire community.

When youth and young adults have encounters with law enforcement, what are their rights? How should they conduct themselves? What questions should they ask? What responses should they provide? How should they respond to requests to search? At Know Your Rights Workshops, volunteer attorneys provide important information, advice and guidance. Youth-serving organizations throughout Pasadena and Altadena may request traiings.