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"Home boy" to "school boy": Inside the PowerBuilders Workshops at CSULA. A qualitative examination of access, mobility, and leadership qualities of minorities in higher education
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"Home boy" to "school boy": Inside the PowerBuilders Workshops at CSULA. A qualitative examination of access, mobility, and leadership qualities of minorities in higher education
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“HOME BOY” TO “SCHOOL BOY”: INSIDE THE POWERBUILDERS
WORKSHOPS AT CSULA
A QUALITATIVE EXAMINATION OF ACCESS, MOBILITY, AND
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES OF MINORITIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
by
Ruth Anson Sowby
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 2001
Copyright 2001 Ruth Anson Sowby
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UMI Number: 3054808
Copyright 2001 by
Sowby, Ruth Anson
All rights reserved.
___ ®
UMI
UMI Microform 3054808
Copyright 2002 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
School o f Education
Los Angeles, California 90089-0031
This dissertation, written by
Ruth Anson Sowbv____________________
under the direction of keX— Dissertation Committee, and
approved by all members o f the Committee, has been
presented to and accepted by the Faculty o f the School
of Education in partialfulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of
D o c t o r o f E d u c a t io n
Dissertation Committee
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Ruth Anson Sowby Linda S. Hagedorn, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
“HOME BOY” TO “SCHOOL BOY: INSIDE THE
POWERBLTLDERS WORKSHOP AT C Sl LA
The PowerBuilders Workshop is a key component of the Gang Violence
Bridging Project sponsored by the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute at
California State University, Los Angeles. The free, nine month series of
workshops teach life skill and social/cultural awareness to at-risk youth that live
in the areas of East Los Angeles/El Sereno, and Pico. Many of these youth have
bad gang affiliations. Out of the S O to 60 current and post-high school students
who began the PowerBuilders Workshop in September 1999, only 26 remain.
These students have applied to, been accepted, and as of September 2000, are
beginning their journey toward a four-year degree at CSULA.
The three major purposes of this study are to (a) identify from participant
life histories (past, present, and future) the primary events or persons
contributing to their recruitment into the Gang Violence Bridging Project, (b)
to determine from responses to a questionnaire and life histories items
significant to motivation to stay in school and motivation to go to college, (c) to
access and evaluate actual outcomes. The research questions driving this
research are:
1. What are the recruitment strategies of the PowerBuilders Program at
CSULA?
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2. What is the effect of the PowerBuilders Program with respect to academic
gains, motivations to change behav iors, and aspirations?
3. What are the true outcomes of the PowerBuilders Program with respect to
high school graduation rates, enrollment in college, academic gains, gainful
employment, continued gang affiliation, and incarceration among
PowerBuilders participants?
To answer the research questions several procedures will be used:
questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and the production of a 20 to 25 minute
videotape which will introduce the PowerBuilders youth and will focus on ten or
fewer of the students as the camera follows them on campus, at home, and in
their neighborhoods. Student names will not be used on the tape.
The completed videotape will serve as a documentary of the project and be a
valuable resource to the PowerBuilders Program. The tape will also be shown
at educational conferences. It is anticipated that the tape will serve as a pilot
for a PBS documentary.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
A bstract.........................................................................................................................................ii
Chapter
1. Introduction................................................................................................................I
2. Review o f the L iterature......................................................................................... 7
3. M ethod.....................................................................................................................21
4. Analysis and Discussion o f Findings..................................................................30
5. Summary and Conclusions................................................................................... 55
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................. 69
A ppendix.....................................................................................................................................74
Note: This dissertation has an accompanying video entitled “Home Bov,, to
“School Bov.”
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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Nam Vo joined a gang in his early teens, often dealing crack cocaine and stolen
computer games behind his Eastside apartment to raise some cash. By the time he
was 20 years old, he had spent a decade incarcerated or fighting charges including
grand theft auto, assault with a deadly weapon and assaulting a witness.
It’s a familiar story in Los Angeles (where sixty cities in Los Angeles County
have local street gangs) except for one detail: Vo, who is still a gang member, is now
a full-time student at California State University, Los Angeles, majoring in criminal
justice. “My homies are proud o f me,” says Vo, “In 20 years, I see myself being real
busy in a big office helping people who just got out o f jail.” Vo is a participant in
CSULA’s Gang Violence Bridging Project, a six year program designed to help
severely at-risk youth recruited from impoverished neighborhoods and high schools
in the East Los Angeles, Pico-Union, Westlake and South-Central areas complete a
four-year college program. It utilizes counselors, tutors, peer advisors and computer
trainers. A key component of the project is the PowerBuilders program. The
program focuses in four areas: education, coping skills, and life skills and
social/cultural awareness. Currently, the project has a 77% CSULA retention rate
(Los Angeles Times. Jan. 13, 1999).
Few minority (low socio-economic status) students enroll in college and fewer,
still, graduate. According to government data, 26% o f Latina girls leave high school
without a diploma, compared with 13% o f black girls and 6.9% o f white girls. The
only group that has a higher drop out rate among students is Latino boys. 31% o f
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Latino boys drop out, compared with 12.1% o f black boys and 7.1% o f white boys
(Nation, March 25, 2001). In addition, Latina girls leave school earlier than all other
groups o f young people, male or female, and are the least likely to return, according
to a recent study, “Latinas in School,” published by the American Association o f
University Women.
In Los Angeles County, nearly half o f Latino youth are not graduating from high
school, let alone, college (“American Dream Makers,” 2000). In spite o f many
expensive, available college preparatory o r “enhancement” programs, the success
rate for recruitment and retention has been modest. This study will focus on Latino
youth. In Los Angeles County, Latinos are the largest ethnic group, with a 1998
population o f 4,13 5,000 or 44% of residents. By 2010 Latinos are expected to
comprise 51% of the population (“American Dream M akers,” 2000). Although
Latino College attendance and graduation rates are improving in L.A., a daunting
gap remains. Only 7% o f Latinos today have at least a bachelor’s degree, while the
rate is close to 37% for Whites (“American Dream M akers,” 2000).
University of California admissions officials predicted the proportion o f some
minorities to drop when admissions officers made selections for limited slots at the
most competitive campuses. But the decrease in the rate o f University o f California
admissions following the passage of Proposition 209 (ban on affirmative action) is
somewhat misleading. UC reports that 53% fewer Latinos than the prior year were
admitted to the entering freshman class for 1998 at UC Berkeley, while 33% fewer
Latinos were admitted to UCLA (Gandara, forthcoming). The total number o f
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Latinos for these two flagship campuses represents 8.6% of the entire freshman
class. Prior to the ban on affirmative action, Latinos represented 9.6% o f the
freshman class in 1997 (University o f California Office o f the President, 1977).
Although Latino admissions have decreased at the tw o most popular UC campuses,
Latino admissions have, in fact, risen at the least favored (by applicants) campuses
such as Riverside (University o f California Office o f the President, 1997). Recent
studies forecast that Latinos will become 50% o f the school-age population in
California by the year 2005 (del Pinal & Singer, 1997). The Latino Eligibility Task
Force established by the University o f California Regents found that at the current
rate o f advancement, it would take forty-three years for Latinos to reach population
parity in the UC system (Latino Eligibility Study, 1993).
Gangs
The 803 gang-related homicides reported for Los Angeles County in 1992 were
four times greater than comparable figures for 1978. Local Hispanic street gangs are
prevalent in sixty cities in Los Angeles County. An additional 136 California cities
report some street gang activity, as do a large number o f cities and towns across the
U.S. Shootings by gang members have increased as guns on the streets have
proliferated. Drive-by killings are the direct result o f the availability o f firearms
(Gangs, Crime and Violence in Los Angeles: Finding and Proposals from the District
Attorney’s office, 1992).
Children in the United States have the highest rates o f death by firearms in the
industrialized world. In fact, the homicide rate among American children under the
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age o f 15 is five times greater than in 25 other industrialized countries combined
(News release by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 7, 1997).
PowerBuilders Workshops
The PowerBuilders Workshops, a key component o f the Gang Violence
Bridging Program at California State University, Los Angeles, is the subject o f this
case study and accompanying video o f a specific college preparatory program.
Ideally, out o f this study will arise positive policies that are transferable to similar
universities. The PowerBuilders Program, begun in 1993, is a series o f 26, after-
school interactive workshops at California State University, Los Angeles, for at-risk
youth. The seminars, which begin in the Fall o f each year, are free o f charge for
youth who live in the areas of East Los Angeles/El Sereno, Pico Union/Westlake,
and South Central Los Angeles. The seminars are for at-risk youth who have
experienced poverty, gang affiliation, delinquent behavior, poor academic
performance, and single parent families. Participants are high school students, high
school graduates, or those holding a GED. Participants are required to have at least
some basic math and English skills. The program is being sponsored by an ongoing,
working collaboration with various university departments, community organizations
and agencies. It is funded by a combination o f state and some private donations.
The PowerBuilders Program is broken down into four phases. The first phase
focuses on enhancing personal development and improving the skills o f the
participants in making positive and responsible choices. Seminars consist o f a series
o f presentations and open dialogue sessions involving youth and professional service
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providers from the community and the university. The workshops are structured to
build confidence and hope for the future.
In the second phase, participants who completed the first phase are given a short
assessment test of basic math and English skills and are guided through the CSULA
application process.
In the third phase, participants are taught how to prepare for university classes.
This preparation teaches study skills, research skills, how to schedule and set up
timelines. In addition, participants are prepared for university math and English
assessment tests.
The last and fourth phase consists o f a more intensive learning experience.
Those admitted to CSULA participate in the Educational Opportunities Program
Summer Bridge. Students take six-week, remedial math and English courses for
university credit.
The three major purposes o f this study are to: (a) identify from participant life
histories (past, present, and future) the primary events or persons contributing to
their recruitment into the Gang Violence Bridging Project, (b) determine items
significant to motivation to stay in school and motivation to go to college, (c) assess
the actual outcomes.
Research Questions
The research questions driving this analysis are:
1. What are the recruitment strategies o f the PowerBuilders Program at CSULA?
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2. What is the effect o f the PowerBuilders Program with respect to academic gains,
motivations to change behaviors, and aspirations?
3. What are the true outcomes o f the PowerBuilders Program with respect to high
school graduation rates, enrollment in college, academic gains, gainful
employment, continued gang affiliation, and incarceration among PowerBuilders
participants?
This study is divided into five chapters. Following my introductory chapter, in
chapter two I offer a review o f the pertinent literature on gangs and violence, college
preparation programs and their successes as well as how their components interact
with low SES (socio-economic status) environment. This chapter will present the
literature under four sections: factors pertaining to low SES students, gangs and
violence, special programs, and their success. In chapter three, I describe the
specific design that I have chosen and explain why I have chosen the life history
approach over other approaches. I will also discuss the methods o f collecting,
analyzing, and representing data. I will describe the accompanying video that
represents a visual introduction to key PowerBuilders, a typical PowerBuilders
Workshop, and staff members who make the program work, including director,
Gilbert Sanchez. I will introduce the participants o f my study in chapter four. I will
present their opinions on the PowerBuilders Workshops, how they see themselves as
students, their thoughts on family support or lack thereof, peer relationships, and
their goals and aspirations. In chapter five, I will offer my summary and
conclusions. I now will examine the literature.
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CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This chapter provides a review o f the literature pertaining to gangs and
violence, special or “enhancement” programs and their successes as well as how
their components interact with a low socio-economic status environment. I will
present the literature under four sections: factors pertaining to low socio-economic
students, gangs and violence, special programs, and their success.
Low Socio-economic Status Students
French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts o f cultural capital have been used
by researchers to provide a conceptual framework for college preparation o f low SES
students (Jun & Tierney, 1999; Maeroff, 1998; McDonough, 1997; Mehan et al.,
1996; Tierney & Jun, forthcoming). Bourdieu’s theory o f cultural capital deals with
the inherent values and expectations o f families and communities that convey to
children what are appropriate and inappropriate for educational and career pursuits.
The cultural capital model suggests that working-class urban youth will have greater
obstacles to overcome in order to apply to, enroll in, and, eventually, graduate from
college. More than likely, they have attended ineffective schools in poor
communities that lack family and neighborhood support. They and their parents do
not have a social network, and they do not have high expectations from their parents,
peers and the community. These students have a dearth o f cultural capital.
Referencing the work o f James Coleman, Gene M aeroff (1998) makes a
distinction between cultural capital and social capital. He defines social capital as a
resource that results from relationships between people. M aeroff asserts that the
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factors for building up social capital for low-income urban students arise from the
“four senses” (connectedness, well-being, academic initiative, and a sense o f
knowing). He claims that “when youngsters gain connectedness to the people and
institutions whose guidance and help will enable them to advance themselves, their
social capital increases” (1998, p. 7). Maeroff addresses the need to provide greater
amounts of cultural and social capital for students through networks, be they formal
and/or informal. Mentors have traditionally played an important role in student
aspiration and outcome.
Other researchers reiterate the importance o f working with parents, mentors, and
the community to fill the needs o f working-class urban youth (Bourdieu & Passeron,
1977; DiMaggio & Mohr, 1985; Mehan, 1996).
In his USC Ph.D. dissertation (2000), “The Price of Admission,” Jun recorded
the life histories o f five students who are beginning their junior years at the
University of Southern California on full scholarships through the USC’s
Neighborhood Academic Initiative. Jun describes a combination o f factors that are
influential in students’ academic success in school:
1. Begin early.
2. Focus on academics.
3. Involve everyone.
4. Address financial realities.
5. Create an Environment o f Success.
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Jun describes the Neighborhood Academic Initiative’s efforts to “purposefully
[engage] parents, guardians, clergy, teachers, mentors, friends, and neighbors in a
collaborative effort that contributes to the overall success o f the student” (p. 166).
This team, ultimately, serves as agents o f social capital that is necessary for students’
academic success.
Critics o f the Neighborhood Academic Initiative point to the hundreds of
thousands o f dollars this program costs. Can this money be justified in terms o f the
relatively few students who will graduate? Can an expensive program like the NAI
be duplicated elsewhere? Those questions are yet to be answered.
Gangs and Violence
Definition
The literature on gangs and violence often emphasize the sensational. Violence
is summarized through one dramatic case study after another. Little is available that
addresses theoretical concerns or analyzes data.
Prevalence in Los Angeles
The Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute o f Public Affairs at CSULA fact sheet
gives statistics on gangs gathered by the Los Angeles District A ttorney’s office in
1992. According to the fact sheet, 60 cities in Los Angeles have local street gangs
with an additional 136 California cities reporting some street gang activity. The
American Dream M akers (2000) includes data from focus groups, phone surveys,
interviews and discussions to determine the current state o f Latinos in Los Angeles.
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There is some data on gang activity. But, again, neither theory nor analysis is
offered.
Gini Sikes’s Los Angeles-based 8 Ball Chicks: A Year in the Violent World o f
Girl Gangs (19971 is an example o f what amounts to a collection o f anecdotal case
studies that saturate the literature. With a breezy, journalistic style, Sikes includes a
lengthy chapter on girl gang activity in Los Angeles. This material is primarily
anecdotal, is violent in content and emphasizes African American girl gangs. Few o f
her case studies include Latinas. O f note, however, is Sikes’s estimate o f the number
o f girl gang members, nation-wide. Sikes cites a 1993 survey by University o f
Missouri criminologist, David Curry in which he attempts to verify an estimate that
ten percent o f the approximately 650,000 gang members in the U.S. were female.
After polling 79 law enforcement agencies around the country, Curry found that each
jurisdiction varied in how it defined “gang member” and appeared biased against
acknowledging girls’ activity in gangs. Twenty-three large police departments did
not classify girls as gang members as a matter o f policy. Some agencies relegated all
females to “associate member” status in male gangs (p. xxii).
Some o f the literature that is less anecdotal in nature deals with Latino gang
affiliation and early pregnancy. Dietrich’s study (1998) limits itself to a gang o f
Chicana, working-class adolescents in San Diego County in which Mexican
Americans comprise 22% o f the population. The school experiences, cultural
conflicts and gang involvement o f seven girls are described. Dietrich refutes the
culture o f poverty model and asserts that behavioral choices such as early pregnancy,
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gang affiliation, and dropping out o f school, which may look like social deviance and
poor judgment to the outsider, actually make sense in an environment that offers few
options to its young women.
Jun’s dissertation (2000) puts a high premium on the importance o f mentoring
for his five “Scholars” who are participants in U SC’s Neighborhood Academic
Initiative. So, too, is the mentoring process vital to the pregnant adolescent.
Although lacking a clearly identified empirical foundation, programs designed to
establish and support formal mentoring programs for at-risk youth have grown in
popularity since the 1980s (Freedman, 1993). By 1990, organizations such as
Chrysler, Proctor & Gamble, IBM, the United Way o f America, the National Urban
League, and the National Education Association were involved in supporting
mentoring programs. In fact, several states, including Rhode Island, New York, and
California, have established public offices and governmental task forces on
mentoring high-risk youth, many o f whom have had pregnancies and/or gang
involvement.
In an attempt to add the empirical data missing from previous research, a study
by Blinn-Pike, Mingus, Kuschel, Mutti, and McDaniel (1998) describes, empirically,
the mentoring process between volunteer adult mentors and adolescent pregnant
mentees. Results from analyzing case records from 20 mentors revealed that the
mentors spent time in quasi-parenting roles helping mentees access services and
resources, discussing interpersonal issues and infant development, and being
involved in intimate details o f the mentees’ lives. Further, the study hypothesized
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that there is a relationship between the neediness o f pregnant adolescents and the
extent o f the quasi-parental roles that mentors assume.
Other research shows that having a positive relationship with at least one caring
adult, not necessarily the parent, is one o f the most important elements in protecting
youth from multiple risks (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989;
Scales & Gibbons, 1996; Werner & Smith, 1982; Wynn, Costello, Halpem, &
Richman, 1994). A study o f Latina adolescent mothers by Rhodes, Contreras, and
M angelsdorf (1994) revealed that only 15% o f the subjects nominated teachers or
counselors as “natural mentors,” while 85% preferred extended family members over
nonrelated helpers.
In a large-scale evaluation o f a mentoring program, Tierney, Grossman, and
Resch (1995) studied the effects o f the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program on over 900
youths from 10 to 16 years old. The results showed that mentored, as opposed to
nonmentored, youth were less likely to initiate the use o f alcohol or drugs, less likely
to report having battered someone, and more likely to report better attitudes toward
school.
I will emphasize research on pregnant Latina teenagers, because I will focus in
chapter four and in the video on one who has attended 26-weeks o f PowerBuilders
Workshops, completed pre-summer and summer bridge remedial English and math
classes, enrolled in CSULA, and has completed her first quarter. 19-year old Rosa
has since married her boyfriend, Jaime, and is living with him, their one-year old
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baby boy, Jakie, and her parents and siblings in El Sereno, a Los Angeles suburb
invested with gang activity.
Carlos Rodriguez, a research scientist at the American Institutes for Research, a
non-profit sociologist research organization in Washington, and others cite teen-age
pregnancy and its attendant cultural factors as contributing to the dropout rate.
“Low-income Hispanic religious-oriented mothers may still tend not to talk to their
daughters about abortion or birth control,” said Rodriguez (Nation. March 25, 2001).
Much research is available on inner-city African American and Latino American
young men who practice destructive behavior, including violence, illegal drug
marketing, and other crimes. A study by Hughes (1998) examines the factors that
allow young men to forgo crime. The author conducted in-depth interviews with 20
such young men, some o f whom had a history o f gang involvement. All 20 had
made positive behavioral changes and were now contributing to their respective
communities. Personal and environmental transitions that contributed to their
decisions to change were revealed. Maturation was a significant factor. However,
four other significant factors were also uncovered: respect and concern for children
(their own and others); fear o f physical harm, incarceration, or both; contemplation
time and support and modeling.
Life course transitions have been the subject o f a number o f studies, including
those o f Elder (1985). Other studies have used the life course perspective in an
effort to understand how transitions affect a trajectory o f crime (Caspi, Elder, &
Herbener, 1990; Laub & Sampson, 1993; Loeber& Stouthamer-Loeber, 1996;
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Macmillan, 1995). Sampson and Laub’s (1993) secondary data analysis o f Glueck
and Glueck’s (1950, 1968) longitudinal study o f 500 delinquents and 500 controls
found evidence that “childhood pathways to crime and conformity over the life
course are significantly influenced by adult social bonds” (p. 243). The authors
emphasized “the quality and strength o f social ties more than the occurrence or
timing o f life events” (p. 246).
I am interested in these studies that examine life courses and transitions since I
will study the life histories o f several PowerBuilders Workshop young male
participants who have been incarcerated and are in the process o f making life
changes to forgo crime and graduate from college.
Special (enhancement) Programs
Types
There is much in the literature that discusses special programs in the form o f
college preparation programs. W.G. Tiemey, L.S. Hagedom, A. Jun, and S. Fogel
created a taxonomy of types o f college preparation programs in a Report to the Ford
Foundation presentation (1999) and list them as follows:
1. Early Identification Programs
2. Academic Outreach Programs
3. Career-Specific Outreach Programs
4. Dropout Prevention Programs
5. Programs that Focus on Curriculum and Teaching
6. Schools on College Campuses
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Alex Jun’s dissertation on the USC-sponsored Neighborhood Academic
Initiative (NAI) may be considered the private university equivalent to the CSULA
program. Jun also creates a similar typology that makes a valuable attempt at
categorizing the types o f special programs available. The Neighborhood Academic
Initiative may be classified as Tierney’s “Academic Outreach Program” in which the
program originates from a college or university, public or private. The focus is
placed on outreach and assistance to youth for the purposes o f successful
matriculation to post-secondary education. It is, potentially, a means o f recruitment
to specific academic disciplines and programs.
In Los Angeles County, a new program targets low-income women who are not
on welfare and live in the northeast Valley, an area with high unemployment and a
substantial population at or below the poverty level. The program, which may be
classified as Tierney’s “Career-Specific Outreach Program,” is run jointly by the
Pacoima Workforce Development Initiative and the Child Care Resource Center in
Van Nuys. The organizations pay for the women’s fees at Mission College in
Sylmar, books, transportation and childcare. Mentors and academic counselors are
also available.
The program’s annual cost of about $220,000 is funded by grants from private
foundations, according to Mario Matute, director o f the Pacoima Iniative (Los
Angeles Times. March 25, 2001, B3). Participants attend classes for two years and,
upon completion o f either an associate o f arts degree or a certificate in child
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development, are placed in full-time jobs. The women all earned passing grades in
their first semester.
Among Jun’s conclusions in his research on enrichment programs such as the
above and the NAI, in particular, are that the most effective programs are those that
develop and utilize critical thinking skills. Jun also questions if college preparation
programs such as the NAI give “false hope” to students when it comes to “making it”
during college and post-college (1999).
Their Purposes and Goals
In Addressing Failure: Factors Affecting Native American College Student
Retention (1996). Tierney discusses ten “culturally relevant principles o f institutional
good practice” to increase the retention for Native American students. One o f those
emphasizes the importance of cooperation, not the competition that is prevalent in
the Anglo classroom. Other studies have also shown that minority students, in
general, benefit from cooperative learning. Hence, a college preparation program
with large numbers o f minority students should have a cooperative learning
component if its purpose is to be o f benefit to minority youth.
The American Youth Policy Forum, as part o f the Institute for Educational
Leadership, has published a two-volume listing o f college preparation programs:
Some Things Do M ake a Difference for Youth: A Compendium o f Evaluations o f
Youth Programs and Practices. Vol. 1 (1997) and More Things That Make a
Difference for Youth. (1999) Vol. 2. The first volume lists enrolled-in-school
programs, out-of-school programs, community programs, and post-secondary
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education options. Neither USC’s NAI is listed nor is CSULA’s PowerBuilders
Program. The second volume expands its program categories to include school-to-
work, English language development, service-learning, juvenile justice, and
pregnancy prevention programs. Once again, neither the USC nor CSULA programs
are included. Especially helpful in the second volume, however, is a section that
summarizes program characteristics on a grid. Categories are “focus,” “findings,”
and “key characteristics.” A variety o f program purposes and goals are listed under
“focus.” These include everything from increasing the rate o f low-income students
who attend college to helping young women to make informed decisions related to
sexual behavior.
Success o f Special Programs
The two-volume Compendium o f Evaluations of Youth Programs and Practices
provide descriptions o f a variety of college preparation programs. Volume 2
includes a grid which lists the “Key Components” of these programs. A review o f
many o f those components may determine which are the successful programs. What
is often repeated are the following:
1. High expectations and long-term support
2. Parent/guardian participation
3. Enrichment activities and classes on study skills.
4. Teacher and staff development
5. Tutoring and mentoring
6. Cooperative learning and team teaching
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7. Cost-effectiveness
Tierney et al. address three major areas o f successful college preparation
programs:
1. A majority o f the successful programs generally begin early in middle school or
high school. A number o f programs even begin targeting students in early
elementary school since educators have long recognized the need to reach
students at an early age.
2. Many colleges and universities have for some time, implemented programs to
increase opportunities for academically at-risk students through a variety o f
program s and services. The more successful o f these programs work in
partnership with local high schools and in collaboration with community
organizations and private institutions.
3. Different approaches are needed to evaluate different programs. Some programs
target the academically gifted, while other programs target the average-
achieving student who might not have participated in post-secondary education
without intervention.
In H agedom and FogePs “Making School to College Programs Work:
Academics, Goals, and Aspirations” in “Extending Their Reach: Strategies for
Increasing Access to College” (in press) edited by W.G. Tierney and L.S. Hagedom,
the authors describe a model o f evaluation to assist policy makers to evaluate school-
to college programs and evaluates three college preparation programs in Southern
California.
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Among H agedom and Fogel’s conclusions are that courses are likely to work in
several ways to produce college enrollment. First, coursework, especially chemistry,
advanced placement, and honors courses, prepares students to score in the acceptable
ranges in college admission tests. Second, college admission committees look for
courses on transcripts that will allow the student to enroll in “true college-level
courses” (p. 20). Thus, the successful school-to-college program will offer the above
type o f courses. This finding supports the recent emphasis on the role o f appropriate
courses in college preparation. Grades may not be the best predictors o f college
success, according to Cliff Adelman’s “Answers in the Tool Box” study (Newsweek.
2000).
The successful student in the college preparation programs reported spending
about an hour a day in more study than their no-treatment counterparts.
Additionally, they reported spending approximately one hour less per day in “less
constructive activities such as hanging out with friends’, watching TV, and listening
to music” (p. 21). The successful program, therefore, would be the one that
encourages outside study time
The successful college preparation program will positively affect student
cognitions such as academic self-efficacy, goal orientation, and ego anxiety. The
authors claim, “Thus, students may come to believe in their abilities to obtain a post
secondary education” (p. 23).
In summary, the ingredients for Southern California school-to-college success
“appear to be actions that promote enrollment and success in pre-college courses”
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(p. 23). Motivation for enrollment in challenging courses is dependent on assisting
students academically and providing “out o f class” enrichment. Further, practice and
exposure to academic content increases academic self-efficacy.
Conclusion
In this chapter I have addressed the issue o f academic achievement and success
in schools from the perspective o f the low socio-economic student. I have discussed
the concepts o f cultural and social capital. I have briefly described gangs in Los
Angeles. I have also discussed mentoring the at-risk adolescent, in particular the
pregnant, Latina adolescent. I have referred to research on minority youth offenders
who want to change their lives. I described how those lives may be observed
through a life history approach that includes key transitions. Finally, I focused on
special or “enhancement” programs as reflected in Jun’s (2000) research and the
model described by H agedom and Fogel.
Successful college preparation programs such as the NAI Jun has studied, the
Mission College program for low income women who are not on welfare in Los
Angeles’s northeast Valley, or the model Hagedom and Fogel have described hold
the key to increasing the college enrollment levels o f low-income students. The
Gang Violence Bridging Project takes “enrichment” one step beyond to concentrate
on young, Hispanic male and female students who may have been members o f
Southern California gangs and are determined to change their destinies.
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CHAPTER III: METHOD
Introduction
This chapter will detail the methodology employed in the study including
rationale for the method selection, solicitation and human rights procedures,
selection o f participants in the sample, data collection and analysis design, and
methods o f rigor. I will also discuss the accompanying video and video participants
which will represent a subset o f the original sample. I will discuss how the
participants will be selected, how many participants will be taped, their age-range,
and how they will be selected. I will also briefly outline the script o f the video.
Selection o f Qualitative Methods
In human science, the nature o f the research question determines the research
approach (Polit & Hungler, 1991; Ottenbacher, 1992; Polkinghome, 1983). In
education, qualitative and quantitative approaches are considered valid research
methods to advance the discipline’s knowledge base. Hoshmand and Polkinghome
(1992) encourage researchers to design studies that address the questions and
problems of a discipline’s practice. I propose to use a qualitative approach for the
dissertation research because o f the process-oriented nature o f the research questions
(Yerxa, 1991).
Solicitation and Human Rights
For interviewing and videotaping purposes, I have obtained consent from the
PowerBuilders participants who are 18 years and older. For interviewing and not
videotaping, participants may be younger than 18 years old (see Appendix). I have
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established confidentiality by assigning a letter to each respondent’s data and using
that letter for all subsequent references.
Sample
The sample for this study are all PowerBuilders’ male and female participants
who are at least 18 years old, live in the greater Los Angeles area, are o f low socio
economic background, and have applied for entrance to California State University,
Los Angeles. They are high school students or high school graduates and were
recruited for the PowerBuilders program by word o f mouth and by community
agencies and organizations working with at-risk youth, including former and current
gang members.
I observed these youth by attending the 26-weeks o f PowerBuilders workshops
at CSULA, I followed their application processes for CSULA admission, and was
present on the afternoons during which they took their placement math and English
tests. I also followed up with in-depth, audiotaped and videotaped interviews during
and following their first quarter o f attendance at CSULA. This 18-month time frame
began in September 1999 and ended in March 2001.
I focused on six o f those participants and one coordinator and videotaped their
experiences as in-depth case studies, or “life studies.” I included a script o f the video
in the appendix o f the study. The script consists o f three parts. A several-minute
Act I highlights short comments from several PowerBuilders. The lengthier Act II
(about 15 minutes) features four PowerBuilders in greater depth. We see them on
campus, at home, and on the streets o f their neighborhoods. We follow Rosa and
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Jaime who married and had a baby in the course o f their year in PowerBuilders. A
five-minute Act UI includes a PowerBuilders workshop that focuses on job
interviewing techniques and dress. A short coda revisits Rosa, Jaime and baby, Jakie
at home. They are celebrating his one-year old birthday.
In order to discern whether the procedures within PowerBuilders are producing
the desired outcomes measurable outcomes o f success are as follows:
1. College enrollment measured after one year.
2. Continued gang affiliation measured after one year.
3. Gainful employment after completing the PowerBuilders program.
4. Incarceration after completing the PowerBuilders program.
5. High school graduation after completing the PowerBuilders program.
D ata Collection
Data collection consisted o f observations, individual interviews, and videotaped
in-depth case studies that followed a narrative story. People do not talk about their
lives in chronological form. They tell storied accounts about their lives that revolve
around a thematic plot that ties together significant experiences into a coherent
temporal whole (Bruner, 1990; Polkinghome, 1995; Reissman, 1993). By eliciting
participants’ beliefs, intention, and interpretation o f their actions, the researchers can
compare what people say about their actions with their actions (Pettigrew;
Polkinghome, 1983, 1995; Reissman). As researchers transform first order
observation data into second order interpretations o f what the investigator interprets
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the actions mean to the participants (Van Maanen, 1983), it could be reasoned that
they produce narrative data.
The framework for this study will be chronological: Past, Present and Future.
Past
Recorded in text and on video were life histories, snippets of interviews, and primary
events or persons leading to recruitment in the Gang Violence Bridging Program.
Present
Measurable outcomes consisted o f recording actual events in the program
representing all four phases o f the program:
1. Satisfaction in the program.
2. Motivation for the items o f interest: college enrollment, continued gang
affiliation, gainful employment, incarceration, and high school graduation.
3. Program interacts to change participants’ opinions and motivations from the past.
4. Retention in the PowerBuilders workshops.
Future
This study consisted o f interview data and a video recording of student aspirations
and plans and covered an 18-month observation o f progress in the items o f interest.
I employed triangulation (Jick, 1983; Polkinghome, 1983) by 1. using two data
collection procedures: observations (at the PowerBuilders workshops I was a
participant-observer) and interviews, and 2. by videotaping participants’ experiences.
Analysis
Analysis o f qualitative data begins as data is first collected (Agar, 1986; Miles,
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1983; Reissman, 1993; Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Van Maanen, 1983). Qualitative
researchers use a variety o f analytic approaches (Pokinghome, 1995; Reissman; Van
Maaen, 1983). Some researchers argue that data collection m ust be guided by a clear
expectation o f what the research will measure and use a conceptual thesis for which
the research will support or not support the thesis (Webb & W eick, 1983). Other
investigators claim that a rough working analytic framework should bind studies
(Miles). Others are in favor o f an inductive analysis in which study participants and
the data collected define the problems and yield analytic perspectives (Piore, 1983).
Van Maanen (1983) suggests that investigators select interpretative strategies and
analytic structures by trying them on the data as they collect it to see which
approaches best fit, order, and condense the data. I utilized V an M aanen’s “literary
tale” in which I borrowed from fiction-writing techniques to tell the story. I used
dense characterization, dramatic plots, and alternative points o f view. I heeded Van
Maanen’s caveat to stick to the story and not tell readers/viewers what to think o f the
material as presented. “Being there” will be both the means and the end o f the
writing/videotaping (1988).
Polkinghome (Personal communication, July 6, 2000) points out that two
approaches can be used when analyzing storied narratives. The first approach is
“analysis o f narrative” that entails developing general concepts from several
particular stories. The investigator finds common themes and relationships between
thematic categories as a way to analyze the data. In contrast, "narrative analysis”
pieces together elements o f data into an “emplotted narrative.” The purpose o f this
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type o f analysis is to illuminate complex issues concerning how and why events
come about. Polkinghome says “a biography is a narrative analysis and discusses
various types o f stories that may result from narrative analysis including, “historical
accounts, a case study, a life story, or a storied episode o f a person’s life” (Personal
communication, July 6, 2000). In this study, I will primarily engage in an analysis of
narratives approach.
Qualitative investigators have acknowledged that interpretations and conclusions
o f qualitative research emerge from the particular interactions between researcher,
participants, setting, and temporal/historical place (Linden, 1995; Manning, 1983;
Polkinghome, 1983). Each telling is one possible version, bringing to the fore the
epistemological assumption o f qualitative research that there are multiple realities.
Krefting suggests that while the value o f qualitative research is strong, the
researcher’s ability to replicate the findings or generalize them to all people
everywhere at any point in historical time is not an appropriate claim o f qualitative
investigators (1989, 1991). Generalizability is reconceptualized as “transferability”
according to Krefting (1991). Polkinghome argues that although the researcher
may create generalizability based on the study sample, it is the reader who creates
transferablity. The reader, alone, will decide what to do with the research results.
The researcher offers the invitation o f transferability; the researcher does not make a
claim o f transferability (Personal communication, June 27, 2000). To establish
external validity, I will address transferability in the proposed study in two ways.
First, I will provide “thick description” (Geertz, 1983) o f all significant participants
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and their socio-cultural contexts. Secondly, the reader/viewer can determine the
applicability o f the PowerBuilders workshops to their own enhancement and/or
school to college programs.
Scholars claim many strategies for increasing the rigor o f qualitative studies
including “thick description” (Geertz, 1983), member checking (Agar, 1986;
Krefting, 1991) and reflexivity (Ely, with Anzul, Friedman, Gamer & Steinmetz,
1991; Krefting, 1991). I will focus on thick description and reflexivity by referring
to my interpretations, questions, and alternative explanations.
Coding
Coding is a process o f synthesizing and categorizing discrete pieces o f data into
abstract conceptual categories (Charmaz, 1983). To accomplish this task, three
levels o f coding can be used. Open coding (Strauss, 1989), or initial coding
(Charmaz, 1983) as other have named it, refers to a search process during which the
researcher looks at the data for emerging concepts or repeated themes, regardless of
how provisional they may, at first, seem. During this searching process, the
investigator attempts to detect general themes or ideas, thereby, beginning to find a
sense o f connection between concepts. Open coding provides a springboard to
facilitate new insights about the data and an initial attempt to create order out of the
data (Charmaz, 1983).
The next level o f coding referred to as axial coding, is an effort to expand
analysis of the concepts identified in the initial, open coding stage. Charmaz argues
the intent of axial coding is to develop and refine categories by raising concepts to a
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more abstract, analytical level (1983). During this stage, the investigator pulls out
significant concepts and applies them the rest o f the data in order to create a dense
understanding o f the identified category (Charmaz, 1983; Strauss, 1989).
The third type o f coding is selective coding. This technique occurs when the
central categories have been identified and fleshed out. Its purpose is to
systematically link the axial codes, or subcategories, to the core categories that have
emerged as central to the study at hand (Charmaz, 1983). It is the researcher’s
attempt to exhaustively analyze the conditions o f the core categories and to explain
the phenomenon studied. Charmaz claims selective coding emphasizes a “processual
analysis” (1983). Processual analysis demonstrates the interwoven nature of
subcategories to the core categories.
I utilized all three types o f coding. I also relied on outside literature to provide
comparisons and contrasts. The above procedures provided guidelines for analyzing
the thematic content o f the narratives I collected in the audio-taped and videotaped
interviews. In chapter four, I present the narrative content under the sub-headings:
before, during, and after the PowerBuilders workshops.
Summary
In summary, I examined how students are recruited into the PowerBuilders
program at CSULA. Through narrative analysis, I examined the effect of the
PowerBuilders program with respect to academic gains, motivations to change
behaviors, and aspirations. Finally, I examined the outcomes with respect to high
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school graduation rates, enrollment in college, academic gains, gainful employment,
continued gang affiliation, and incarceration among PowerBuilders participants.
Initially, I distributed questionnaires (see appendix) at a PowerBuilders
recognition dinner in September 2000. Now, armed with current telephone numbers,
I set up interviews with the 13 PowerBuilders I had not interviewed during my
attendance at the earlier workshops. (In total, I interviewed all 19 PowerBuilders
enrolled at CSULA, two who decided not to enroll, and one who expects to enroll.) I
conducted one-hour audio-taped interviews with the 13 PowerBuilders, one mother
o f a PowerBuilder, a PowerBuilder coordinator, and three staff members, including
Gang Violence Bridging Project director, Gilbert Sanchez. Human subject releases
were signed by all subjects. I also conducted several follow-up telephone interviews.
Out o f those I audio-taped, I chose the six PowerBuilders and one coordinator whose
stories I would present in-depth, in the text. I also chose the PowerBuilders and staff
members I would videotape. My videotaping criteria included PowerBuilders who
had gang affiliations and/or unwed pregnancies, who were verbal and able to
describe their stories in a riveting manner, and those who were, generally,
representative o f the sample. Videotaping on a digital camera took place over two
days and tw o evenings during November 2000 through February 2001. With the
help o f a professional videotape editor who used Avid editing equipment, I edited the
tape in a ten-hour period. Several weeks later, I taped and edited in several minutes
o f audio narration.
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CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
I thought o f what I like to do to unwind after a long hard
semester o f college. I decided that, for me, their (sic) is
nothing more relaxing than going up to the mountains to
go shooting. I like to spend a couple o f hours their (sic)
with my rifles and take about tw o to three thousand rounds
and unload them up their (sic) all day long. Different guns
provide a different feeling. If I am stressed, I like to shoot
my shotgun. First because it just throws you side to side and,
for some reason, this calms me down. Then, I like to move
on to my AK-47 and, after that, I’ll use my M-44. Then to
relax me out, I’ll fire about a thousand rounds out o f my 22
rifle. And by this time, I’ll have run out o f runs Whatever
I do, I make sure I get off the mountains before it gets dark.
Because I would hate for something to go wrong up their (sic)
late at night When it’s all dark. (Sasha age 19)
Sunny Sasha a nineteen-year-old young man, who immigrated to the United States
14 years ago from a country in the Far East, prefers that I not reveal his
neighborhood, school, or country o f origin. He is fearful o f retaliation by former
“gang affiliates.” Sunny appears in the accompanying video, “Home Bov” to
“School Bov.” demonstrating his guns, his house surveillance system, and discussing
his former gang involvement. I will not focus on his story here since he decided not
to enroll in CSULA after PowerBuilders. But Sunny is representative o f the
population of at risk urban youth that I am looking at in this study. Although he
denies having been a member o f a gang, he was affiliated with gang members and
participated in drugs and weapons buying and selling. He estimated that the gangs in
his Southern California neighborhood are made up o f some 3,000 members. At any
one time, half are incarcerated but are still able to participate in the buying and
selling o f drugs and weapons— the business o f today’s gangs. Sunny’s gang
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“affiliates” gross $2,000,000 a year in drugs and weapons traffic. Sunny had no
trouble leaving the gang since he “was never in one.” Sunny decided not to enroll in
CSULA after PowerBuilders.
In this chapter, I will focus on seven students who began in PowerBuilders in
September 1999 and their PowerBuilders Coordinator. O f the seven students, three
are currently enrolled as first year students at CSULA. Tw o have temporarily
dropped out o f school, and one has yet to be accepted although intends to complete
the application process. Although I interviewed all 19 students who were accepted
into CSULA from their PowerBuilders cohort, I am focusing on those who are
representative o f the larger sample. This chapter has been divided into eight
sections, one representing each PowerBuilder and their coordinator. Each section
begins with a brief summary and introduction o f the PowerBuilder. Each
PowerBuilder answers the three research questions:
1. What are the recruitment strategies o f the PowerBuilders Program at CSULA?
2. What is the effect o f the PowerBuilders Program with respect to academic gains,
motivations to change behaviors, and aspirations?
3. What are the true outcomes o f the PowerBuilders Program with respect to high
school graduation rates, enrollment in college, academic gains, gainful
employment, continued gang affiliation, and incarceration among PowerBuilders
participants? I also outline three key themes, or conceptual categories, as sub
sections that unify the PowerBuilders. The three conceptual categories are: Life
Before PowerBuilders, Life as a PowerBuilder, and Life After PowerBuilders.
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The first sub-section, “Life Before PowerBuilders,” focuses on the various ways
the PowerBuilders negotiated life before the program. Most were gang members,
several had been incarcerated, and two young women had unplanned pregnancies.
The second sub-section, “Life as a PowerBuilder,” presents the PowerBuilders
experiences in the Program from September 1999 through March 2000. The original
45 students (culled from mailings to over 250 community, family help agencies) who
began PowerBuilders believed they were competing for one o f 15 spaces that would
lead to CSULA enrollment. (After PowerBuilders merged with an Office o f
Educational Opportunity Program, that number was doubled.) Eventually, 29
students were admitted to CSULA in September 2000. Out o f the 29, 19 were
PowerBuilders. The remaining 10 were graduates of Wilson High School in El
Sereno and were members o f the Gang Violence Bridging Project’s “Youth on the
Move” component.) PowerBuilders participated in 26 workshops on life-coping
skills, study skills, and self-esteem building. The final sub-section, “Life After
PowerBuilders,” addresses individual experiences as first year students at CSULA.
Jaime Via
20-year old Jaime entered PowerBuilders three weeks into the Program in late
September 1999. He was recruited by his pregnant fiancee, Rosa, whom he married
on October 31st. My first extensive interview with Jaime was in February 2000. At
that time he had decided to drop out o f PowerBuilders and take a full-time job in
order to support Rosa and their baby due in March.
I just got a job that pays $23 an hour. It’s in construction
and demolition. W e [wife, Rosa, 19, is expecting the couple’s
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first child] can’t afford to turn that down. I want to spend time
with my child but still will be coming to the classes [pre-bridge
classes at CSULA] even though I won’t stick with them. I made
the decision [that Rosa continues]. She always wanted to be a vet.
I don’t know what I want yet. I don’t want to deny her that. She’s
always had that dream. She’s not happy [with his decision] but she
understands where I’m coming from. Hopefully, I’ll come back
next year.
Life Before PowerBuilders
High school [Wilson in El Sereno] didn’t feel like a learning
atmosphere. The teachers got their paychecks and expected the
students to come. It’s a way to pass the day. The administration
wasn’t too concerned either. The gates were unlocked after
second period [after roll was taken]. They [Wilson High] get
their money for each student there.
Have you ever been in trouble with the law?
In seventh grade I ditched [school] with some friends who stole
things from a house that I thought was a friend’s [house]. The
law arrested us. I was a problem child since then. When I was
18, I got busted for shop lifting. So, you know, when you are 18,
19 years old, it becomes second nature. You can do just about
anything if you know how to do it right. Me being so smart, it just
kind o f got me into more trouble as I did it so well. I am not proud
if it, but I was incarcerated a couple o f times.
Were you in a gang?
I have never been in a gang. I think gangs are pretty stupid but that’s
just my opinion. I understand kind o f why people get into gangs. One
o f them is because their parents just really don’t care. These kids are
just really looking for attention and family. I ended up moving in with
Rosa and her parents after I got into a physical fight with my dad. My
parents didn’t care.
Life as a PowerBuilder
What part o f PowerBuilders really made a difference? Why?
Standing up for something that you believe in regardless o f what
anyone else says. I think that I’ve always been a very passive person.
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I’ve always tried to make everybody really happy and, overall, I really
didn’t fight for anything that I thought was important having or
anything like that. I’ve never have been a person who studies. I
didn’t do homework. It’s always been a big flaw o f mine. But I learned
[in PowerBuilders] to read the table o f contents, breeze through the
chapter to look through the dates and stuff. It is actually a good tip
and it does work.
What else in the PowerBuilders Workshops helped you?
It was one o f the guest speakers at PowerBuilders who said just to
stick through school no matter what happens. That was one o f the things
that made me think o f coming to Cal State. No matter how long it
takes you, try and finish school.
Life After PowerBuilders
Jaime dropped out of PowerBuilders at the end o f February 2000, just as the pre
bridge classes w ere to begin. His son was bom March 5, 2000. His full-time job
would only last four weeks. A series o f part-time jobs would follow. A year later
when I interviewed Jaime on video, he told me that a spot is being held for him and
his tuition waiver and financial aid is still in place.
Conclusion
Jaime may or may not enroll at CSULA. The Gang Violence Bridging
Project staff confirms that he will be accepted into “New Directions” (another
component o f the Project) at Cal State when he completes his application.
Rosa Via
Rosa started dating Jaime when she was 15-years old. I met Rosa during the
first PowerBuilders Workshop on September 22, 1999. She had been referred to
PowerBuilders by a receptionist at Barrio Action in El Sereno, a home study school
in which Rosa was enrolled. A lover o f animals, Rosa is determined to be a
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veterinarian. Several weeks after starting PowerBuilders Rosa married Jaime. She
gave birth to her first child in March 2000. Rosa is 20-years old. Her poise and
verbal skills add maturity to her years.
I feel I have to speak. If I don’t speak, no one will hear me. I’ll be
down on the floor and pushed and kicked. I saw my mom pushed
over a lot. But she is very determined, very loving, caring, a strong
person. I am like my mother.
Life Before PowerBuilders
I used to speak my mind once in a while, when I felt something
was wrong. When I got to junior high, I started to express myself
in my dress, in my writing. When I was in high school, I used to
speak out. If a teacher was doing something wrong, I would tell them.
My history teacher at Wilson High felt I wasn’t working hard enough.
He was upset that I missed a lot o f school because I was sick. My
mother was sick, too, with asthma. I used to help my mother to get
a little better. He thought I needed help. He meant mental help.
That totally brought me down. He totally made me think differently
after that. I didn’t want to stay there. I left high school. Eventually, I
graduated from Barrio Action Continuation School. I have always felt
that I wasn’t a typical Hispanic woman. Women o f Hispanic background
are lowered. They are told that you are just a housem aid.... I guess, in a
way, that is being brainwashed. You leam through years o f childhood
that this is the way you should be acting. Hispanic background actually
oppresses women more than actually helping them. I have always felt
that I wasn’t a typical Hispanic woman.
Many Hispanic women take birth control. D id you discuss birth control with your
mother?
When it came to birth control. My mother constantly asked me if I
knew how to use a condom, if I knew that there w ere other ways of
birth control out there. She told me this starting when I was 16.
Life as a PowerBuilder
What has impressed you the most about PowerBuilders?
Well, two workshops. One where the speaker w as talking about
how to study, how to read through books without actually reading
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page to page. Then, the other one was how to try to reach out to
people, how to pow er speak.
How has PowerBuilders helped you out academically? Do you take advantage o f the
mentoring and tutoring?
Actually, 1 don’t have the time to do that stuff. I tried going up to
PowerBuilders and talking to them [the Gang Violence Bridging
Project staff]. I talked to my counselors. It is impossible as I am
taking the bus over there and the bus back here.
What has your childcare situation been?
"My mother is taking care o f my child.”
How will you continue to cope with school and motherhood?
If I have to leave school, I will definitely come back. It would take
me longer but I will always come back. I have my goals. And I also
want my child to see how hard his mother and dad are working.
Life After PowerBuilders
Rosa enrolled at CSULA for the fall quarter. She passed her classes except for
one Incomplete grade in history. When I interviewed her on video in March 2001,
she had not enrolled in classes for the winter and spring quarters.
Conclusion
Rosa’s “little difficulty,” as she puts it, is her year-old boy, Jakie, who has had a
stubborn ear infection that has only recently responded to a stronger antibiotic. Rosa
gets sick when her baby is sick. Husband Jaime works part-time but is looking for
full-time work. Neither has their own car and are forced to share the car o f Rosa’s
parents with whom they continue to reside in a modest bungalow in El Sereno, along
with ten and seven-year old nieces. Often, Rosa finds herself in conflict with her
parents who expect her to continue with her housekeeping and childcare duties.
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Eddie Ramos
Eddie Ramos is a leader o f four young men who started PowerBuilders in
September 1999. His is tall, husky and favors gang attire. He usually wears a
pressed T-shirt, flannel shirt, baggy pants and clean, white tennis shoes. He has
shaved his hair. Eddie was never in a gang but “grew up in a gang infested area.”
friend encouraged him to go to PowerBuilders.
Life Before PowerBuilders
I was just going with the flow. I wasn’t like serious about my studies.
I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s just high school.’ In high school everyone is
like thinking about getting accepted, whatever, and what other people
think rather than pursuing their education. That’s what happened to
me. After I graduated high school, I didn’t know what to do. If I
wanted to pursue my education or if I wanted to start working. I
wasn’t sure what I wanted to do? I have an older brother. H e’s just
working. He didn’t wanna go to college. He just decided to go on
working. He’s a security guard at a department store. He graduated
high school but only till the ninth grade. I have a younger brother. He’s
at an age where he is doing stuff for himself and being his own person.
He looks up to me in a way but he is his own person and on his own. I
want him to look up to me and say, Wow! It gives him something to
look up to and ask questions. As I am going through [my life] this helps
him.
Were you in a gang?
No, I was never in a gang. But I lived where there was a lot o f gangs.
It was gang-infested and stuff and I never got into a gang. But there
was sometimes pressure that maybe that is the way to go. That is what
I was always surrounded by. I have cousins who are all gang members
and have been in and out o f prison. And they just chose to live that kind
o f life and that way I learned from their experiences and what they went
through. That also helped me not become a gang member. I didn’t
necessarily have to join a gang to see what they have to go through or
what happens to them. I had seen what happened to my cousins. They
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had been incarcerated, in and out o f jail. I guess that’s the life style they
wanted to live. I learned from them that that’s not the way to go for me.
I was involved in sports and my father had an impact on me, too. He told
me that I could do whatever I could. But, he said one thing, he never
wanted me to be in a gang. I guess that is what stuck to me, also, because
there was a few times I was thinking o f it. But, I guess what he told me is
still with me. So, sports and my father had a big impact on me to not be a
gang member.
Life as a PowerBuilder
Was there a PowerBuilders Workshop that stood out fo r you?
The workshop on self-esteem. I felt better about myself. I [had] felt that
there was nothing good about me, but, going through that workshop made
me realize that everyone has good in them. And that at that workshop we
gave people compliments and stuff and I noticed stuff about me that I did
not even realize before. O ther people saw in me stuff that I did not even
see in myself. And that was a very positive workshop for me and it helped
me with my self-esteem and my willingness to do stuff now and pursue
education.
Was there another PowerBuilders workshop that was also helpful?
The one about prisons told me that you don’t wanna be in prison. M ost
minorities end up in prisons instead o f schools and I wanted to make a
difference in that and pursue my education more further than college.
I didn’t want to end up like a statistic, end up in prison, or a gang, o r
dead. I wanted to make a difference in that. So, the workshop opened
up my eyes to pursue my education more and be serious more and make
a difference.
How else wav PowerBuilders helpful to you?
Academically, they helped me prepare for work as I took a year o ff high
school and I did not know what I wanted to do. And when I went to a
workshop, they helped me learn more about myself that I could do it
academically and taught me more, and that’s about it.
Life After PowerBuilders
After I finished the PowerBuilders, I went to the EOP (Educational
Opportunity Program) Academy, which was from nine in the morning
to one p.m. There was an English component and a math component.
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I did not live in the dorms. The classes were on the campus.
What are you majoring in at Cal State ?
I am undecided as o f right now. I was thinking psychology, maybe
sociology. 1 am not too sure. I just wanna take care o f my general
classes and after that I will have more o f an idea what I like and what
I want to major in.
What do you want to do after college ?
Right now I have no idea. But [I want] a good career going which
would be there for years to come. I do not want to be in a situation
where I will be in the same place if I hadn’t gone to college. I want
to like expand and see more stuff and see more opportunities.
Conclusion
Eddie continues with his studies at CSULA. He has made an impression with
school staff. One o f those staff members is Marco Remi de la Rocha, a former gang
member who is now the Finance Chair o f the CSULA Associated Students, Inc. He
says, “Eddie is continuing to change. Our kids often go to college where the school
has not really embraced them. Adapting to university life us something very
difficult. Eddie is adapting everyday." I asked him how he though Eddie escaped
the gangs. De la Rocha says, “He definitely was one that was going towards a thug
life. He affiliated himself with gang members.... So, if you put an individual in one
group, you predominately become like that group. That was Eddie. He was hanging
around them in Wilson [high school]. You know you become like that. You become
the shaved head one, dresses with “baggies,” the white tennies, always clean, the
mustache, the little hair under the lip. That’s all stuff that’s been characteristic o f a
thug. That’s who you are. Eddie is not ready to give up that look, yet.”
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Eddie is changing on the inside but he is resists changing his appearance. While
at CSULA he doesn’t have to. Gang Violence Bridging Project director and former
gang member, Gilbert Sanchez, claims, “Basically, it doesn’t matter how the person
on the outside looks like. It’s what the person on the inside does.... At East L.A.
College, we wore khakis, shiny shoes, T -shirts.... I am not going to penalize the
youth on the way they are dressed.” Eddie is a “school boy” on the inside and a
“home boy” on the outside.
Peter Tong
21-year old Peter is short, heavy-set and sports a shaved head. He was recruited
for PowerBuilders through his wife, a former PowerBuilder, who entered the
program a year before Peter. Peter still carries the scars from a high school
counselor who told him he “would be nothing!”
Life Before PowerBuilders
I don’t blame that counselor because I had bad grades and never did my
homework and was an asshole but, I mean, I had a different attitude then.
I just kinda slacked off. I really didn’t like school that much. I just wanted
to mess around— because I was kinda messed up I guess. Before I was 18,
I got into assault. So, I was thrown into juvenile hall for a while. I’m
pretty hot-headed. I have a short temper.
Were you in a gang?
Yeah, it was very brief. I lived in a Hispanic neighborhood. It was in
Lakewood. It was brief because when I was in a gang, two o f my best
friends got killed. They were shot. So, I didn’t want to end up like
them. I moved away. My mom was cool about it. The whole
neighborhood knew me and my family. I had been there for 18 years.
I see some o f them [gang members] around. I hardly go back to
Lakewood but I see some o f them. They are cool. It has been three
or four years now. I wanted to be educated. I didn’t want to end up
in jail.
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Where did you move?
I moved into my dad’s home but we had a conflict. So, then I got into
a car accident and my dad gave me the boot. I moved in with my
sister for two years. I just got married so I moved with my wife into a
house in Los Angeles.
Life as a PowerBuilder
How has a year o f PowerBuilders changed you?
I feel more interested. I went to community college for tw o years. I
got the boot, as I was not too interested. I went to Cypress for a year,
then to LACC [Los Angeles Community College]. PowerBuilders
improved my skills and study habits. They showed me I could do
good.
How was PowerBuilders helpful to you?
They showed me that there’s a chance I can do good. They helped me
to get money [tuition waiver and other forms o f financial aid]. They
helped me fill out forms. They found me a good tutor and counselors.
How much is p a id fo r ?
They pay the tuition. And after all the tuition is paid off, I have $ 1500
left. My books just cost $200. I also get a $400 grant from EOP
[Educational Opportunity Program].
Was there a particular PowerBuilders Workshop that impressed you?
The one about how the government is against us and that the
government just wants to put us in jail, how they want to make
money by putting us in jails.
This workshop discussed the Juvenile Justice Initiative that was to appear on the
March 2, 2000 California ballot. An ACLU o f Southern California flyer was
distributed to the PowerBuilders. Included in it was the following quote from the
New York Times (February 28, 1999) impressed Peter: “California spends nearly $4
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Billion a year on prisons. Since 1984, the state added 21 prisons and only one
university cam pus.... Instead o f educating our youth, the government wants to lock
them up and throw away the key.”
Life After PowerBuilders
After PowerBuilders I started the EOP Academy. It was one and a half
everyday for three hours months o f English [classes] and one and a half
months o f math [classes]. I was tutored. They helped me out. Now I’m
majoring in psychology. But I’m changing to social work. It’s not as
hard. I want to be a counselor for at risk youth, probably in high school.
I want to give them what I got. I am more happy now. More relaxed. I
am not stressed out. I am happier with life right now.
Conclusion
Through the Gang Violence Bridging Project, Peter is paid a small hourly rate to
lead campus tours. He tells his charges, “How I was messed up. How they helped
me here.” Peter spends a lot o f his time in the Gang Violence Bridging Project
office. Director Gilbert Sanchez enthusiastically opens his office to PowerBuilders
in order to increase their time on campus so that their time in gang-dominated
neighborhoods decreases.
Nina Barbosa
Nina was a month away from delivering he second child when 1 talked to her.
She is 19-years old and lives with her mother and her boyfriend, the father o f both o f
her children, a former PowerBuilder and current CSULA student. He recruited Nina
into PowerBuilders. She is not working outside the home. Her last job was in a
Dodger Stadium concession stand. Nina is a Criminal Justice major and wants to be
a probation officer.
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Life Before PowerBuilder
During high school, I wouldn’t go to classes. I would not go to
school, period. The teachers just wouldn’t explain. They would say,
here is the work. Do it. Well, I can’t blame it all on the teachers.
You know, it was me, too. You know, hanging out with the wrong crowd.
I wanted to have fun and pay the consequences, later. When I got pregnant,
1 decided to go into home studies. After home studies, I went to this
continuation school. Those studies over there were more helpful. That’s
how I got my high school diploma. When I got pregnant, I knew I had to
make a big change. Everything changed after that. I stopped talking to all
my friends that I used to ditch with. I no longer have contact with them
whatsoever. Maybe now I have maybe two girlfriends. That’s about it.
They haven’t even graduated [from high school] yet.
Where you ever in a gang?
Not necessarily. When I was younger, I was part o f a tagging crew.
You don’t necessarily tag on the walls. That’s what the guys do. Just
like a hangout group. Where they just go to parties, go home drunk.
Sometimes, you know, you do rival people, and you do have to fight.
If it’s necessary, then the girls do fight.
What makes it necessary ?
If you know, they are your rivals and they come up to you or something.
They disrespect you or something. Or if you tag some wall and they
cross it out. Well, then you gotta do what you gotta do. After that, when
I was 15-years old, I met my boyfriend. He was in a gang. But, by that
time, he was in his first year o f attending Cal State L.A. He put it in my
mind that, without a high school education, you are nothing. You can’t
be working minimum wage all your life, you know. If you have goals,
you know, you have to work to achieve them. My boyfriend wanted me
to get my high school diploma so he could get me into the program
[PowerBuilders], so that I could go to school with him. That was always
our goal— to go to school with each other.
Life as a PowerBuilder
Well, basically, PowerBuilders did change my life because it gave me a
boost. I think if it weren’t for PowerBuilders, I would have never gotten into
Cal State L.A. I have a different way o f thinking o f school. Now, I want to
go to school. I want to finish my career [goals], thanks to the program.
Before, I didn’t have goals o f going to school or nothing like that. I didn’t
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want to finish school. I used to think that I would just get a job and that’s it.
This program has helped me because it changed my way o f thinking.
How does your fam ily support you going to school?
Well, my mom. She has helped me out a lot during the first years o f my
son’s life. When I used to go the continuation school, she would baby sit
all the time. Sometimes, my boyfriend’s mom will baby sit him, also.
Now, that he [son] goes to school, my mom feeds him and, you know,
she changes him. My boyfriend just wakes him up and takes him to school.
Life After PowerBuilders
What did you learn in PowerBuilders and after PowerBuilders that helped you get
your high school degree ?
The reading skills and the math. I think I have a little more education. I
will be able to correct my children not to go on the wrong path. Like their
mommy and daddy did. After we graduate, we plan to get out o f the, you
know, the ghetto— Lincoln Heights. My boyfriend will graduate in June,
2001.
Conclusion
Nina is continuing with her studies at CSULA. Her boyfriend will not enroll for
the summer quarter. He plans to visit his country o f origin in the Far East to show
his family “how much I have changed.” He has ten more classes to take before he
graduates and wants to re-take three more classes in order to raise his G.P.A.
Irene Alba
Seventeen year old Irene begin PowerBuilders in mid-September, 1999. She
was recruited into the program by her brother, Francisco, two years older than she is
and in his second year at CSULA. Francisco is a former PowerBuilder. In February
2000, Irene interviewed me for a school project on television journalists (my former
career.) She paid back the favor by agreeing to a series o f interviews I conducted
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with her over a several month period. Irene attended her first quarter at CSULA
from September to December 2000. In early 2001, Irene asked for a “leave o f
absence” from CSULA. She is now attending classes at San Bernardino Valley
College.
I had to take the leave o f absence because I have some problems at
home and I have moved in with my aunt who lives in San Bernardino.
I work in a fast food restaurant in L.A. on weekends and they wanted
me to work a lot of hours for a little bit o f pay. I have too much
responsibility at home and at work. My parents aren’t home much
and I have to take care o f my little brother. He’s seven years old. My
dad is working and my mom is in church. I was working and getting a
lot o f money. My older brother had bills to pay and I had to pay them.
At home they [parents] were taking that money away from me to give to
my brother. I won’t ever get that money back. My brother still has to pay
more bills. Instead o f paying me back he bought new clothes. Everybody
asks me for money. My sister asked me for a backpack. I bought it for her
and she doesn’t even use it. I have to share a bed with my little brother.
They [parents] won’t buy him a bed. My little brother goes to sleep at
11:00 p.m. They won’t do anything. I try. But he still goes to sleep kinda
late. They should be in bed with him and tell him to go to sleep not me.
I don’t know why they w on’t buy him a bed. My little brother asks me to
stay home more. He asks me to make him breakfast. Not my mom. I feel
that since he was bom, I’ve been taking care o f him. It’s like having my
own son. That’s not the way it should be. I would have to clean house at
home, too. I couldn’t do my homework. Sometimes, I wouldn’t have a ride
to school. My mom was busy. My grandma is sick and my mom has to
help. I have to help, too. I had trouble finding rides to CSULA.
Life Before PowerBuilders
I’m good in math but in high school we hardly wrote anything. I
guess I didn’t try. I would always get passing grades but I didn’t
have to do much. You could get a “C” for doing nothing. I don’t
remember what my GPA was. Probably a 2.0. I didn’t want to go
the college. I didn’t really like school. I just wanted to get out. I
wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was never in a gang but my friends
were kinda like in a gang. One o f my friends is in jail for attempted
murder.
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Life as a PowerBuilder
As I spoke to Irene over the telephone to catch up on her life, she frequently had to
stop our conversation as she tried to get her seven-year old brother to sleep. They
share the room and the bed. “Go to sleep, baby!” she implored. Eventually, she
shooed him out o f the room.
The PowerBuilders workshop I liked the best was the one with
Alma Oso [PowerBuilders coordinator]. She was talking about her
experiences and her uncle who told her she wouldn’t make it and he
passed away before she could prove to him she did.
D id anyone tell you, you couldn 7 make it?
“Not exactly. But they make it hard for me to go. My mom is too busy to take
me to school. People discourage me.”
What else did you like about Alma O so's story?
She came from the same places as me. She had a lot o f struggles. She
had a lot o f jobs. She was struggling to handle things, with her kid.
She is a role model. I’m a role model to the girls in my family. I would
be the first girl to graduate from college from my m om ’s side.
Life after PowerBuilders
I moved out o f my home in the spring [2001] and I’m living with my
aunt in San Bernardino. I go to San Bernardino Valley College full-time
and my grades are high [3.6 GPA]. There are no study groups like we
had at Cal State but the classes seem easier. I have my own room
with a big bed. I pay rent~$200 a month. My aunt takes me to
school and we go to church. My aunt lives two blocks from the
Metrolink. It would be easier to go to Cal State from there than
from my parents’ house in L.A. since there is also a Metrolink at
Cal State. I tutor my little cousins in reading at my aunt’s. My uncle
gets impatient [with his children, Irene’s cousins] and tells them the
word they can’t read. I’m more patient. I want to work with kids. My
sister says I should be a lawyer. I argue a lot until I get my point across.
I plan to go back to Cal State and major in Child Development. Cal
State has all this new stuff like things to eat and buy and a big library.
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The school I go to now is ugly. It’s smaller. The desks are old. But I
don’t know when I’ll go back. Probably in tw o years. I still have to
finish the paperwork for my leave of absence from Cal State.
Conclusion
Irene has many strikes against her. Her parents expect her to help both brothers.
At home, she’s a second mother to her seven-year old brother and the bill-payer for
her 20-year old brother. She is caught in the middle o f traditional family
expectations that daughters put their goals aside to support sons. To her parents,
Irene’s needs and wants are secondary. The family comes first even if that means
her parents and siblings take advantage of her. Her minimum wage, fast food
restaurant job demands time away from family responsibilities and homework but
allows her to make a small contribution ($25/week) to rent at her aunt’s hours near
Colton. Irene remains upbeat and determined to meet her goals. But she must stay
away from her family to do it.
Alma Oso
Alma’s story is instructive although she has never been a PowerBuilder. She
was the PowerBuilder Coordinator for four years, beginning in 1996. The youngest
o f five children in a father-less household, Alma was pregnant at 13 years old and
gave birth at 14. Alma persevered against great odds to graduate from CSULA in
May 2000 with a Bachelor o f Arts degree in Social Work. Her son’s father abused
alcohol and drugs. He and his parents threatened to kidnap the boy if Alma left him.
At sixteen, “malnourished and confused,” Alma left her boyfriend who had
continued to abuse her. She persuaded her family to move to a new neighborhood to
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get away from her boyfriend and his parents who verbally abused her. Alma’s
mother tended her son while Alma worked part-time and took busses to high school.
She graduated from Lincoln High School with a 3 .6 GPA and was accepted to
CSULA in 1995 on a full scholarship. Several months later, Alma was hired as an
Academic Probation Intervention Specialist by Gilbert Sanchez, director o f the Gang
Violence Bridging Project.
At sixteen, my self-esteem was just at rock bottom. I had asthma
and 1 had allergies. I was very sick and very thin, very malnourished.
I wasn’t eating well. I was going through a lot o f emotional problems.
After one argument that he [son’s father] ended up having with the
family and me, I just turned around and said that it was time for me to
go. So, therefore I left. My mom called my brother and told him to
pick me up and take me to my sister’s house.
Alma, then, moved in with her father who had left the family when she was four
years old. After a month “o f clashing,” she moved in with a family friend. She was
there for several months. Alma continued with her education in a home study
program. After returning home, Alma was fearful o f her former boyfriend.
His family wanted my child. They tried doing it through the
courts. They realized they couldn’t do it. They told me they were
going to do it [kidnap the child], whether they saw me on the street
with him or somewhere else. So, that was very scary. I was like,
lord have mercy, what am I going to do now— about my family, my
child. I couldn’t go out o f the house with fear that they were going to
kidnap him. I didn’t know what I was going to do. We ended up
moving out o f there in 1994. He [former boyfriend] wanted to see my
son. In the beginning, I didn’t want to let him see him. He didn’t
deserve it. I took on that mentality. Then I realized that I was going to
only hurt my son. But my son was two; he needed to have his father in
his life. And I allowed him to come over.... O f course, he would come
and he would come drunk. There was one day, when he came over;
Jose was in the crib. He picked up Jose from the crib, fell back on the
crib and broke the crib. Fortunately, my son was not hurt.
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Eventually, Alma graduated from high school with honors. A school counselor
took her under his wing and “was a shoulder to cry on.” He wrote a strong letter o f
recommendation that helped her get accepted into CSULA’s Educational
Opportunity Program. I asked Alma how she uses her experiences to help young
girls going through something similar.
I understand a lot o f girls whether they are pregnant or have a child
or whether they don’t. I can completely understand where they are
coming from. But it’s easier for me to say that you need to do this,
this, and this and that. But I need to turn around and say [to myself],
‘O.K., Stop it! Let me get their history. Let me get an assessment of
where they are. What they are doing. What their plans are. Where
do they wanna go with their plans? Do they even have an idea o f
what they want?’ So, I have to first get involved with their life. Find
out what they want. You know, when I first started PowerBuilders, I
found myself asking the girls, ‘What are you here for? What do you
want to get out o f this? What can I do for you? And that’s where it
starts,’ I told them. ‘You know that I have been there. I am not telling
you that I am this high highness who is just having all sorts o f intelligence
and that 1 am a genius, and that I am special because I made it. No. You
know, just as I can do it you can do it. Just as you can do it, your friend can
do it. Your neighbor can do it. There are no special powers that I have
that I could do it. ’
What gets in their way?
A lot of times, family, family relationships as well as having a
boyfriend. We deal with gangs, we deal with pregnancy, we deal
with at home whether there is a father or not. But there is a father.
That father has an old school mentality of, ‘You need to help your mother
clean the house, cook, take care o f your younger siblings.’ And school?
‘School is not important.’ Even though I am the youngest o f five kids,
when I started college, I had to take on a lot o f the family burden. I
continue to do it now, especially because I am the first in my family to
graduate high school and college. While working on the PowerBuilders
Program, I would have to pay rent, pay bills, support the family, support
my son, and it was very difficult. Maybe it’s the social worker in me
that I need to help my family. I need to get that path straight. I found a lot
o f girls stuck between two worlds. There is the traditional family world of,
you know, having that traditional female role o f ‘you-need-to-be-in-the-
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house: cook, clean and help your mother.’ School is not important, especially
college. You graduated high school but college
is not that important, right now .’ Even though in their eyes in their
[the girls’] eyes it was. To their families, a lot o f times, it wasn’t. I
told them, ‘There is going to be a time when you have to tell yourself,
or you tell your family, No! I can’t do this! I have to go to school.’
But it’s easier said than done. If you are going to get ahead, you have
to be a little selfish.
What happens when a boyfriend is in the picture?
She is in the same trap. She is in one o f those relationships where,
you know, the girl has dropped out o f school, where her boyfriend is
very threatened by the fact that she was going to college. He says,
‘You are going to meet someone new, someone smart, some better
than me and you are going to leave me. 1 am scared of that. So,
you’d better leave school.’ A lot o f times, we thought we were in
love. So, we would do what they say. Or, a lot o f times, they play
the mind games of, ‘You are no good! You are not going to be able
to go to school. It’s hard. You are complaining already. You might
as well just leave it.’ I heard that a lot. In my case, I was told by his
[former boyfriend’s] family that I deserved that kind of treatment
[abuse]. That I couldn’t make it in the world. That I already had a
child and that no other man was going to love me because I had a child.
I believed that I was not going to get anywhere in life. I was being
brainwashed. Even to the point that I put my own family aside for this.
And I realized that this was not healthy for me or healthy for my child.
A lot o f us girls are attracted to the bad boy image. He is such a rebel.
We are so attracted to it. It’s very hard to explain. It may be that we
don’t know what they are about. And the curiosity of what that whole
life is like. And we want to go ahead and be like them and see what it
is like. And be with the ‘in’ crowd.
Conclusion
Alma is now working full-time as a social worker at a family center agency. She
works in the same program, “Positive Futures,” at the same agency that she received
help from as a pregnant, teenage client. At that time, she had a case worker doing
home visits, helping her focus on the development o f her child, just as she is doing
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now to help others. Alma explains early pregnancy as “a pattern within the family.
Because the grandmother was a teenage parent, the mother was a teenage parent, and
the daughters are teenage parents. So, what do you do with a 14, 13, or 11 year-old
girl or boy that is coming up next? W e go ahead and enroll them into the program,
the program that was such a big part o f my life.”
Within days after recording the last o f my interviews, I came across a small
news article on page eight o f the front section o f the Los Angeles Times. March 6,
2001. Carrying a Washington, D.C. dateline, the title paradoxically announced:
“Latino Education Gap Better, W orse.” According to the Census Bureau, the
education gap between Latinos and non-Latino whites “is narrowing at the high
school level but growing wider at the college level.” Latino adults are “more than
three times as likely as non-Latino whites to be high school dropouts. They are also
nearly three times less likely to have college degrees.” Overall, “57% o f Latinos 25
and older are high school graduates, compared with 88% of non-Latino whites.
About 11% o f Latinos have a college degree, compared with 28% o f non-Latino
whites.” Six o f my interviews in this study are with Latinos. Only one, Peter Tong,
is Asian. Probably, the majority o f the PowerBuilders would have found themselves
as part of the 43% o f Latinos who don’t graduate from high school if it hadn’t been
for the intervention o f a concerned counselor in Alma’s case, a strong father in
Eddie’s case, a concerned boyfriend in Nina’s life, and the success o f continuation
schools attended by Jaime, Rosa, and Nina.
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The stories o f the six PowerBuilders and PowerBuilder coordinator also suggest
that the decision not to participate in gang activity hinged on two important events.
With the young men, a buddy being shot and killed by gang members was key in the
young men’s decisions not to join a gang. With the young women, getting pregnant
out o f wedlock determined the young women’s decisions to, either separate from a
boyfriend who participated in gang activity and/or not participate in gang activity
themselves. In addition, in the young men’s cases, sports and a strong parent who
discouraged gang activity were also important factors. Eddie was active in school
sports and had a father who strongly discouraged gang activity. Peter also
participated in sports and had a mother who helped him move from their gang-filled
neighborhood. (Peter says, “My mother is cool.... My mom told me to be
happy....”) Both Eddie and Peter had close male friends who were shot and killed
through their gang activity. Rosa, Nina and Alma’s pregnancies resulted in a
stronger commitment to their studies. Rosa is determined to be an educated role
model for her son. Nina turned away from her girlfriends in the tagging crew. Alma
left her abusive boyfriend when her son was two years old. A supportive school
counselor befriended her and guided her toward CSULA by writing a strong
recommendation letter.
Intervention programs such as PowerBuilders, then, should be available at those
key moments o f decision. For a young man, it is when a close friend is murdered
through gang activity. For a young woman, it is when she gets pregnant out o f
wedlock and is open to providing a better life for herself and her child.
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Problematically, some Hispanic households do not contribute to a young
woman’s growth outside o f the family. Irene’s parents demand that her fast food
restaurant earnings pay for her older brother’s bills and that her time go toward being
a second mother to her younger brother. The oft spoken mandate that “the family
comes first” pulls a Hispanic young woman toward hearth and home. Often, she
sees education as pulling her in the opposite direction. She tries to negotiate life
with a foot in each world. But it is a balancing act that often causes her to fall off
and into a mire of self-doubt and depression. Alma’s good grades and her
determination to attend and graduate from a four-year university allowed her to
prevail. Irene’s good grades at her community college and a supportive aunt that lets
her live with her may be the determining factors that allow Irene to return to CSULA
and to, eventually, graduate.
Gene Maeroff (1998) writes o f the importance o f an education ecosystem of
parents, peers, and counselors. Our six PowerBuilders’ stories are representative of
the other 13 accepted into CSULA in September 2000. Each o f the six (and the rest
o f the 13) continues to need the support o f the triad o f parents, peers, and counselors.
Jaime, Rosa, and Irene are, post PowerBuilders, not taking classes at CSULA. They
will need the strongest o f educational ecosystems. Eddie, Peter, and Nina appear to
be successfully negotiating their post PowerBuilders’ experience at CSULA. Their
educational ecosystem must continue to support them. Alma’s graduation from
CSULA shows a successful educational ecosystem in place, one that she is newly
creating to help the next generation o f young people who seek college educations.
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In the final chapter, I will summarize the data to determine whether my analysis
confirms or does not confirm educational theories. I will also summarize the
theoretical arguments introduced in earlier chapters. I will end with some
recommendations for future research.
My findings from the video parallel the findings in my text. Act I presents
comments from a number o f PowerBuilders. We are reminded that the death o f a
close friend discourages gang activity in boys while an unplanned pregnancy
discourages gang activity in girls. Act II describes how the staff o f the Gang
Violence Bridging Project attempts to intervene in the lives o f the PowerBuilders by
encouraging time spent on campus, rather than the neighborhood; offering job
interviewing skills; allowing gang attire on campus; and dealing with the youth on
their terms and meeting them “w here they are.” Act III, once more, emphasizes that
life at home often gets in the way o f life on campus. Rosa is a victim o f mixed
messages and expectations. She is caught between two worlds with often competing
values. Whether she will give up in the face o f such pressure is hanging in the
balance. She is also a role model to her tw o nieces who live with her family. She
can help her small nieces realize that they are not going to be Jennifer Lopez (singer-
actress). Unfortunately, too many girls feel that there isn’t anything beyond Jennifer
Lopez. Rosa may play a vital part in changing that image for the girls in the family
that follow her.
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CHAPTER V: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Through 18 months o f PowerBuilder Workshops, pre-bridge remedial classes,
summer bridge math and English classes, and CSULA attendance, I observed and
interviewed the 19 PowerBuilders enrolled in CSULA in September 2000. I
interviewed in-depth six PowerBuilders and their PowerBuilders coordinator,
individually and as a group. I interviewed them on and off campus— in their
classrooms, at work, at social events, and in their homes. The experiences o f the six
PowerBuilders reveal similarities in their lives— before, during and after
PowerBuilders.
I also videotaped the PowerBuilders who were representative o f the larger
sample. I focused on those who were extremely verbal and able to describe their
activities in cogent detail. I focused on Rosa, Jaime, and baby Jakie on campus and
at home and show the multitude o f pressures with which they are forced to deal.
Also on tape is a PowerBuilders workshop on job interviewing skills and appropriate
dress on the job. I videotaped staff members, including Gang Violence Bridging
Project director, Gilbert Sanchez who powerfully describes his own past gang
involvement and his intention to save youth from some o f his negative experiences
grappling with a society that, heretofore, refused to believe that he could be anything
other than a thug. Ultimately, we learn in a coda with the Via family, that pressures
from within and without may be too big to handle.
In this chapter, I will (a) review previous discussions o f education theory
(b) review the methodology, (c) revisit the data and present some findings based on
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analysis, (d) offer suggestions for future research in the area o f college special or
“enrichment” programs.
Reviewing the Literature
In Chapter II, I reviewed the literature pertaining to gangs and violence, special
or “enhancement” programs and their successes as well as how their components
interact with a low socio-economic status environment. I presented the literature
under four sections: factors pertaining to low socio-economic students, gangs and
violence, special programs, and their success. One o f the factors pertaining to low
socio-economic students is the importance o f mentors, an aspect o f MaerofFs (1998)
“social capital.” I also discussed the further factors that are influential in academic
success according to Jun’s dissertation (2000) on USC’s Neighborhood Academic
Initiative. They are:
1. Begin early.
2. Focus on academics.
3. Involve everyone.
4. Address financial realities.
5. Create an Environment o f Success.
The team o f parents, clergy, teachers, counselors, mentors, peers, and neighbors
that take part in the successful fruition o f the above factors serves as agents o f social
capital that is necessary for students’ academic success.
I referred to the literature on gangs and violence and suggested that much o f that
literature is sensational and non-academic. Little is available that addresses
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theoretical concerns or analyzes data. There is research on inner-city African
American and Latino American young men who practice destructive behavior,
including violence, illegal drug marketing, and other crimes. But gang behavior is
not specifically addressed, nor is women’s gang behavior addressed in the study.
I listed a taxonomy o f types o f college preparation programs according to a
Report to the Ford Foundation (1999) edited by W.G. Tierney, L.S. Hagedom, A.
Jun, and S. Fogel as follows:
1. Early Identification Programs
2. Academic Outreach Programs
3. Career-Specific Outreach Programs
4. Dropout Prevention Programs
5. Programs that Focus on Curriculum and Teaching
6. Schools on College Campuses
I referred to successful special programs and listed three major areas o f
successful college preparation programs according to Tiemey, Hagedom, Jun, and
Fogel’s Report to the Ford Foundation as: (a) programs that begin early in middle
school or high school, (b) programs that work in partnership with local high schools
and in collaboration with community organizations and private institutions, (c)
programs that target different populations and need different approaches for
evaluation.
I presented research on successful college preparation programs, such as the
NAI Jun studied and the model Hagedom and Fogel described. These programs hold
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the keys to increasing the college enrollment levels o f low-income students,
particularly, the young, Hispanic male student who may have been a member o f a
Southern California gang and is determined to change his destiny.
Review o f Methodology
I have focused on five low-income Latino youth and one Asian youth whose
parents are members o f a minority, are poor, and are undereducated. Many o f their
neighborhood peers are not going to school and are active in gang life. Three o f the
PowerBuilders have stopped out o f CSULA, three are successfully taking classes at
CSULA, and one, a their former PowerBuilders coordinator, has graduated from
CSULA and, as a social worker, is helping the next generation o f students to do the
same. All seven have overcome much to have reached their current level of
accomplishment. Jun (2000) asks, “How does one explain their resilience?” (p. 150).
As did Jun, I answered this question by analyzing date by setting the seven stories
side by side. Their fortunes and failures stood out in relief as I looked for common
patterns of relationships, gang activity or the lack there of, turning points, and key
moments of decision in their lives on their way to college graduation. In reviewing
life history research, I described problems investigated via personal accounts.
I utilized a retrospective method through a questionnaire and a semi-structured
interview protocol to gather data. I also videotaped a variety o f PowerBuilders, two
former gang members who decided not to attend PowerBuilders and CSULA a
PowerBuilders workshop. Due Pham, a former PowerBuilder and current
Coordinator at the Gang Violence Bridging Project, and Gilbert Sanchez, the
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Director o f the Gang Violence Bridging Project.
The framework for this study is chronological: Past, Present and Future. I use
the sub-sections: “Life Before PowerBuilders,” “Life as a PowerBuilder,” and “Life
After Powerbuilders” in recording life histories, recording measurable outcomes, and
recording student aspirations and plans.
I employed triangulation (Jick, 1983; Polkinghome, 1983) (a) by using three
data collection procedures: observations (at the PowerBuilders workshops),
questionnaires (see findings below), and interviews, and (b) by videotaping
participants’ experiences.
Findings
Data presented in chapter four has been compared and contrasted with existing
research to detect similarities and areas o f divergence. Respondent accounts have
been recorded, coded, analyzed, and grouped into categories. The analysis of the
data from the questionnaire, audio and videotaped interviews reveals that the 19
PowerBuilders share the following measurable outcomes:
1. All 19 respondents were highly satisfied with PowerBuilders.
2. 17 respondents w ere motivated to enroll in CSULA. One respondent has put off
CSULA attendance. Two respondents have “temporarily” dropped out of
CSULA. All 19 respondents report that they have discontinued gang affiliation.
18 are employed (either part-time or full-time). None are incarcerated (except
for one African American young man who decided not to complete the 26-weeks
o f PowerBuilder and is currently incarcerated at Twin Towers in Los Angeles).
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All 19 respondents have graduated from high school or continuation school.
3. All 19 respondents positively changed their opinions and motivations from the
past after attending PowerBuilders workshops.
4. The respondents all completed the PowerBuilders workshops (with the exception
of the African American young man who I did not include in the sample o f 19.)
5. Another finding that may be considered generalizable and that the literature
supported is the ambivalent feelings some mothers have tow ard their achieving
daughters. Mothers may be jealous o f their daughters who appear to be the
center o f educational attention. To the mothers, their daughters are fawned over
by teachers, administrators, tutors, psychologists, and mentors. They are
showered with grants and financial aid. They may even be the subject o f
doctoral dissertations. (On the evening, I videotaped the birthday party o f the
youngest Via, Rosa’s m other rattled around in the kitchen, noisily putting
utensils away. At one point, we had to stop taping until she completed her
kitchen duties.) She appeared, either oblivious to, or jealous o f the attention her
daughter was receiving under the burning glare o f the spotlights.
I utilized Van M aanen’s ‘literary tale” in which I borrowed from fiction-writing
techniques to tell the seven stories. I used dense characterization, dramatic plots, and
alternate points o f view. The “literary tale” technique was especially useful in
editing the videotape I heeded Van Maanen’s caveat to stick to the story and not tell
readers/viewers what to think o f the material presented. “Being there” was both
means and end o f my writing and videotaping (1988). When I videotaped the last
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scene o f the videotape, Jaime and Rosa Via’s birthday party for their one-year old
son, I was as surprised as my viewers will be to discover that Jaime has put off, once
again, his enrollment at CSULA. I also learned for the first time, as will my viewers,
that Rosa has stopped out o f CSULA after receiving an “Incomplete” in a history
class and being subject to repetitive respiratory infections she catches from her son.
Although, I stayed in touch with the Vias for almost two years, I refrained from
asking them questions I wanted answered on the videotape in an attempt to reveal
information as it developed. Several planned appointments for videotaping had to be
canceled due to the baby and Rosa’s infections. But the video gods were smiling on
Jakie’s first birthday. “Being there” allowed me to show life at the Via’s home
(actually the home o f Rosa’s parents), take part in Jakie’s birthday party for story
telling “color,” and, at the same time, reveal that Jaime and Rosa are not currently
attending CSULA.
I will revisit the three conceptual categories and highlight significant findings.
Life Before Pow erBuilder
Several similarities existed among the experiences o f the six Pow erB uilder and
Pow erBuilder coordinator in terms of their lives before taking PowerBuilder
workshops. Two young men had close, male friends shot and killed through their
gang involvement. Similar experiences are reflected in the lives of several o f the
other 13 PowerBuilder. In reaction, the young men decided not to join o r dropped
out of their gangs. Three young women had unplanned pregnancies. As a result of
their pregnancies, all three decided to recommit to their studies. Two also decided to
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recommit to their relationships. Rosa married the father o f her son. Nina is living
with her CSULA-attending boyfriend. Alma left her abusive, substance-abusing
boyfriend in favor o f raising her son on her own with the help o f her m other’s
babysitting services. Several similar experiences are reflected in the other 13
PowerBuilder.
A common theme among the Hispanic young women I interviewed in depth and
those that I observed and talked to fewer times, is the push-pull of family and school.
Their families expect help at home to the detriment of school attendance and
homework. The research bears out this finding. According to the American
Association o f University Women Educational Foundation, among Latinas in the
Southwestern states and California, “5% o f those 25 or older had completed four or
more years o f college, compared with 21% o f white women, 31% o f Asian women
and 14% African American women.” Report co-writer, Angela Ginorio, confirms
that in the Latin culture, family is often perceived to be the female’s primary
responsibility, and this may be why parents are reluctant to send daughters away to
college or to encourage educational opportunities. Ginorio said, “It seems that this is
a particular burden for Latina girls. They work; they do childcare; they are expected
to cook. And children from bilingual families also do a lot o f translation for their
families” (Los Angeles Times. January 25, 2001, B6). Much o f the literature
reflected this complicated balancing act on a tightrope spanning family and school
that Hispanic young women must frequently negotiate.
Also, financial aid programs and scholarships are often available only to U.S.
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citizens, which limits some Latino students. (This is not true for PowerBuilder.
Students’ citizenship status is not challenged. Parents’ earnings are often not even
factored into CSULA financial aid programs since a large percentage o f
PowerBuilder do not live with their parents.)
Life as a PowerBuilder
Several Pow erB uilder workshops stood out in the memories o f the six
PowerBuilder. The young men focused on the workshops on prison-reform and
substance abuse. The young women pointed to the workshop Alma lead on
pregnancy prevention and the workshop on study skills.
None of the seven mentioned as especially helpful the workshop on interviewing
skills and resume-writing led by Carlos Vasquez, a 28-year old law student and Gang
Violence Bridging Project volunteer. I thought this workshop extremely practical
and videotaped it as part o f the accompanying documentary. But the Pow erBuilder
repeatedly pointed to workshops (such as those dealing with HIV prevention and
substance abuse) that affected their personal lives, lives that continue to revolve
around family, substance abuse, and the underlying fear of incarceration.
Life After PowerBuilder
The Pow erB uilder who are currently enrolled in classes at CSULA continue to
benefit from their Pow erBuilder experiences. Under the measurable outcomes, they
are enrolled in college, they have discontinued gang affiliation, they are gainfully
employed (with the exception o f Nina), none o f them are incarcerated, and all have
graduated from high school or continuation school. The two Pow erBuilder (Rosa
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and Irene) who have dropped out o f CSULA and one PowerBuilder (Jaime) who has
yet to enroll, have similar outcomes with the exception o f “college enrollment .”
Rosa, Irene and Jaime see their non college-going status as temporary.
A Recommendation for Enrichment Programs
As I stated earlier, and will elaborate here, the development o f successful
strategies for college preparation requires meeting the students where they are, on
their own terms, and when they are most vulnerable to positive change in their lives.
Young men seem most likely to change when a close friend has been killed
through his gang involvement. Their close identification with the murder victim
causes them to discontinue their gang involvement or gang “affiliation” (a lesser
attachment to gang activity). They may recommit to their education, their goals,
their future careers, and their future families.
Young women will often change when they get pregnant. If they have not been
willing to make positive changes in their lives, heretofore, they may want to change
for the sake o f their unborn children. These young women will often recommit to a
relationship, their education, their goals, and newly commit to a career. But their
commitment to college graduation and a career is too often opposed by family
members who expect their young women to “put family first” and continue their
responsibilities to housekeeping, to the care o f younger siblings, and to the financial
support o f the family. W here their brothers are given freedom, these young women
are expected to confirm to more traditional family values, to live as their mothers do,
and as their grandmothers did before then.
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The above conclusions are not generalizable to a larger sample but may be
considered generalizable to this study. These particular findings do not confirm the
literature. We should look further to see if results o f other enrichment programs bare
similar findings.
Another conclusion is the importance o f meeting the youth on their own terms.
The young people in this study did not speak on cue. The conditions must be
ordered so that the youth feel comfortable enough to reveal their often bottled up
thoughts and feelings. They must be able to trust the staff not to reveal any
confidences. Ideally, the young people could begin to confront personal demons that
many had been keeping at bay with drugs. PowerBuilders were supported by
counselors at the Student Health Services when feelings came up that were too big to
handle without professional support.
Several things can break the ice: food, awards for accomplishments, structure
less time to vent, all o f which Gilbert Sanchez was particularly adept at offering.
(My videotaping sessions sometimes interrupted these casual get-togethers. Once,
the youth got used to the camera and my two-member crew, they more willing to
open up. Several, however, refused to go on camera. I felt I had no choice but to
respect their reticence.)
Next Steps
Additional research will be needed to understand what happens to students
following college graduation. What I have developed here are preliminary data on
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life before, during and after PowerBuilders. At the time of this writing, two
Pow erB uilder have graduated from CSULA with bachelor’s degrees in June 2000.
Four more are expected to graduate in June 2001. Seven are expected after that, with
increasing numbers to follow as the program is increased.
Can the program be improved to increase graduation rates? More professional
psychological support would be helpful. Rather than a referral to Student Health
Services counselors, ideally, professional psychologists could be added to the staff so
that they are immediately available when needed. Expecting a young person to make
an appointment and, at a later date, go to, what may be, an unfamiliar office may be
too much to expect o f an upset teenager.
Another recommendation is an on-site day care for PowerBuilders. Although
day care services exist on campus, a day care just devoted to PowerBuilder infants
and toddlers may be more personalized and increase college attendance rates.
The largest obstacle to an increase in staff and day care services and facilities is,
o f course, funding. The 1999-2000 PowerBuilders year I studied cost $16,422 for
expenses incurred in September through March. Expenses included Pow erB uilder
staff, workshop supplies, space rental, honorariums, and copy and printing costs.
The summer bridge program cost $30,000 a portion o f which was funded by EOP.
In contrast, this 2000-2001 year o f Pow erBuilder will cost $300,000. The
difference is due to monies given from the State o f California for a one-year trial
program, spearheaded by former state assemblyman Tom Hayden, to fund the new
mandate of PowerBuilder: Remove youth from the Cal Gang data base that
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identifies gang members, their locations and their “rap” sheets, if any.
According to Gang Violence Bridging Project director, Gilbert Sanchez,
. .there are three issues on the Cal Gang data base that we thought was needed to be
addressed. Now, most people don’t even know if they are on the Cal Gang database.
Second o f all, there is no way o f challenging the process when you are being told
that you are going on the database. Thirdly, there is no way o f getting off the
database.... We needed a process to get people off the data base.” Sanchez is
hopeful o f another year o f state funding.
By attending 26 weekly workshops, overseen by some 33 specialists, the youths
are able to have their names removed from the gang database. To meet this need,
PowerBuilder workshops now meet twice a week with close to two hundred students
attending one of two workshops offered each week. Staff has been added. Research
has been added. Refreshments have been added. (Unfortunately, there are no
immediate plans to add a staff psychologist or daycare services.) But the
fundamental purpose o f Pow erB uilder remains the same: to change the lives o f
young people mired in the often-generational cycle o f gang involvement and/or
poverty.
In his doctoral dissertation on U SC ’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative (NAI),
Jun says, “Educators need to identify and incorporate successful intervention efforts
into schools so that services provided by programs like NAI are no longer merely
stand-alone entities that provide supplementary assistance, but are services that are
incorporated into the fabric o f the entire system to ensure consistency o f quality
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service” (p. 174).
In conclusion, when students, many of which had gang activity in their pasts,
were faced with personal hurdles and academic obstacles, they were given support
structures that helped them to succeed. As in the Neighborhood Academic Initiative,
the students in Pow erB uilder learned that they were able to go to college when the
conditions allowed them to do so. PowerBuilder also learned that the skills they
needed to survive on the college campus could be acquired if taught to them. And in
the face of many telling them otherwise, they could succeed on the college campus
and beyond.
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Appendix
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Video script
“Home Bov” to “School Bov” t.r.t 20:41
Fade in:
Title, CSULA campus, rap music, fade out
v/o : 11: California State University at Los Angeles is the home o f PowerBuilders
where urban, at risk youth learn to change after life in gangs.
6:30 PowerBuilders talking heads
: 17 v/o: dogs, house
Not all gang-affiliated youth decide to enroll at Cal State after PowerBuilders. This
suburban Los Angeles home and its property are closely guarded by our next young
man who collects guns. For this interview, he prefers to remain in silhouette.
4:07 Gang-affiliate interview in silhouette
: 1 9 ‘ /2 v/o: dogs, CSULA
Pit Bulls may be one solution to feeling protected and prepared. Another, more
effective, is the knowledge gained from 26 weeks o f PowerBuilders on campus.
This session explores job interviewing skills and dressing for success lead by law
student Carlos Vasquez.
1:05 PowerBuilders session
:35 Gilbert Sanchez interview
1:23 Due Pham interview
1:15 PowerBuilders session continues
1:20 Gilbert Sanchez interview continues
75
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: 18 v/o: PowerBuilders
That’s the Cal Gang database that tracks California gang members.
The State o f California gave $300,000 to Sanchez’s Gang Violence Bridging Project
to allow PowerBuilders to get o ff the database and to change their lives.
:42 Vz Gilbert Sanchez interview continues
:07 Vz v/o: E.L.A. dark street
At their home in East L. A., we catch up with our young, PowerBuilders family o f
three— several months later for a special celebration.
Fade out, Fade up: rap music
End credits
Fade to black...
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
POWERBUILDERS QUESTIONNAIRE
1. How were you recruited into PowerBuilders? (circle the correct response)
a. My counselor recommended it
b. My teacher recommended it
c. I heard about it from my friends
d. Other (Please write in)
Additional comments:
2. How did a year o f Powerbuilders change you? (check ALL that apply)
Academically?
a. Grades improved
b. Improved relations with teachers
c. Studied more
d. Did more homework
e. Was more interested in school
f. NO Academic changes
Comments:
Motivations and Aspirations?
a. I want to go to college
b. I want to finish college
c. I want a good job
d. I want to have a good family life
e. NO Motivation or aspiration changes
Comments:
3. Outcomes of PowerBuilders:
Have you graduated from high school?
a. Yes
b. No
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Have you enrolled in college?
a. Yes
b. No
What college are you attending?
Are you employed?
a. Yes, full time
b. Yes, part time
c. No, but I am looicing for work
d. No, and I am not looking for work at this time.
If you are working, please tell me where and describe your job.
Gang Affiliation?
a. I was never a member o f a gang
b. I was a member o f a gang at one time, but am no longer a member
c. I am presently a member o f a gang
d. I do not wish to answer
Comments:
Incarceration (one night or more)
a. I have never been incarcerated
b. I have been incarcerated
c. I do not wish to answer
3. Are you willing to be interviewed?
a. Y es, I am willing to be interviewed and videotaped
b. Y es, I am willing to be interviewed, but not videotaped
c. N o, I am not willing to be interviewed.
Name:
Address:
Telephone.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Sowby, Ruth Anson
(author)
Core Title
"Home boy" to "school boy": Inside the PowerBuilders Workshops at CSULA. A qualitative examination of access, mobility, and leadership qualities of minorities in higher education
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Education
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
Education, Guidance and Counseling,education, higher,OAI-PMH Harvest
Language
English
Contributor
Digitized by ProQuest
(provenance)
Advisor
Hagedorn, Linda Serra (
committee chair
), Picus, Lawrence O. (
committee member
), Sundt, Melora (
committee member
)
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-164277
Unique identifier
UC11330367
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3054808.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-164277 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
3054808.pdf
Dmrecord
164277
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Dissertation
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Sowby, Ruth Anson
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texts
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University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...
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Repository Location
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Tags
education, higher