VIDA COMES BACK TO LIFE INTERVENTION PROGRAM TARGETS AT-RISK YOUTHS.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

VALENCIA - An intervention program credited with turning around the lives of more than 250 Santa Clarita youths is coming back, funded by the city of Santa Clarita.

VIDA - Vital Intervention Directional Alternatives - is coordinated

by sheriff's Deputy Tim Ferrone and will induct its newest class of 25 on Feb. 11. The program's return is welcomed by deputies who deal with youthful offenders.

``You can take a kid who's never been arrested, who's tagging to be cool, and stop them before they've lost their identity and do thousands of dollars in damage,'' Deputy Bob Schneider said. ``The VIDA program can help them before their soul has been sold to a gang.''

Three years ago, the program fell to budget cuts.

As coordinator of the VIDA program, he was ready to start the boot camp-style diversion program on a Saturday in February 2003 for 45 kids headed for trouble. Two days before, he was told the funding had been cut. The deputy had to call not only the 43 students enrolled in the program, but also the 150 on the waiting list for the next class.

``These are kids on the edge, riding the envelope,'' he said. ``We had the most successful program in the county and we had to tell them to wait.''

Since then, the city of Santa Clarita has worked to bring the program back. The Santa Clarita City Council allocated $100,000 toward the program in its 2005-06 budget, choosing to take a proactive approach to solving a developing youth crime problem.

The program gets its participants from a variety of sources: juvenile offenders are court-ordered into the program, school deputies or counselors make recommendations, and parents feeling they have lost control can call the program to enroll their families.

``We tell the parents they have to become involved in the process,'' Ferrone said. ``The program requires both parents and kids be accountable for their actions. We come in and do random drug testing, check the kids' rooms for guns, knives or dope, we check out their music and tell the parents about explicit lyrics, we look through their closets for clothing that's unacceptable. We give parents tools to help them handle kids that are out of control.''

Along with the additional supervision, youths in the 12-week program must complete eight hours of physical training conducted by Marines every Saturday. Monday afternoons are spent doing community service; clearing weeds, filling sandbags and maintaining trails are just a few of the physical projects completed by the group. Thursday nights are spent with parents and children together in group counseling offered in a nonthreatening environment.

``We discuss issues prevalent to today's youth,'' Ferrone said. ``We try to keep things up to date. Three years ago when we stopped the program, the Internet wasn't as prevalent, but now kids are getting ideas and acting out on things they see online.''

Other topics might include truancy, behavior at home or the growing tagging and graffiti problems.

``I talked to one father this week and told him about the orientation meeting,'' Ferrone said. ``He said he couldn't get his kid to go to school, how could he get him to come to the meeting? We told him to use his school deputies for support and tried to give him some tools to help him parent.

``I told him his son could either go to school or Juvenile Hall. Once parents realize it's going to cost them money, they understand. But a lot of the kids coming into the program are disrespectful and parents are at their wits' end.''

Santa Clarita's was viewed as a good example by the rest of the county programs.

``We didn't have confrontations like they did at some other locations,'' Ferrone said. ``But sometimes I'll walk past the booking cage at the station and hear someone yell out my name and it will be someone from the program. Overall, we've had a 70 percent graduation rate and I still see a lot of the kids in the community.''

A recent trip to the store in Canyon Country brought Ferrone face to face with a young woman who credited VIDA with giving her life purpose.

``She told me it was one of the hardest things she's ever done,'' Ferrone said. ``Now she's enrolled in beauty school and got squared away. We might have her speak to the class. I ran into a mom at Bowman (High School) the other day whose daughter was in the program. She said she was doing awesome after finishing the program, so it's definitely worthwhile.''

For information on the VIDA program, call [phone].

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com