United Way of Treasure Valley

By Sharon Strauss

NAMPA — Up to 80 local high school students with a passion for helping others will spend their spring break on the campus of a Nampa alternative school for troubled young people. They’ll be breaking ground and building community relations as part of the labor-intensive project to beautify the grounds of the Original Gangster’s Basic Academy of Delinquency.

United Way of Treasure Valley is behind the program, and organizers say it’s the first of its kind in terms of giving high school students a chance to turn vacation time into community service time.

United Way of America launched a national alternative spring break last year in partnership with MTV. College students from every state worked in the gulf coast areas hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Local organizers decided to do something similar for Ada County and Canyon County high school students, but with the goal of improving the lives of people in the Treasure Valley.

About 20 Boise teens and several adult advisors have been meeting since January to plan the project. A push is underway to attract Canyon County high school students for the two-day project on March 28 and 29. Students heading up the project will be making presentations in Canyon County high schools in coming days.

The students plan on spending the night on the OG’sBAD campus in Nampa. By day they will plant flowers and trees, construct benches, install shutters, build a walkway and construct basketball and volleyball courts.

The overnight cultural experience will include a Mexican food extravaganza, salsa music and dancing. The lock-in sleepover will be chaperoned. Transportation from Boise is provided, as are all meals.

Mara Truslow, a 16-year-old junior from Boise’s Riverstone International School, said she’s always wanted to participate in an alternative spring break program, but couldn’t because existing programs are either for college students or require outof-state travel.

“This will be a great opportunity to bring together students from all over the Treasure Valley,” she said. “I think we’ll be able to make a great impact on the OG’sBAD in Nampa.”

Kylie Poppen, a 15-year-old sophomore from Riverstone, said she “just jumped on the bandwagon” when she heard about the project. “I’m really involved in service. It’s one of my passions,” she said.

Gang intervention

in Canyon County

The improvements to the campus will help the school’s goal to establish a sense of place and make the campus a more inviting venue, said OG’sBAD community development director Bob La Chance. “It will also mark the beginning of where we are going to take this entire program,” he said.

Now in its sixth year of operation, OG’sBAD recently purchased a permanent location the size of a city block for its academic program, with expanded space for its classrooms, computer labs, recreation areas and kitchen.

OG’sBAD, located at 304 16th Avenue N., is run by former Nampa Boys & Girls Club director Steve Torrano. The nonprofit youth agency provides intervention, education and work training to youth prone to gang involvement. Students get oneon-one counseling and work towards their GED, post-secondary education and career goals.

The program meets a critical need. According to 2002 statistics from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Canyon County was identified as being in the top three communities in the nation needing gang intervention programming.

In the Nampa and Caldwell areas, there are nine different gangs involving more than 400 members. OG’sBAD served about 65 students last year.

“It’s a program aimed at at-risk youth: those flirting with gangs, those maybe not always in them, or maybe those at risk of drugs, or just drifting,” La Chance said. “Some of these kids get their GEDs in 180 days, some kids will get it in two or three years, drifting in and out.”

Gang program gets boost from local students

COMMUNITY: Treasure Valley young people will devote spring break to service project