San Diego CHOICE Program

The San Diego CHOICE program aims to stabilize behavior and prevent at-risk youth from further advancing into the juvenile justice or children's services systems through structured, swift and hyper-intensive community supervision.

CHOICE is distinguished by its swift, hyper-intensive three-person relay team approach to case management which enables multiple daily contacts (1-3) to troubled youth and their families, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Where? In their neighborhoods, at their homes, in their schools, on the streets, wherever youth or families are, CHOICE is there. The strategy is simple: personal time with referred youth, in their communities, providing guidance and supervision.

With field offices throughout San Diego County, CHOICE maintains the distinct ratio of 10 clients to one worker. The focus of contact is to reiterate and reinforce the expectations of parents, schools, and courts, as well as, provide mentoring support.

The CHOICE Response Team is a specialized case management approach for assisting and supporting youth and families at high risk for escalating in the children's service systems. The Heath and Human Services Agency refers youth targeted for these services often have a history of behavioral or mental health problems as well as histories of out-of-home placement. The primary goal of intervention is to assist in stabilizing current home placement or planned transitions through family interventions and support. The youth receives multiple weekly contacts with 24 hour crisis intervention available to families.

The CHOICE Program offers additional services and assistance for the parents enrolled in the program as well as to families throughout San Diego County. CHOICE believes families are the best prevention agent for their children. Family Services provides the assistance needed to support and strenghten families through various methods.

The CHOICE Program has been committed to San Diego families and identifying needed support services that can potentially improve family functioning. From the beginning, it was clear some families would need further support after the CHOICE intervention. In 1997 the best practice model, "Parents Anonymous®," was identified for local replication and an affiliation membership was established with the national organization. Since 1998 the CHOICE Program has co-facilitated with parent leaders weekly group sessions. The family support project is open to all interested parents even if they do not have a child currently enrolled in the CHOICE Program.

Through a federal grant from the SAMHSA-Center for Substance Abuse Prevention the CHOICE Program was expanded to include family skill building workshops. The workshops are based on the best practice model "Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families and Communities" created by Dr. Marilyn Steele. The parent training curriculum is the unique integration of various prevention/intervention strategies geared toward improving family functioning. The objectives of the model are to increase parents' sense of competence, augment positive parent-child relationships, build child self-esteem, self-discipline and social skills, and encourage parental involvement in community activities. The classes emphasize parenting adolescents. Workshops are 6 weeks in duration with childcare and meals provided. Multiple classes are available in English and Spanish at selected community centers.

The CHOICE Program has found that high-risk youth benefit from tutoring assistance, reading enhancement, and after school activities. Many of CHOICE youth have limited English capabilities; low reading and math scores when academically tested, and lack involvement in positive after-school alternatives. Often these youth have not been exposed to the possibility of life enhancement possibilities through higher education. For these reasons the CHOICE Program implemented the Mentor/Tutoring Project at San Diego State University in 1997. The project educationally assists 50 to 60 youth annually. The college students who serve as the tutors attend an academic course in the Teacher Education Department in the College of Education and are eligible for work-study financial aid. The participating CHOICE youth come to campus one evening per week. During their time on campus each youth is provided 1.5 hours of tutoring, and .5 hours of life skill enhancement or campus involved activities. In 2000, 100% of the tested youth showed an increase of at least one grade level in their reading scores.

The CHOICE Program enhances its services through the utilization of skilled college student interns. The program has worked with interns from San Diego State University and Point Loma Nazarene University. Most interns are in the Master Degree program with the School of Social Work or College of Education. The interns support the services of the CHOICE Program by providing counseling sessions, conducting training, assisting with research and evaluation as well as supporting administration. Student interns are provided stipends to help offset their school expenses.

The CHOICE Summer Project provides youth with an opportunity to participate in community service and recreational events as well as learn about local resources while out of school for summer vacation. Youth receive 14 weeks of educational and community involvement activities. While in the program, youth are able to interact with other peers in positive alternative activities.

Past recreational activities have included pottery classes, trips to a U.S. Marine Corps base and local D.E.A. Center, and tours of a local television station. Youth and staff have provided many hours of community service at churches, soup kitchens, beaches, and nature trails.

The project also teams up with local artists to offer a mural design class for the youth. The youth generally create four to five murals each summer which are displayed throughout San Diego County Administrative buildings including the Juvenile Court.

A key CHOICE program service is getting youth involved in positive alternative activities. The program regularly sponsors or takes youth to recreation and community service events throughout San Diego County. Among the recreational opportunities that youth can attend are: local sporting events (i.e. San Diego Padre & SDSU Aztec games), picnics, fishing, rock climbing, surf clinic, performing arts, and amusement centers. The community service opportunities that youth can attend are: A Clean San Diego (beach clean up), Torrey Pines State Park trail preservation and restoration, assisting with community fairs, graffiti removal, tree planting, rehabilitation of community churches, and assistance to local municipalities.