The Need...why Pomona?

The Need

·         21.6% of Pomona’s population lives below the poverty line including 27.4% of those under age 18.

These impoverished children live amid gang violence, crime, drug use and prostitution making them “at-risk.”  “At-risk” of becoming another terrible statistic – a high school dropout, a teenage parent, a victim of gang violence, a drug dealer, a prostitute or living a life of incarceration. 

·         One in six Latinos boys born 2001 will end up in prison.

Nearly 65% of Pomona’s population is Latino.  100% of those we work with are Latino.  Only 17 % of Latino 4^th graders are reading at grade level versus 42 % of their white counterparts. Only 15 % of Latino 8th graders perform at grade level in math versus 41% of their white counterparts.

• Risk factors for a child a child’s “success” include:

Poverty, family composition of either single parents, teenage parents, alcohol- or substance-abusing parents, abuse or neglect, poor school quality, and exposure to violence and substance abuse