La Cultura Cura offers youth positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through a range of services and cultural arts activities including intensive case management, court advocacy, mental health services and innovative arts programming. La Cultura Cura was established in 2000 as part of a greater vision in the Mission District to create healthy alternatives for at-risk youth. Program staff works in the community, schools, and through the courts to ensure that youth and parents are provided with the advocacy and range of intervention services needed to ensure a healthy transition into the community including support to reduce the recidivism rates for youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system.
La Cultura Cura is noted for its focus on monolingual, multi-cultural Latino youth and their families. Through a combination of services and innovative cultural arts programming, the staff develop meaningful and consistent relationships with youth to develop their life skills, reinforce positive cultural identity and motivate them to make positive contributions to their community. Our goal is to make an impact not only on the lives of our young clients, but on the health and wellness of the community as a whole.
Services
Intensive Supervision/ Clinical Services (ISCS)
Intensive Supervision Clinical Services is provided to youth who have been post-adjudicated and referred either by their carrying probation officer or court mandated by a Judge. Services include clinical case management for youth and their families, curfew monitoring, and up to three weekly visits at home, school or in the community, and access to individual and family therapy to ensure compliance with court mandates and adherence to probation conditions. Case managers work in partnership with the Juvenile Probation department staff and with families as a whole, identifying and addressing those issues that put the young person at a higher risk of probation violations and re-offending, all in an effort to reduce the recidivism of Latino youth in the system.
Intensive and Restorative Case Management Services
Violence prevention case management services target Mission District residents or Latino youth city wide between ages of 12 to 24 who are experiencing personal, educational, and social difficulties that may lead to formal involvement with the Juvenile Justice System. Case management services are offered to youth to address emotional and social issues and to support them in developing healthy behaviors and living skills. Participants receive access to a wide range of services including advocacy, informational and skills development workshops, cultural activities and on-site mental health services. Information and referrals to educational, vocational and immigration services are provided based on the individual service needs of each participant and his/her family.
CulturArte After-school Program
A project based youth development program that provides arts and cultural affirmation activities in a safe and healthy environment. CulturArte is a place for youth to feel supported and empowered while they participate in culturally-relevant activities, such as performing arts, drumming, painting, and theater. Field trips that consist of educational and recreational activities are also a regular element of this program. The program is available year round and culminates in an end-of-semester presentation or exhibit of the groups’ work that is open to the community and family members.
Circulos, Check-ins, are used during opening and closing group activities and integrate traditional practices and acknowledge that youth are part of a greater circle of family and community, encouraging self-expression while promoting respect for differences. Skill building workshops provide hands on experience that builds their knowledge of and skills in traditional arts and crafts as they learn about indigenous cultures in the Americas. Outings to community performances and activities such as Dia de Los Muertos and Las Posadas also offer participants the opportunity to learn about Native traditions of the Americas. Youth will be exposed to various types of improvisational theater, poetry and spoken word by people of color and then participate in writing, producing and acting in interactive social change plays, youth rights education workshops, and community performances to display their work. Youth learn how to research a topic, write about it and read or act it out in a public performance. Participants also have access to outings which expose them to the various performance arts outlets in the city through the CATS ticket access program. Project based learning will include developing strategies to promote violence free communities and healthy practices. The program also promotes leadership by identifying Youth Leaders who are given an opportunity to assume additional responsibilities and receive one-on-one mentoring/coaching from staff/volunteers.
Participants are taught to express themselves and communicate with others in a more successful way through a better understanding of the arts and their relationship to human and community development. The workshops include acting and spoken word performing arts workshops, dance and painting, a gender specific therapeutic drumming group as well as field trips to theater presentations and cultural events.
Trauma Recovery and Healing Services
A mental health service for families with youth ages 13-24. This service provides short-term mental health counseling for individuals directly impacted by violence in their community or those who are at- risk of becoming victims or perpetrators. The services consist of individual therapy, debriefing after a violent/traumatic event, and crisis response 24 hours after a qualifying event in an effort to disrupt the escalation of incidents. Preventative psycho-educational/support groups for parents and youth may be available as needed. Through this intervention we also provide Peer Counselor support services to the siblings of those impacted by violence and to provide individualized support for the siblings of street affiliated youth that are not yet formally involved with the JJS.
For more information, contact culturacura@ifrsf.org.
