iballVallejo™ – Late Night Basketball and iCheer program!

New Dawn Vallejo Corporation (NDVC) will once again present the iballVallejo™ – Late Night Basketball and iCheer program for young men and women who reside in and around the City of Vallejo. This is an opportunity for youth and young adults to engage in meaningful activities during the summer months for six weeks.

The City of Vallejo 2018 Community Survey reveals that residents see crime and public education as Vallejo’s biggest issues. 30% of juvenile arrests in Solano County in 2015 were made in Vallejo (www.KidsCenter.org). The same data shows that youth and young adults are arrested at higher rates in summer months and between hours of 9pm and 2am.

Program Description: Addressing public safety through recreation, education and procedural justice, NDVC seeks to decrease youth justice involvement by offering a 6-week iballVallejo™ -Late Night Basketball Program at no cost to individuals aged 12-25 during the summer hours of 9pm and 1am. With grant funds NDVC proposes to sustain and expand iballVallejo™ to serve 400 young adults in 2019, double the number of 2018 participants.

Lead by NDVC – with partners Vallejo Police and Fire Departments, Vallejo City Unified School District, Solano Family Justice Center, District Attorney’s Office and Sherriff’s Department, and more than a dozen faith-based and community groups – iballVallejo™ works to help keep youth and young adults (ages 12-25) out of trouble, safe and to provide them with exposure to caring productive environments where they may learn. Late Night Basketball reduces juvenile offending, promotes social justice through interventions and non-enforcement activities and improves student academic achievement. Youth have positive interactions with law enforcement and public safety agencies, who provide volunteer coaches and mentors, and those same volunteers benefit from positive exposure to the community they serve. Through this program NDVC offers participants and their families free HIV/AIDS testing, Dating Violence Education, Workshops on Police/Youth Interactions, Cyber Protection Information, Mental illness Education/Referrals, and Presentations on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Exploitation and Elder Abuse. Participants will be linked to available resources, including healthcare and educational support. Program goals are to reduce crime, recidivism, and create jobs – all community priorities. Program also promotes community policing and serves as the Police Department’s banner youth program.

Notably, iballVallejo™ is an evidenced-based model, endorsed by the Police Foundation, that is successful at increasing community trust of law enforcement and decreasing juvenile arrests. Since launching in 2015, upward of 66% of program participants report having a good conversation with police. Vallejo Police data also shows a 5% decrease in juvenile arrests during program months.

State of California grant funds were invaluable in launching iballVallejo™. Local funds are requested to ensure the program’s continuation and expansion in order to reflect documented community priorities and meet demand. Further iballVallejo serves as a critical bridge for the Police Department to engage the community in a meaningful way while building trust and open communications.

Bidou, A. (2015). Community Relations are a Two-Way Street. Police Foundation Blog. Retrieved from https://www.policefoundation.org/community-relations-are-a-two-way-street/ on 12/18/2017.

WHEN: Every Friday and Saturday evening from June 19, 2020 – July 25, 2020
9:00 pm – 1:00 am
(PROGRAM CLOSED Friday July 3rd and Saturday July 4th)

WHERE: Vallejo High School Gym – 840 Nebraska Street, Vallejo

Please check out “8 Weeks to Change a City“, all about the impact and effects of iballVallejo-Late Night Bsketball, by James Nielsen (VPD Volunteer):
https://spark.adobe.com/page/LqDFOCy1ButNl/