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FRHD hosts Fallbrook Youth Advocacy Coalition

The Fallbrook Regional Health District hosted the Fallbrook Youth Advocacy Coalition for its Woman of Wellness program at Fallbrook Library on March 1. This group of young individuals, ages 13 to 17, is teaming up with local San Diego law enforcement and is funded by FRHD to prevent the use of alcohol, drug abuse and crime in the Fallbrook community.

The FRHD has many health resources and programs which include WOW. The Fallbrook YAC has gone around the neighborhoods of Fallbrook, going door to door, filling out two page surveys to get a better understanding on how safe the people actually feel.

A total of 299 surveys were collected, the majority of them coming from apartment complexes where residents have lived in Fallbrook for a minimum of five years. After they received all the results, they held a meeting to reveal what the surveys reflected about the community. Over 30 local members, including the group's parents came to hear these teenagers speak about what they had uncovered. The results are intriguing.

The surveys were conducted with people 18 and above and 68 percent were female respondents. During the daytime, more than half of the people felt safe being alone at home or walking alone outside in their neighborhood. However, around one-third did not feel safe walking alone after dark.

Another section of the survey that was reported were the issues of concern of the community. The top issues that were brought up were marijuana use, lack of public light, roads and sidewalks, underage drinking, other drug use and gangs.

A question on the survey asked how people felt about the local sheriff and public officials; 69 percent trust the local sheriff; 62 percent say that the officials respond quickly to the problems; 62 percent say that the sheriff understands the issues in the neighborhoods, and 34 percent say that local officials are working to solve the problems.

Now, when it came to asking if any residents belonged to any neighborhood watch program, 81 percent responded no while 10 percent said yes and nine percent said not sure.

Many of the audience asked the group what they have learned about the community as well as themselves. "I feel like we have a better understanding of our community," said Vanessa Hernandez. "I feel more motivated to ask people these questions."

The majority of the people who attended the meeting did not know about the Fallbrook YAC. Now the FRHD hopes to help expand and bring more awareness to this group of young individuals who want to bring positive change to their community.

YAC will hold an open forum with community leaders to review the survey results on Thursday, March 15 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Fallbrook High School. The Fallbrook Sheriff Department's Crime Free Multi-housing program will also be discussed as well as a Call to Action. For more information, call (858) 391-9303.

 

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