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According to the Latino Gang Violence Prevention Task Force of Multnomah County (2004):
Over the last three years, Latino gang-related shootings and other violence increased in North/Northeast Portland and East Multnomah County. In 2001, for example, four Latino youth, victims of gang shootings, were killed in a 10-month period. . . . Gang prevention and policing does not meet the needs of an increasing Latino gang presence . . . In addition, existing county, state, and city services show a lack of language and culturally specific intervention efforts to high-risk Latino youth and their families (p. 8).
In Oregon, Hispanic youth had a dropout rate of 9.6 compared to 3.8 for White youth (Oregon Department of Education, 2006). Reynolds Hig h School , located in the target area, had 90 dropouts, with 47% being White, 46% Hispanic, and 7% other. This is a disproportionate representation of Hispanic youth among the dropouts as 72% of the enrolled students are White, 16% Hispanic, and 12% other.
The University of Oregon (UO) has a long history of involvement with minorities in the community. For example, Tary Tobin is serving on the dissertation committee of Jorge Preciado who is studying the effect of using community volunteers as tutors for Latino children who have reading and behavior problems. Results to date indicate that reading skills improved and behavior problems were reduced. UO has a branch in Portland and is involved in several similar projects in the Portland area. The partner organizations for include Northwest Family Services, Mt. Hood Community College; and four middle schools: Reynolds Middle School, Alice Ott Middle School, H.B. Lee Middle School, and Ron Russell Middle School. NWFS has been serving the Latino community in the Portland area for over 7 years. All four middle school partners will provide space at the school for after-school and summer Centers for the proposed project so that the centers will be near the students’ home
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