Carissa Phelps
Luis Rodriguez

Entitled, “Collective Success through Prevention and Intervention Services”, the Summit is designed to give service providers an opportunity to network with others while receiving the latest information on how to best serve youth and families.

Keynote speakers will be Carissa Phelps, author and CEO of Runaway Girl, FPC, a company that supports and enhances efforts to protect and care for youth, and Luis J. Rodriguez, award-winning poet, activist and bestselling author.

Although she missed 7th, 8th and 9th grades, in 2007 Phelps earned both a Juris Doctorate and an MBA from UCLA. In her memoir, Runaway Girl: Escaping Life on the Streets One Helping Hand at a Time, Phelps shares how the unexpected kindness of a math teacher and a counselor transformed her life and helped her become a mentor and advocate.

Rodriguez, author of bestselling memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., found his way out of poverty and despair in the barrio of East L.A. through the power of words.

Education helped him break free from the years of violence and desperation he spent as an active gang member.

Topics to be discussed at the Summit include: A Restorative Approach within the School System; Breaking Down Cultural Barriers to Mental Health Services; Youth Development and Employment; and The Underserved Population in Youth Violence: Young Women.

A $15 registration fee will be charged, and continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For information on the summit or how to register, call Alejandra Granados at 805-964-8857, ext. 135.

The event is sponsored by the Community Action Commission (CAC), South Coast Task Force on Youth Gangs, City of Santa Barbara, City of Carpinteria, City of Goleta, Santa Barbara County, City of Santa Barbara Parks and Recreation Community Neighborhood Programs, Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Youth Interactive, Santa Barbara Police Activities League, Teen Coalition of Santa Barbara and Casa de la Raza.

To register online, go to http://youthgangtaskforce.org/ .

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