Its participants call it fabulous and rewarding ““ as well
as challenging and frustrating. Evoking such mixed feelings is a
program called Community Outreach for Prevention and Education,
which seeks to provide mentoring for at-risk youth throughout
Venice.
COPE is a project of Community Partners, a nonprofit umbrella
organization whose mission is to help create other nonprofits.
Through locations in Venice, COPE provides not only mentoring
but health education and a safe environment for at-risk youth and
their parents. It also offers a variety of enrichment programs such
as field trips and guest speakers.
“COPE is a great place to refocus on what really matters:
connecting with kids and being the reason for their smile,”
said Carolyn Nagel, one of the many UCLA students who volunteer for
the project.
The majority of the UCLA interns who participate in the program
work with minors ranging from age 5 to 17.
In order to become a UCLA intern, students must take a two
quarter-long training course and commit to a year of service with
the program. Although there is only a year commitment, many interns
stay in the program much longer.
Volunteers said one of the main challenges of the program, which
runs from 6 to 8 p.m. several days a week, is that they never know
what might happen in a particular night.
A typical night may start out with a planned presentation on a
health issue, but end up as something very different.
As Cynthia, a member of the pre-teen group said, “Kids
need fun, danger and excitement.”
But discussions about a balanced diet or exercising don’t
always live up to their expectations of excitement. It is up to the
interns to be creative and make the presentations as interesting as
possible so the kids won’t tune out. If they do, then it is
up to the interns to come up with an alternative plan, or run the
risk of trying to contain a roomful of chaos.
Nevertheless the interns do not always feel that an altered
module ““ the educational presentations given to the children
““ is necessarily a disaster.
Neda Yazdi, a fourth-year psychobiology student, said just the
fact that UCLA students are spending time with the kids and acting
as positive role models is a module in itself. The kids learn as
much from the intern as the interns learn from the kids.
“A constant challenge, I wouldn’t give up C.O.P.E.
for anything,” Vicki Ting, a fourth-year biology student
said.