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Monterey Peninsula
Partnership For Youth And Family
Survey Results
INTRODUCTION
In February of 1996, a community wide needs assessment was launched in Monterey
County incorporating face to face surveys and in-depth random telephone surveys. The
assessment was named Tellus and its intent was to determine the quality of life among
county residents.
Simultaneously, the City of Monterey was attempting to gather data for the Youth and
Family Task Force, an existing committee. These two projects were able to combine and use
the methodologies of the community assessment to gather valuable data and be cost
effective for the City of Monterey.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A special thank you goes to the members of the Youth and Family Task Force, Ann
Preibe of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, and Fred Cohn, Assistant City
Manager for their assistance in this exciting and dynamic project.
METHODOLOGY
Applied Survey Research, a
non-profit social research organization, was contracted to administer surveys of youth and
adult face-to-face in the City of Monterey and assist the Youth and Family Task Force in
designing surveys that would determine the opinions of the parents in the city and Colton
Middle School. These surveys would become instrumental in the creation of goals and social
action areas to be addressed by the Youth and Family Task Force.
On Friday night, February 26,1996, a team of researchers from Applied Survey Research
fanned out through downtown Monterey on Alvarado Street, the Transit Center and other
locations. Their purpose was to interview youth in the area. A youth survey with several
questions pertaining to education was used along with an adult survey for those over 18
years old. Interviews were conducted between 6:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Saturday found the
same team from Applied Survey Research and over 20 volunteers from all over the county,
walking the streets of the city and conducting both youth and adult surveys.
Over 500 surveys were collected from adult respondents and more than 350 from youth in
the city and Monterey High School. Nearly 50 surveys were gathered from youth in the
downtown area on Friday night. An interesting finding was discovered from that data; youth
from all over the county come to downtown Monterey. In fact, three quarters of the youth
indicated they lived outside the city. The same held true for survey Saturday; many of the
respondents, both youth and adult, came from other areas in the county, including the
South County. This reinforces an issue that the city has suspected all along; Monterey is
a host to citizens from all over the county.
Special surveys were designed for the parents and youth in the Monterey Peninsula
Unified School District. A pilot sample of Colton Middle School was collected. All of the
surveys were self administered and distributed through the help of the Monterey Peninsula
Unified School District. Over 660 parents completed the surveys. Colton Middle School had
62 surveys returned. The following are some of the selected findings, however the surveys
in the attached appendix should be consulted as well.
FINDINGS
Youth in Monterey Survey
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| AIDS: When asked how
knowledgeable they were about AIDS/HIV prevention 73.2% were very knowledgeable, 23.1 were
somewhat and 3.7 were not at all knowledgeable. |
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| Substance abuse: Concerning
the use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana; 15.6% responded that they always use tobacco,
and 20.7 use it sometimes; 45.5% of respondents stated they never drink alcohol, 43.5%
reported they drink occasionally and 11.1% drink often. The question concerning marijuana
use was not worded to elicit a personal response. Instead, the question asked, "how
acceptable do you think your PEERS find the use of marijuana?" Forty four point four
percent indicated very acceptable with 36.6% stating somewhat acceptable and 19.0% not
acceptable. |
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| Gangs: Almost 16% (or 55
respondents out of 348), indicated they are affected by gangs with 17.1% saying they are
in one ,and the same percent stating they are bothered by fighting, trouble or harassment. |
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| Birth control: Almost sixty
six percent of the respondents reported being very knowledgeable about birth control,
26.6% were somewhat knowledgeable and 7.7% were not at all knowledgeable. |
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| Racism: Regarding racism,
59.3% of youth respondents indicated that they felt it is a problem locally. |
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| Activities: Only 24% of
youth surveyed indicated they were very satisfied with after school activities and almost
28% stated they would like to see the community provide more dances, club music and
concerts. Sports followed closely with nearly 26% expressing their interest. |
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| Safety: Over half (51.1%) of
the respondents reported feeling very safe at school with 40.1% feeling somewhat safe and
8.8% not at all safe. |
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| Education: Seventy three
percent of youth respondents felt that their education was preparing them for the future
and almost 90% had plans to attend college after graduation. A little over one third
(36.3) of the respondents felt that they were not prepared to compete in the job market. |
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FINDINGS
Colton Middle School Survey*
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| Education: Eighty five point two
percent felt that their education was preparing them for the future and 93.5% had plans to
attend college. |
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| AIDS: Regarding AIDS/HIV
prevention, 73.8% felt very knowledgeable, 21.3 were somewhat knowledgeable and 4.9% not
at all. |
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| Birth control: A little over
half of those responding were very knowledgeable about birth control with eight percent
saying they were not at all knowledgeable. |
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| Substance abuse: Two
respondents out of 60 stated they use tobacco often and 16 indicated they use it
sometimes. Five respondents drink alcohol often, 17 occasionally and 38 never drink
alcohol. One forth of the respondents stated they think their peers find the use of
marijuana very acceptable. |
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| Gangs: Five students
indicated they are affected by gangs with 2 students saying they are in one and 3 saying
their friends are in one. |
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| Racism: Over 69% do not
think that racism is a problem locally. |
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| Activities: Only 11.9% of
the respondents reported they were very satisfied with the activities available after
school. More than half (59.3%) were somewhat satisfied and 28.8% were not at all
satisfied. |
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| Safety: Most of the students
indicated they felt safe at school (47.5% very safe, 49.2% somewhat and 3.3% not at all
safe). |
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*Note: This was a pilot sample and there were only 62 surveys returned.
FINDINGS
Adult Survey
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| Activities: When asked what types
of after school activities they would like to see our community provide youth, 28.6%
suggested "sports," 22.0% "educational classes," and 13.9% wrote
"recreation centers-youth centers". |
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| Job opportunities: Only
14.1% of the respondents stated they were very satisfied with the job opportunities in the
area. 54.4% were somewhat satisfied and 31.4% not at all satisfied. |
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| Safety: Close to 58% of
respondents indicated they felt very safe in their neighborhood but nearly 57% felt very
concerned about crime in Monterey County. |
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| Education: Less than 20% of
adults in the city are very satisfied with the local system overall, with 61% somewhat
satisfied and 19% not at all satisfied. |
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| Education: Less than one third of
parents are very satisfied with the transition from middle school to high school but 55%
are at least somewhat satisfied. Overall, 29.2% are very satisfied with the local school
system, 60.3% are somewhat satisfied and 10.5% are not at all satisfied. |
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| Substance abuse:
Satisfaction with the substance abuse programs also steadily decreases with the school
level. Over half (50.4%) of the parents with children in elementary school are very
satisfied compared to 31.1% of those with children in middle school and 21.1% of those in
high school. |
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| Education: The same trend is
seen with overall satisfaction with their child's education. Again, almost half (49.3%) of
the respondents with elementary school children indicated they were very satisfied, 30.0%
in middle school and 27.7% with children in high school. |
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| Racism: Regarding racism,
54.5% of the respondents felt that racism is a problem locally. |
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| Safety: Less than 4% felt
not at all safe in their neighborhood compared to nearly 58% feeling very safe and 38%
feeling somewhat safe. |
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| Activities: Participation in
activities at their child's school steadily decreases as the child gets older with 42.0%
participating often in activities at the elementary school level, 23.8% participating
often at the middle school level and 20.1% at the high school level. Concerning activities
available to youth after school, 30.6% are very satisfied, 46.5% are somewhat satisfied
and 25.5% are not at all satisfied. |
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DISCUSSION
When the preliminary data was presented
to the task force the ensuing discussions revealed some interesting points of concern.
Regarding community norms and behavior, there seems to be a perception of tolerance to
alcohol and Marijuana use in the community. One effort revolves around setting standards
and the possibility of establishing a zero tolerance attitude. It was mentioned that youth
as young as 8th grade are showing up for dances at the Youth Center drunk and this wasn't
happening 4 years ago. It was realized that this was a substance abuse issue which has
changed through time.
The concern about substance abuse moved into the issue of safety. When the community
standards are enforced the youth feel safer. The youth from other areas of the county feel
safer in the City of Monterey. This is important because this could change with more youth
coming to the city. Regarding the issue of gangs and safety, it was mentioned that
although only 15% of youth stated in the survey that they were affected by gangs, this was
too high a number. Even a few gang members at an event or location can cause problems and
intimidate others. It was suggested that a partnership needs to be developed between the
police and the organizers of events for youth to create an atmosphere of safety.
Regarding racism, there was a concern that over 59% of the youth respondents felt that
it was a problem locally. It is a prevalent problem and multi-cultural. Cultural
interaction starts at the grade school level and cultural tolerance needs to be addressed
at an early age. This is not the sole responsibility of the school district but the
responsibility of the parents also, indeed the entire community of the City of Monterey.
Parent education and support is of great concern because the involvement of the parents
in their children's education and supervision is crucial. The issue of respect was
mentioned and there was a concern that some youth have no respect for their parents or
other adults. There was a consensus that parent workshops are needed and it would not be
too difficult to determine which parents should be contacted to participate. The parents
need to be educated on how to supervise youth. Lack of supervision is the crux of many of
the problems concerning youth.
It became apparent from the survey data that parents become disconnected with the
school system as youth move from grade school to middle and high school. Parent
participation decreases as the child gets older.
The community as a whole is concerned about the educational system and the
stakeholder's in the community need to become involved. The challenge of collaboration is
to create a willingness of the current systems, agencies and schools to look at the
problems and address the issues. Youth are saying they want to go to college and feel
prepared for the job market but it was said that 1 in 5 youth from Monterey High School
will go to college and employers say the youth are unprepared to join the job market.
Activities for youth is considered to be an important issue with parents and youth
alike. Many of the issues center around the lack of activities for youth. There are many
programs available but they are not targeting the youth at high risk. There is a concern
that many are falling between the cracks. Transportation and activities for older youth
may be the issue. While many sports activities are readily available there needs to be
more possibilities for youth involvement for all youth, especially those "at
risk".
It became apparent that all of the above issues dovetail into each other and each one
needed to be addressed in order to design the social action areas.
THE NEXT STEP
After carefully reviewing the survey data, the Youth and Family Task Force pin
pointed several social action areas to focus their attention:
- Community norms and behavior
- Personal safety
- Reduce substance abuse
- HIV and birth control
- Reduce racism
- Expand parent education and support
- Connect parents with the educational system
- Enhance self esteem
- Collaboration: challenge the existing systems and maximize
 core competencies
- Provide activities for youth
- Enhance the educational image
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These social action areas will
be the basis for the implementation of new programs and the enhancement of proven programs
in the City of Monterey through the collaboration of existing agencies and institutions
and community wide involvement.
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