On the outskirts of San Vicente, El Salvador, a construction crew was putting the final touches on a new playground that will feature swings, a slide, a merry go round and benches.

A municipal official from this town of 53,000 people says the playground is of particular importance for residents in this area.

“There are gangs about 50 meters in that direction,” he says, pointing at a cluster of houses on the other side of a small patch of wooded area. “There are more gang members over there,” he says, pointing in the opposite direction.

Sadly, he comments, a group of gang members were killed in this area about a year ago.

Located about an hour from the capital of San Salvador, this community hopes to turn this situation around with playgrounds, street lights, sidewalks and other community-focused tactics. In particular, this playground is an initiative designed to provide safe, open spaces for families and to help reduce crime and violence. It has worked elsewhere in this city.

San Vicente is an active participant in the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, a five-year, $24 million project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International to help communities throughout this Central American country. The project consists of a multifaceted strategy—ranging from developing employment opportunities to creating violence prevention policies.

Municipal authorities, community leaders, residents and Creative collaborate to identify key projects such as youth Outreach Centers, sports, arts and urban renewal activities that can turn the tide of crime and violence. Infrastructure projects like playgrounds, street lights and sidewalks are essential to a community’s success.

On the other side of San Vicente, residents in the neighborhood of Cañasverales know firsthand what it is like not to have a place for families to relax and feel safe.

Kevin Umaña Montoya is the coordinator of an Outreach Center in Cañasverales , a neighborhood where approximately 500 children live.

“There really wasn’t a place for kids to play or hang out. They would come from school and just stay home, and people were afraid to come here because they would say it was a dangerous community,” he recalls. “But thank God [and] with the USAID project we’ve been able to do big things, like build a park for the kids to play so that they can find a safe space to hang out, instead of thinking about other things.”

In addition to the park and Outreach Center, the project installed street lights and sidewalks along selected streets.

As part of the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, a local committee comprised of municipal authorities and residents was established to devise plans using the program’s tools, including infrastructure.

Patricia Henríquez, coordinator of San Vicente’s crime prevention committee, explains that families in the Cañasverales neighborhood urgently wanted to improve the public spaces—but they also needed to put in their part.

“The whole community participated [in building the park] and they felt empowered,” Henríquez says. “And by helping to build it, the community is invested in it and will help to take care of it. I feel very good about being involved in this project. It is very satisfying to see the level of community involvement and to see the youth involved too. Perhaps they had nothing to do before, but now they are involved in making the park a nice place to be.”

In addition to the community’s contribution of labor, the city government and USAID have their respective roles. The municipal government provides the space, architectural drawings and project supervision. USAID’s project provides funding and technical support.

José Domingo Chávez, an architect and chief of projects in the San Vicente Mayor’s Office, says seven neighborhoods in San Vicente have been identified as at risk and are the focus of these joint efforts in his city.

“The USAID project is about a place where families and the whole community can go to be together, to play, to interact with one another,” Chavez says. “When you have those recreation areas, when the kids come from school, they can go have some fun, do sports, keep their minds occupied, so that they won’t be involved in things that will do them no good.”

Strategic, community-driven effort to fight crime & violence

Miguel Eduardo Gutiérrez Martínez, who until recently was a civil engineer with the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, says that there are 77 neighborhoods in municipalities around the country that have these infrastructure projects.

The scope of these tactical efforts come in three price ranges, depending on their scope: Small projects may cost less than $8,000 and are completed in a few weeks; medium-sized efforts range from $8,000 to $19,000 and are typically wrapped up in about six weeks; and large projects could cost up to $60,000.

The idea has proven successful in other parts of the world, including the dangerous neighborhoods of Brazil. It was studied and adapted for use in El Salvador.

Though the new parks and other infrastructure receive a considerable amount of attention, these neighborhood improvement activities go beyond fun and games.

Crime and violence need certain conditions in order to grow, Gutiérrez Martínez says, and these infrastructure projects help to eliminate them.

“It’s about creating spaces or improving existing spaces, opening up new, livable spaces, and also fixing areas that are too dark and isolated where people don’t feel safe,” says Gutiérrez Martínez. “Gangs and violence in El Salvador have robbed people of their sense of community. What we want to do is give back that pride in their community, and for that to happen, you have to have a community that is safe, clean, orderly, and with areas that invite one to use them.”

He says these infrastructure projects may seem small, but they are making a significant difference in the lives of residents. He says they are “giving people faith and hope in their communities.”

Improved governance

An upside to these projects is the improved relationship between underserved communities and municipal officials.

“We have found in a lot of communities and heard from residents that they never asked for infrastructure projects that they needed,” says Gutiérrez Martínez. “This communication did not exist.”

Likewise, municipal authorities frequently lacked access to these communities until the project was introduced. In some cases, city officials are now using this model to enhance their communications with other marginalized communities.

Nonetheless, reducing crime and violence continues to be the primary goal of these activities.

San Vicente Mayor Medardo Hernández Lara says installing parks, street lights and sidewalks are making a change in these violence-prone neighborhoods.

“Before, if you were to visit Cañaverales at 9 or 10 at night, it was very insecure,” he says.

Now the situation has changed and the community is now taking back the night.

“Sometimes children play and play and play until dark in areas that were once not safe,” Mayor Hernández Lara explains. “Now it’s real busy and packed with children.”

Umaña Montoya of Cañaverales agrees with the Mayor’s analysis of these areas. He has also seen a marked difference in the children ever since the park was built.

“Every afternoon after school, they head to the park. Their mood is different now. They are happy and that motivates me, to see them happy and smiling,” he says.

Gutiérrez Martínez sees a brighter future for these municipalities.

“And people are returning to those days when you would see children play well into the night and where people would gather with their families and neighbors,” Gutiérrez Martínez says. “El Salvador can still be a good place to live.”

Reported from El Salvador by Michael J. Zamba and Rene Urrutia.

At age 14, Maria had a reputation as a troublemaker and was at risk of leaving school. But with support from a counselor and a unique program that identifies and works with at-risk youth and their families, Maria turned her life around.

Maria’s reputation as a troublemaker preceded her at school, says Xiomara Guadalupe Ordóñez de Argueta, an experienced teacher at the Colegio Anita Alvarado in Cojutepeque, El Salvador, a community of 70,000 residents located about 20 miles from the nation’s capital.

“When I was told I would be teaching seventh grade, I thought, ‘Oh my God, the girls that I’m going to be with!’ The first thing I thought of was María, who was a big challenge. I had heard about her and how she was at the principal’s office because she was getting in trouble with girls in other classes, and I thought, ‘That’s what I’m going to have to deal with!” says Ordóñez de Argueta.

Beyond being disruptive in school, María was well on her way to becoming part of an alarming statistic in her native El Salvador: the increasing number of youth who could turn to a life of crime and violence.

Identifying & addressing risk factors

Fortunately, the school year for María, her classmates and the teacher took an abrupt and positive turn.

A special program in selected communities surveyed more than 1,000 youth ages 10 to 15 to determine whose behaviors or circumstances place them in a high risk category—including any drug use, association with gang members, family members who have migrated to another country and even access to recreational spaces.

María and more than 100 other youth in her community were selected to participate in an intensive, structured program that focuses on changing these dynamics at home and school. Called the Family Module, it brings in social workers, psychologists and educators to work with the youth and their families.

Modelo Familiar is one of several key components of the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, an innovative endeavor funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International.

The five-year, $24 million project has three key components: Providing technical assistance to the Salvadoran government to prevent crime and violence at the national level; reducing crime and violence in 55 municipalities; and the promotion of innovative prevention practices.

It carries out the plan by using six strategies—ranging from the development of crime prevention policies to creating employment opportunities. From sports and arts to providing safe spaces, the project is helping communities to turn the tide of violence and crime.

“The idea of this project is to reduce violence and to contribute to citizen security,” says Harald Sibaja, Chief of Party for the USAID El Salvador Violence and Crime Prevention Project. “Based on our experience of many years working in Central America [on] crime prevention and the issue of gangs, we have gotten to understand those risk factors that really affect youth.”

Those risk factors include low self-esteem, limited access to education, low quality of education and high unemployment among youth, among others.

“Challenge of Dreaming My Life” methodology

“We’re trying to contribute by reducing those risk factors that make youth more vulnerable to becoming involved in gangs and to strengthen those positive factors that could give them some sort of sense to their lives [and] opportunities,” adds Sibaja. “We have developed a methodology that we call the Challenge of Dreaming My Life. We have programs supporting parents, how to supervise their kids better.”

The Challenge of Dreaming My Life concept stresses that life is about more than today. Through a series of organized steps, it takes the youth out of their present situation and guides them in developing plans for a brighter future.

The Challenge of Dreaming My Life methodology was developed as part of the Guatemala Youth Challenge Alliance program, which was supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative. In addition to El Salvador, the methodology is used by Creative in Honduras.

Maria’s mother felt her daughter was a prime candidate for this type of an intervention.

“We used to not have a good relationship because she was very rebellious,” says María Luz Gómez de Avendaño, Maria’s mother. “You couldn’t say a thing to her because she just wouldn’t listen. She wouldn’t pay attention to us. She was just paying attention to her friends at school and we were getting desperate. Her type of friends were the problem.”

On top of that, Gómez de Avendaño says, they didn’t get out much because they lived in an area prone to gang violence.

“The gangs are never up to any good and we wanted to stay away from that, so we went out only when it was necessary,” Maria’s mother says. “And I would tell her to be careful with her friends because sometimes friends are what ruins you, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Maria’s turnaround

Reflecting on her behavior, María doesn’t dispute the way she acted.

“I was undisciplined. I didn’t listen, and I liked to cause a ruckus,” she says. “I don’t even know why. I just liked to be rebellious. My friends were like that, too. We just all misbehaved. I know that my parents were worried.”

María says when she first entered the program, she had a chance to become involved in some hands-on projects and also talk about her life with a trained counselor, and the two developed a trusting relationship.

“I started to feel better about myself and I started to get along with people,” María says. “I even started playing up the flute. Now I turn in my homework, I don’t get into trouble, and I don’t end up in the principal’s office. Now I want to be a music teacher. At first I thought I wanted to be a policewoman, but I really love music and I’d like to teach it to others. My parents are very proud of me. The program has helped me a lot, and I think it could help many more kids.”

Maria’s mother noticed a transformation when the 14-year-old and the rest of the family entered the Family Module.

“I noticed that she just wasn’t the same rebellious kid as before,” Gómez de Avendaño says. “It has benefitted me also. It has helped me get closer to my daughter.”

Before the program, when Maria pushed her mother in a rebellious way, Gómez de Avendaño pushed back the same aggressive way.

“But thanks to the program, we are now friends. She talks with me and trusts me, and we didn’t have that before. Nowadays we talk about how the program is working out for her and how she doesn’t disrupt much in the classroom. I am very happy because I see the difference in her. I thought I had lost her,” Gómez de Avendaño says.

María’s teacher, Ordónez de Argueta, can’t say enough about the program and how much it has benefitted the 14-year-old student.

“If she weren’t in the program, we probably would have had a lot of problems. She’s a very bright girl and has a lot of aptitude for the arts, and now she’s helping me organize a dance group. One of the best decisions they made was to recommend her for the program. It’s a real blessing for her and for us,” she says.

Karen Marisol Pérez García, age 13, considers herself to be one of Maria’s closest friends, and she too has noticed a clear change in her friend’s behavior and outlook for the future.

“She’s told me several times how she wants to change for the better and she dreams of being a policewoman. She has a lot of dreams, like wanting to play the saxophone,” says Pérez García. “She says ‘I want to change’ and I tell her, ‘yes, because last year we had too many problems and we’d end up in the principal’s office. Nobody wants to be known to have a bad reputation’.”

Reported from El Salvador by Michael J. Zamba and Rene Urrutia.

This country’s cities and its young people too often make negative headlines focused on crime and violence. Gabriela Castellón dispelled those myths about her town in the southeastern department of La Union.

“I want to tell you a story,” she said, standing in front of an audience of 250 government officials, media and community members during the July 20 kick off of the #PorMásPuertas (“For More Doors”) campaign in San Salvador.

“I come from a beautiful place called Las Tunas, in Conchagua. A place full of sun, beach, seafood and music…a place where young people and children [once] had no place to learn, play and make friends,” she said.

As the coordinator of the Las Tunas Outreach Center, Castellón is changing this narrative and opening doors for young people in her community with access to a violence-free space where they can learn new skills and chart a positive course for their lives.

The For More Doors campaign, which will run until October,  aims to position the Outreach Center as a successful community model for violence prevention at the national level—promoting community volunteerism, engaging institutions and companies in the Outreach Centers, and bringing in more beneficiaries.

As part of the El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project—funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative Associates International—Outreach Centers are a youth violence prevention tool at use in high-risk, violence-plagued communities.

These centers provide opportunities for children and youth in volunteering, job training and tutoring, and offer them opportunities to creatively use their leisure time off the streets and away from violence. Currently, 123 project-supported Outreach Center operate in 17 municipalities.

The Outreach Centers’ “The Challenge of Dreaming My Life” methodology helps participants develop life plans and set goals in the short-, medium- and long-term, contributing to their own improvement and the renewal of their communities.

To galvanize more youth and community members to get involved in the Outreach Centers, the band Friguey has joined the campaign and will launch a campaign concert tour called Tour x + Doors.

Opening doors to a second home for youth

For Outreach Center coordinators, mentoring at-risk young people and helping them find a better path has become their mission.

Speaking at the campaign launch, Andres Vanegas, Coordinator of the Ilobasco Outreach Center said, “Every day we coordinators walk from our homes to do one thing—open the doors of our centers. We open the doors so that the young people of our communities can reach their second home. We open the doors to help realize dreams and to save lives. We open the doors to sow hope, friendship and values.”

Outreach Centers in El Salvador have opened their doors to more than 22,000 young beneficiaries who daily move away from negative actions and build plans for their lives through the services Outreach Centers provide.

Volunteers, many of them youth, are critical to this, generating an average 8,243 Outreach Center volunteer hours per month and delivering their knowledge and experience to other young people to build a better community together.

This tireless dedication to improving the lives of their communities’ youth is working, said Castellón, the Coordinator of Las Tunas Outreach Center.

“Two years later, in my Outreach Center over 500 young people in Las Tunas daily enjoy their second home. Here, they laugh, play, learn and dream…and with them we build a better community, a better city, a better country,” she said.

These changes have even spread beyond the Outreach Center, effecting the community as a whole.

“Today Las Tunas is a different place,” she said.  “It is still full of sun, sand, and seafood, but now also with hope and dreams for our youth. I have faith that ultimately out of these doors will walk men and women who will change El Salvador.”

To view the For More Doors campaign video, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RilRbDqvICg

To learn more about the Outreach Center model, visit website: www.centrosdealcance.org