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Local schools play an important role in ensuring positive family outcomes beyond pure academia.  PCRC’s Community Briefing on Strengthening Families will delve into this topic from a variety of perspectives and highlight how these partnerships are one component to building healthy communities.

 Learn more about this event.

Change: Youth Uniting Community

Friday, April 26, 2013, 5-8 pm

San Mateo High School

Food, music, and entertainment will be provided. Plus, we will have booths to experience different arts and ways to express ourselves like a live street art mural that everyone will get an opportunity to paint, writing and spoken word activities, and others.

How can you get involved?

Come and experience it! – You can bring your youth, parents, coworkers, and anyone else to eat some food, learn about the different projects, and take part in the booths.

Host your own booth! – Does your youth group or agency have an issue or resource that the young people and their families need to learn about? Do you have a fun, interactive way to educate others about it? If that sounds like you, then fill out the simple “booth and performer application” section that is included on the registration form.

Share your art! – We want to exhibit youth and community art whether it is visual, through dance, through word, through theatre. On the registration form, let us know if you have art to exhibit or apply to perform.

Show us your film! – Has your youth group created its own short film (10 minutes) that shows what life is like as youth in San Mateo County and would like to propose it as one of the short films we show during our program to engage in dialogue and expression with the community in attendance? If so, then let us know on the registration form!

If your booth, art, or film is chosen, then we will include your organization and/or group in our marketing material online and in print if selected before our print deadlines.

Please send questions to us! We are more than happy to answer them.  Please contact us at:

jyap’at’pcrcweb.org or 650-513-0330.

Changes Partner Invite                       Changes Registration Form

Don Salvador designed many PCRC community engagement initiatives including our Parent Education Project, the Strengthening Neighborhoods Program and the Community Leadership Training, which was later adapted for our Family Leadership Training Academy.  Don Salvador also created the format for our First 5 Community Dialogues that addressed issues related to children and families.  In addition, he established the CARON program, the Fair Oaks Neighborhood Association and the North Fair Oaks Initiative.

A celebration of Don Salvador’s life will be held on Saturday, February 9th at 11am at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 178 Clinton Street, Redwood City.  Condolences may be sent to Teri Chen via the Fair Oaks Community Center, 2600 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA 94063 to support the North Fair Oaks Koshland Initiative.

It started off like any other January day in the Bay Area:  cold, damp, a slight wind chill and a hint of sunshine peaking through a cloud-patched sky. This wasn’t the typical day for a car show, but then again, it wasn’t a typical car show. Since Fall 2012, the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC) and the San Mateo County Youth Service Center (otherwise known as juvenile hall), have been working together to put on “Kustoms for Peace,” a car show held inside the institution. 

Juvenile halls differ from adult jails because they focus on rehabilitation.  However, an unintended outcome is the blending of young people from different neighborhoods and, at times, rival gangs or cliques where the gang mentality is bred and fed. While many take advantage of programs and services, little is done to help youth work together towards standing peace or a working truce. The purpose of Kustoms for Peace is to initiate a peace process, allowing youth to work together within the institution and hopefully inspire change in their lives.

Leading up to the event, a team of PCRC staff and volunteers met weekly with the Elm 7 unit.  PCRC guided youth through the process of working together, resolving conflicts with each other or within themselves and understanding the difference between being a peace builder instead of a peace lover. “Peace building is hard,” says Alejandro Vilchez, one of the principal organizers.  “It means you have to put away differences in order to reach a goal.  This car show demonstrates their willingness to make something work despite who’s standing next to them. They understand that the car show is about something bigger then them.”  Prior to the show, a US delegation monitoring the peace process between gangs in El Salvador spoke with the young men in Elm 7. After the talk, one young man said, “If they can do it there, we know we can do something here.”

The day of the show, Elm 7 led the event by welcoming the participating units, stressing the importance of keeping the peace and having a good time… and that they did.  Jimmy Gustamantes and members of Viejitos Car Club of Silicon Valley arrived with their “bombas” and lowrider bikes.  Impalas Car Club, of the East Bay, USO and San Jose’s Finest added to the positive atmosphere. Redeemed Car Club President, Mike Valladares demonstrated pin-striping while showing off his finished pedal car. Skoty Chops rolled through with a clean 1959 Impala.  Even the San Mateo Police Department contributed with their 1957 Plymouth Bonneville squad car.  Gustavo Lopez (aka DJ Aztlan), a PCRC staff member, played oldies, R&B and other crowd favorites.  Boys & Girls Club and JobTrain also participated, by offering information young people can use once released.

As the event wrapped up, the only thing missing were jackets and sweaters.  By 2PM the clouds began to cover the sun’s rays, offering a gloomy reminder of where the event was held. “Juvenile hall is not a place for fun,” adds Alejandro, “but we can use this event to get their attention and show them that there are other ways of getting respect, by being part of something positive.”

Initially, staff at juvenile hall was skeptical, but after Saturday they were asking for Kustoms for Peace II…  stay tuned.