Through grants from the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Children, Youth, and Their Families and the Office of Community Development, C.L.A. facilitated the placement of 50 low-income youth in summer jobs at 17 San Francisco arts organizations. This project was followed by an afterschool cultural enrichment program coordinated with six collaborating arts education providers who are serving more than 600 at-risk youth from diverse ethnic communities. C.L.A. provides the youth with seminars on life skills that include conflict resolution education, communication skills, and job readiness. Conflict resolution training for kids involved in art enrichment activities is specific for each site and age group. After a brief exercise using their newly expanded vocabulary to describe emotions and feelings, the children developed and acted out short skits to display what they had learned regarding their own and others' feelings.
Similar programs are in operation in southern California and in the Washington, D.C., area.
California Lawyers for the Arts, Northern California Program, Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room 255, San Francisco, CA 94123.