Neutral Ground highlights 30 years of gang prevention, asks for sustained CDBG support

SANTA ANA — Samuel Lasalde, program director at Neutral Ground (also described in the presentation as Nati’s House/Neutral Ground), presented Feb. 25 on a portfolio of gang-prevention and intervention services operating in Santa Ana for roughly 30 years and sought CDBG funding to continue and expand on-site school-based services, diversion programming and Summer Night Lights community nights at El Salvador Park.

Lasalde and other speakers described a mix of school partnerships, credible-messenger staffing drawn from local neighborhoods, family meetings, intensive case tracking and diversion grants that supplement their work. Presenters said Summer Night Lights runs weekly Friday evenings in July, includes food and backpacks, and has coincided with reductions in police calls and graffiti in the park area. They described a targeted intervention caseload (applicants variously cited 20–80 depending on verification) and noted administrative challenges related to participant verification and documentation for audits.

Commissioners asked about counts, scaling challenges and funding sources; presenters cited congressional-district diversion grants, school MOUs and partnerships with other youth organizations as current support. No CDBG allocations were voted at the meeting.