A decade dedicated to serving the youth

Deirdre Newman

In the early 1990s, gang violence claimed the life of some teenagers

in this area of Costa Mesa.

Out of those dark days sprang a safe haven for teenagers: the Save

Our Youth organization.

Today, SOY’s 10th anniversary, the organization will celebrate

helping participants graduate from high school, get into college, get

jobs and become positive role models in the community.

SOY offers recreational, social, academic and health and fitness

activities for youth ages 11 to 17. And it does it all on a

shoestring budget of less than $130,000 per year, executive director

Oscar Santoyo said.

“There’s no other organization that offers all these activities

under one roof,” Santoyo said. “There’s nothing really in comparison

for the demographic we deal with.”

When SOY first started, its participants were mostly male, Santoyo

said. Now, the ratio is more even, with about 60% boys and 40% girls.

In 1998, Claudia Flores, 20, and friend Karolina Soriano, 19,

approached Santoyo about starting a SOY girls’ program. While Flores

and Soriano said they were joking about the idea, Santoyo took it to

heart and secured funding the very next day, he said.

“I didn’t know it was a joke,” Santoyo said.

Flores, who attended Newport Harbor High, said she wouldn’t have

known where to go after school if it weren’t for SOY.

“This was like my second home,” Flores said. “I would go home,

eat, come back here and stay here until they closed the door. I would

do my homework and talk to my friends.”

Soriano said SOY was instrumental in encouraging her to apply and

helping her get into UC Irvine, where she is now a junior.

“I wouldn’t have known what a UC was [if it weren’t] for the

workshops here,” Soriano said. “I give full credit for SOY to helping

me get in.”

“One hundred ten percent [credit],” piped in Flores, who also

attends UCI.

Both also benefited from an academic scholarship program SOY

created to reward participants for earning good grades. Flores scored

more than $6,000.

Over the past four years, out of 45 high school graduates, 24 were

accepted into four-year universities, Santoyo said. This year, seven

out of 12 who applied for early college admissions have been

accepted, he added.

Flores and Soriano also raved about the family atmosphere SOY

cultivates.

“You feel like you belong and, as a teenager, you want to belong,”

Flores said.

While 10 years marks a milestone, Santoyo said he looks forward to

SOY being around for many more decades.

“It’s a program that really works and shows in the youths and the

lives we touch, and we plan to be around for a long time,” Santoyo

said.

“Amen!” Soriano said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].