Youth religious group seeks 'comfort' in racial divide
Young Life is a religious group that tries to keep teenagers out of trouble. But to do that in a city like San Clemente, where group leaders say teens seem to be more comfortable in their own demographic clusters, the organization is separated on racial lines.
Young Life has been in San Clemente for two decades, but three years ago it began a downtown chapter to focus primarily on Latino teens, a population that wasn't joining the original group based at San Clemente High School. Young Life leaders say their organization, which has hundreds of chapters worldwide and focuses on connecting adolescents to Jesus, is separated in San Clemente because they want teens to feel comfortable. Having a single chapter may discourage one demographic from joining, leaders say.
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"It may seem 1960s to have two different race groups, but the fact of the matter is, until they decide to make changes in their lives, we have to bring it back to their level," said Corey Nissen, director of the downtown chapter.
Young Life Downtown consists of about 75 Latino teens, including current and former gang members, leaders say.
At a recent Young Life pancake breakfast at Max Berg Plaza Park, some students said the nonprofit has changed their lives by steering them away from bad choices. However, many said they wish the two chapters didn't have to be separated.
"There's Hispanics, then there's white people," said Saul Bonea, who was a Young Life member before graduating from high school last year. "I mean, if everybody came (to Young Life) because everybody is a child of God, that's good, but there's still race stuff in existence and it always gets us in trouble."
By trouble, the 19-year-old, who wants to work in ministry, meant fights. Teens said there have long been tensions among certain cliques at the high school, some of which are divided along racial lines. Young Life leaders say they were aware of those tensions and that's why they thought it would be best to make a new chapter. Last school year, San Clemente High enrollment was 73 percent white and 19 percent Latino, according to Capistrano Unified School District data.
"Of course, when we started the downtown group we thought, 'Should we do this separately? It doesn't seem right.' But we knew we had to be where the kids are at," said Mark Thrash, Young Life's San Clemente-area director.
Thrash said it is not uncommon for Young Life to have a downtown group and a suburban group