It was one of the more blustery nights in February that a group of parents, community organizers, law enforcement officers and educators sat down together in a classroom at St. Anne School in Sacramento.

They are members of a group preparing to tackle what is fast becoming a paramount concern in Sacramento: the increased number of youths killing others and one another.

It is the Meadowview Youth Violence Collaborative sponsored by Area Congregations Together, a faith-based community organization.

“We are in a crisis,” said ACT organizer Austin Aslan, who coordinates the Meadowview Youth Violence Collaborative. “ACT recognizes (youths) as human beings who carried the light of God within them too short a time. The simple, undeniable fact is that it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Ed Riojas, a member of St. Anne Parish, has served as chairman of a series of meetings and workshops held at the St. Anne site since last November.

“Children are telling the adults that they can’t walk in the streets wearing certain colors that identify them with a gang and put them at risk,” said Riojas, adding that “after the sun goes down” too many Sacramento-area neighborhoods are becoming magnets for gang and drug activity.

Riojas said he was stunned when he recently looked at a list of 500 victims under the age of 25 killed in Sacramento over the past six years.

“These are our children, kids 12 or 15 years old. They haven’t even started their lives,” he said.

The list was compiled by Rhonda Erwin, a member of the Meadowview group who resourced the information from the Sacramento County Coroner’s office and the Web sites of the Sacramento Police and Sacramento County Sheriff.

Erwin, whose 19-year-old son was shot at in front of their home, sees community organizing as an effective way to empower families to stem a culture of violence among youth.

“I believe the power of God and prayer and churches can change the vision of this city,” Erwin said.

Youth violence has become a concern for Father Soane Kaniseli, parochial administrator of St. Anne Parish.

He said just after his arrival at St. Anne in February 2005, he met with Sacramento ACT organizers seeking his support of their efforts on gang violence issues.

“We agreed to help with their efforts for the good of the whole community,” Father Kaniseli said. “We saw that people in the parish and area will benefit from what they are doing.”

A real wake-up call came this past October, when teens from outside the church community disrupted a fund-raising event organized by St. Anne’s Tongan community.

“When I came out of Mass I saw police cars in the parking lot, young people lying on the ground and police with guns out,” Father Kaniseli said, recalling the event.

He learned that police were called when one of the youths involved in the incident shot a gun off in the back of the church property.

After having a conversation with Sacramento police officers about gang activity in the community, Father Kaniseli initiated conversations of his own.

He spoke from the pulpit about the threat of gangs invading the neighborhood during a Mass and plans to make similar presentations to members of each of the church’s ethnic communities in their native language in the weeks ahead.

“I want people to be aware that gangs exist. but I don’t want them to be scared into thinking they exist here at St. Anne,” Father Kaniseli said.

After learning that a group of religious education students at the parish were afraid to use red folders for class work because of the color’s association with gangs, the priest asked a representative from the Sacramento Police to speak to seventh and eighth graders on the subject.

The timing for such a visit couldn’t be better, as Sacramento Police have recently added a new youth unit to combat gang activity and violence. Heading the unit is Capt. Daniel Hahn, who seeks to build partnerships with community groups such as Sacramento ACT.

“We need a community response with everybody working together to solve this,” he said.

The unit was formed following a recent report that showed the number of youth crimes involving weapons and violence rose 73 percent from 1981 to 2003 in Sacramento County. The report was prepared by a committee of representatives from law enforcement and the courts.

Deacon Alani Vivi coordinates St. Anne Parish’s social justice committee, a group which is active with community organizing.

A member of the church’s Tongan community and the father of three children ages 15, 12 and 10, Deacon Vivi said one of the challenges in church efforts to stem youth violence is getting the message out to parents.

“Children have a chance if parents are interested in their kids’ education,” he said. “If they are not, there is no hope for the community.”

He added that there needs to be an awareness that good parenting which worked in Pacific Island communities may not work in the United States.

“It’s not putting the blame on parents who are trying to survive,” he said, “but many still have an image where the whole village is taking care of kids.”

Father Kaniseli and Deacon Vivi were among a group of clergy serving in the Meadowview area who met in February to address issues related to at-risk youth.

Of primary concern was a 2005 state of California High School Exit Exam with results from neighboring Luther Burbank High School.

The study showed that African American, Latino, and Pacific Island students scored lowest in math and English graduate requirements among the school’s five ethnic groups.

“We came away understanding schools can’t solve this alone. They need parents,” Deacon Vivi said.

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