Create Now Program Transforms Teen Lives

Girls’ Detention Facility - Your Donations at Work

Los Angeles County has the nation's largest juvenile probation system, managing more than 20,000 youth a year. Girls now account for nearly one-third of all juvenile arrests. Many of these girls are foster youth who have been physically and sexually abused. A large number are also pregnant or are already teenage mothers.

Starting in January, Create Now launched four Introduction to Art Workshops at Camp Joseph Scott, a detention facility for teenage girls located in Saugus. Each workshop lasted for one month and included eight intensive sessions where participants learned how to draw, paint and sculpt. All the classes were attended by 10-15 girls, who were incarcerated for a variety of crimes.

Our mentor, Corinne Mazzola, is a talented artist who teaches at KidsArt, so she knew how to provide basic arts techniques to girls with little or no experience. The girls looked forward to our workshops and we had waiting lists for future classes. Their talent abounded. Most of these teens never knew they could draw, paint, or mold clay into something special. They would complete an art piece and then proudly show it off to their friends, staff, and anyone else around. Exclamations such as, “Look what I made!” were heard throughout each session.

After each workshop was completed, Create Now arranged for the girls to to set up their own art exhibition in their gymnasium.

All of the girls at the detention camp were allowed to file through the art exhibition to admire their dorm-mates' creations. The young artists’ egos were bolstered as the other girls enthusiastically pointed out the pieces that they liked. The other wards at the camp developed more respect for the participants and wanted to join our next workshop.

We concluded the workshop with a Wrap Party for the 55 girls, which included pizza (a special treat), gift bags with arts supplies and our Certificate of Completion. Not only do these certificates help build confidence and self-esteem, they also demonstrate to the teens’ probation officers, therapists, attorneys and judges that they are trying to change their negative behavior by doing positive activities.

The Director of Camp Scott, Jennifer Owen, said, “Create Now gives the girls at Camp Scott an opportunity to explore their creativity and their artistic talents through a motivating and engaging program."

Deputy Probation Officer Mr. Gallien said, “I observed a particular minor that participated in the Introduction to Art Workshop who has now shown a great deal of maturity. The minor appears to be more calm and patient. She is more positive in her thinking and she sees life from a different perspective. I feel that the minor benefited from being involved in your art program.”

Our mentor, Corinne, said, “I was really impressed with the change of attitudes within the first couple of classes. The girls became positive and motivated. Most did not even realize that they had any artistic talent because they had never tried something like this before.”

Evaluating Our Program's Effectiveness

We have proof that our Introduction to Art Workshop made an impact, thanks to the support of Vince Iaria, Bureau Chief, Quality Assurance Services at the Department of Probation, who assigned Aracely Miron to evaluate the effectiveness of our Workshop. Aracely is a second year MSW student at USC with a background in working with teenagers in group, family, and individual therapy settings. She helped Create Now to develop a survey that measured the participants' self-esteem both before and after each workshop. Here's what she had to say:

“Research shows that gender-specific treatment for girls in the juvenile justice system calls for treatment and rehabilitation with attention to self-esteem. Using a self-esteem questionnaire, we were able to find the following after only four weeks of the workshop:

  • 71% of the girls had an increase on the self-esteem scale.
  • 35% of those girls with an increase in their self-esteem score had an increase of over four points compared to the other girls.
  • 100% of the responses stated that the workshop helped them feel positively about themselves saying, 'I felt I was good at something,' and "I learned to do something I didn't know before.'"

Here’s what the girls have to say about our Introduction to Art Workshop:

Jasmine – “I’ve learned how to work together as a team. I also learned how to ask questions if I didn’t know how to mix a color and how to respect the people that were helping us. I would like to try the things that I’ve learned when I get out.”

Trinity – “I really enjoyed drawing and painting. It’s a way to show my individuality and creativity. I really feel all my art is special whether or not anyone pays attention to it. They’re all parts of who I am.”

Carissa – “I really enjoyed this class. It gave me something to look forward to each week and really helped me to learn some good skills. I plan to use the things I learned in the class in the future in as many ways as possible.”

Marlene – “The art program lets us expand our minds and it gives us a chance to get creative. I learned how to ‘score’ clay and it was fun. The teacher was very helpful.”

The state of California spends roughly $252,000 each year to incarcerate one juvenile offender. The average cost of keeping one youth in an intervention or prevention program is approximately $1,300 each year. By supporting Create Now, you can transform the life of an incarcerated youth for much less.

Our Introduction to Art Workshop was made possible in part by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Yahoo! Employee Foundation. We're very grateful to all of our sponsors.