Program On The Ropes

Program On The Ropes

BY DERRIK MILLER, Sun Staff Writer
Published on: August 15, 2006

Jorge Ruiz used to spend his time after school instigating street fights.

His destructive behavior ultimately landed him in police custody twice and suspended from school three times.

But the Yuma County Youth Boxing Association provided Ruiz, 14, an escape from that lifestyle. He still throws punches after school, but now it’s supervised and inside a boxing ring.

“Boxing has made me more confident and has kept me out of trouble,” said Ruiz, who has been going to the YCYBA gym for a month. “But most of all, it helps me control my anger because when you’re boxing you can’t get mad or you’ll lose.”

Ruiz is just one of about 100 under-privileged youth who attend the after school program. Members make new friends, receive discipline and learn lessons about citizenship, hard work and sportsmanship. Some of the young boxers had never left the local area until the organization sponsored them to compete in tournaments.

But the YCYBA’s prolonged existence is uncertain. The organization lost half of its federal funding this year and, in 2003, the city rescinded the $12,000 allotted to it, mostly because the program moved into a building donated free of charge.

The federal Community Development Block Grant, which comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is the YCYBA’s sole source of financial support. But when a city review board reduced the grant from $20,000 to $10,000 this year, YCYBA president Fred Block said it put his organization in a bind. He added that the program’s survival could depend on reinstatement of capital from the city’s general fund.

The city council denied his request in May, but he said that he plans to return to city hall Sept. 6 and ask for emergency funds to keep the organization afloat.

“This is a minority sport,” Block said. “Look at the demographics of our gym and look at the city council. I don’t think this is a money issue with them.

“The compact to this organization and all those kids has been broken. The city just basically turned their back on us and brushed us away like dandruff.”

Yuma Councilman Paul Johnson said he sees many positives in the program, but he added the city couldn’t commit any more money to outside agencies, especially with an understaffed police force.

“If we keep giving away money to outside programs, we’ll never have enough to fund established city programs,” Johnson said. “We’re going through a serious increase in crime right now. We can simply not hire one police officer and give that money to Mr. Block for his private program, but we have to set priorities.

“And in providing for Mr. Block, we would be compelling the taxpayer to make contributions to local charities without a say in the matter.”

Yuma co-sponsored the YCYBA since its inception in 1999 and until 2001. The city rented out the National Guard Armory and provided the organization with city employees to serve as gym monitors.

The Sept. 11 attacks rendered the armory unusable for non-military functions. The YCYBA moved to its present location at 2150 W. Colorado St. and became an outside agent.

But Block said he feels the city is unfairly classifying his program.

“Out of all the city’s 25 outside agencies, we’re the only one that should be under the umbrella of parks and recreation because we are a sport,” he said. “We’re an Olympic sport that provides youth activities.”

But Johnson said parks and recreation is already trying to do more with less money.

He added that after the city’s preliminary budget was set, the state reduced the property tax levee, which caused Yuma to lose about $400,000 in annual revenue.

“We have a limited amount of money and a lot of things we need to do with it,” Johnson said. “Then (Block) comes to us and wants us to give him $10,000 or $12,000.

“He has a good program, but this is a zero-sum game.”

The owner of the building where YCYBA members train has plans to develop the property, and the program has to vacate the premises by Sept. 15.

A local family-owned business, Amavisca Cooling, donated a 5,000 square foot warehouse to allow the YCYBA to continue training its athletes. The organization would only be responsible for utilities and taxes.

Block added the program still needs money to turn the facility into a place suitable for boxing, to travel to events and pay the gym monitor, who is the organization’s only employee.

“More than 50 percent of our members come from families headed by a single mother with more than one child,” Block said. “We don’t ask them to pay anything; they’re all living below the poverty line.”

YCYBA coach Billy Orta said he is concerned most of all about how the potential loss of the program would affect members like Ruiz, whom he said has already demonstrated progress as a boxer and as a young man.

“This program is what he needs,” Orta said of Ruiz. “This is the place for him.”