1980_10 The Daily Collegian October 1980

              Chicano Youth Center provides alternative
By Fernando Quintero
El Plan de Santa Barbara, put together
in the early 1970/5, was implemented to
unite and bring Raza together. It has
materialized into many different con¬
cepts, ideas, organizations, and Into the
making of the Chicano Youth Center.
The Chicano Youth Center Is staffed
• by about 12 persons Including volun¬
teers and occasional social work students
from CSU,Fresno. Funding for the cen¬
ter comes mainly from the Fresno
Employment Training Commlslon
(F.E.T.C), however, itposessome
problems for the center because hired
staff are there on a very limited basis.
'Some schools, however,
deny the services of the
Center.'
Staff at the center are hired through
the Comprehensive Employment Train¬
ing Act (C.E.T.A.) program which Is
a government funded program that
works with the economically disad¬
vantaged. Persons hired through the
C.E.T.A. program are sent out on a job
for a limited amount of time (usually one
to two years and less) and unfortunately,
may not get a full comprehension of the
job
Chicano students who are turned away
by the Anglo educational system or
young people who are falling into juven-
_ lie delinquency, or any persons with any
' kind of problems are served by the
Center. Through the Center, teen¬
agers participate in intramural sports,
dances, picnics, youth conferences,
workshops on paint sniffing and gang
warfare, and many other activities
sometimes drawing up 4,000 to 8,000
people
According to Alfonso Hernandez,
director of the Youth Center, they take
can of a lot of problems and give
services other community service
-agencies are unable to take care of,
yet they recieve no financial aid from the
City of Fresno or anyone else.
The Center's system is set up so that
representatives of sponsors are stationed
at the different high schools and the
Center works through them. Students
learn about their culture, their roots,
and about activities and events the
MEChA organization sponsors. "We're
part of the whole educational process,"
said Alfonso Hernandez, 'We work
with and through the schools, however,
if we don't recieve support or encourage¬
ment from the youth and the community,
then tnere is not much we can do."
There an 24 MEChA organizations
throughout central California's high
schools and colleges, the Chicano Youth
Center also serves as their headquarters.
Some schools, however, deny the ser-
- vices of the Center. Setme and Reedly
high schools do not want the Center
involved with their schools.
The over-all outlook for the Chicano
Youth Center is bright. Plans for
expansion of the Center have been
made. A MEChA supermarket located
somewhere in east Fresno is also a
project the Center will be undertaking.
The market will train students in learn¬
ing skills that will be beneficial in ob¬
taining other Jobs in the future. With the
help of councilman Leonel Atvarado,
several major stores in Fresno have
unofficially agreed to hire some of the
youth once they're trained. Profits from
the market will be put back into the
Center.
The Youth Center still has some way
to go. The development of other cen¬
ters around the valley will require the
cooperation and disposition of the
community and the youth. Programs
more relevant to Chicano youth need to
be initiated and implemented. 'Schools
need to open up to provide better op¬
portunities to our Chicano youth and
better cooperation from our own com¬
munity must come rather than putting
negative labels on our youth-our hope
of the future." said Hernandez.
These last words are almost like those
on the Migrant Education poster that
was stapled onto the cluttered wall
and which read:
"Los ninos son nuestra un/ca esperanza..
son como semillitas que nosotros hemos
sembrado en sus escuelas...o/a/a se con-
viertan en fruto, estas cosechas de es¬
peranza...'
Hernandez leads CYC
Sitting behind his desk, we looked out
the window where you could see two
Cholitas laughing away as they chattered
on the phone in front of the Short Stop
market that takes care of the junk food
cravings for the dozen or so teen-agers
visit The Chicano Youth Center.
Pictures and posters of Mexican revolu¬
tionaries and the 'Li'I Homeboy"
hang on the jumbled walls that belong to
Alfonso Hernandez'  office.
Alfonso begins to talk excitedly about
the possible additions of Madera and
Selma into the MEChA organization.
He went on boastfully mentioning the
24 MEChA clubs that presently exist.
Bom In Fresno to farmworker parents,
'Alfonso recalls his childhood and re¬
members experiencing the different
forms of oppression and discrimination
that somehow links him to the students
he now devotes so much of his time with.
'We've come too far to let our youth put
up with the same old shit we had to put
up with,'said Alfonso.
After attending Fresno City, then
Fresno-State College, Alfonso became
involved with community and student-
based organizations. This resulted in his
involvement with the Chicano Youth
Center in February of 1979.
Alfonso recalls how the lack of positive
role models adversely affected his con¬
cept of Chicanos and their future. Tea¬
chers, administrators, and counselors
never told him about furthering his
education or advancement opportunities.
'After graduating from Central High
School, I almost made the mistake of
joining   the   service,*    said   Alfonso.
He pointed out the importance of roleJ
models and how they should let our
youth know that it's all right to speak
and dress the way they want and en
courage them to further their educa
tion or at least stay in school. Estimates
on the Chicano drop-out rate in the Val
ley High' is around 50 to 60 percent
When asked why he devotes so much
time with the Youth Center Alfonso re¬
plied, /Experiencing all those oppres¬
sions and discrimination and finally
being able to do something about it
has made me a better person.'   .
the Daily Collegian
California State University, Fresno
Menstrual
pain called
significant
problem
Tuesday October 7,1980
Jej
ByLorriOben
morning. The constant ache In her abdo¬
men was bad enough lying down; there
was no way she could make it through a
morning of walking around campus snd
sitting In classes.
Her head pounded and at times she
felt all hot and dizzy, like she was going
to throw up. She couldn't even stand up
straight.
She tossed and turned in her bed.
Damn I Of all days for her period to start.
This afternoon was the first chemistry
quiz—she couldn't miss that. If she
didn't do well in the class this semester,
it might spoil her chances for acceptance
into the nursing program.
She'd just ha veto go and tough it out.
She knew from past experience that the
cramps and nausea wouldn't go away
until tomorrow at the earliest.
But no way could she explain a prob¬
lem like that to an Instructor! Anyway,
like all men, she thought, he'd think it
was Just an excuse; that the pain was 'all
in her head.'
She groaned and rolled over on her
side, still curled up on her bed.
'If only they could really know about
It,' she said to herself. Actually, Jean
has a few things to learn as well. Most
important of all, she needs to find out
that there is help for her
Like many women, Jean suffers from
dysmenorrhes, a very painful form of
menstrual cramps. In fact, up to 50 per- self-doubt and guilt because they were
cent of all women of childbearing age led to believe that "it is all in the head."
suffer from it. On the contrary, the pain Is very real, he
The cramps resemble labor pains, (ac-   said.
cording to one medical journal), andean        "We've been quick to say in the past
be accompanied by headaches, Irrttabll-   that women an neurotic, but we've
icy, an 'out of sorts* feeling, nausea,   found that there is a physiological reason
and sometimes vomiting. i (for the pain),'he said.
They can last for several days and of- Many so-called "treatrnents* for dys-
ten cause women to miss work from one menorrhea have also been unsatisf ac-
to three days each month. An estimated   tory.
140 million working hours per year are One of the most popular theories was
lost because of them. that the cramps would end after the wo-
Dr. Lee Schilling, the gynecologist at   man had a child. Not necessarily, Sehill-
the CSUF Student Health Center, said   ing said. Often they c     '
women come in every day with the prob-    who have given birth.
-Twenty to thirty percent of all vwmen (That 'cure' also did nothing for teen-
miss some school or work because of It,* age girls or career women who are more
he said. 'It's a very significant prob- and more often choosing not to have
lem:* children.
Unfortunately, he added, it's a prob- ^ wvmn ^ bwn   ^_ _____
^^m^f-e^n-nSln-™     »*"*'   "*"*'   *   °ther   W*"!
Jr^^^^h!L^l^i^Z driigs as treatrnent. But drowsiness and
cramps In the post have left much to be    otn__ $ld_ .fl^ j^ ,_ ^ omh wfth
Schilling said.
A belt of whiskey is still considered
Schilling r™
Photo by Dave Nielsen
e often told by their doc-
Two-dav event
Career Days scheduled
to begin tomorrow
ByCleranHaller balcony of the College Union from 9 a.m.
to 1p.m. both days.
It Is easily presumed that CSUF's
Career Planning and Placement Center These services, which include career
has a lot to do with Career Days, which planning, part-time employment place-
will be held tomorrow and Thursday ment In the business and educational
But one should not be led to believe areas, are structured in such a way that
the center's only function is to gather anyone who uses them to their fullest
60 or so company spokesmen at the capacity should be able to find, and
College Union so students can get an gain, a Job In a career to their liking.
&^-J^ ^n^.^or.rr^u.eln
According to Its director. Dr. Harold
Jones, Career Days is Just a small
part of the services which the center
offers.   The-event will be held on the