The Challenge

Del Paso Heights: The City That Hope Left Behind

Del Paso Heights is an urban community in the heart of Sacramento CA. 40 years ago it was a beautiful bedroom community, but today it’s more known for its high rate of crime and violence, drug abuse and gang activity. Many people who had the means moved away from the area years ago and built their futures elsewhere. DPH’s population still totals 15,000 but approximately 95% of its school administrators and teachers, civic workers, police and firemen live elsewhere. Even 60% of its church attendees live in the suburbs.

Most who could leave did, and a lot of hope left with them. But there was one group of people who couldn’t leave: young children. They have no choice but to stay.

So who’s left to raise the children?

The answer will stun you….an abundance of single moms and grandmothers. That’s right…most of the fathers have gone away too, lost to drugs, gang crime, unemployment or prison. Imagine what it’s like to try to raise any child, let alone a boy struggling for identity, when you’re a single woman alone. Now imagine doing this in a neighborhood surrounded by an abundance of convicted felons and child molesters; gang leaders and members; alcoholics; drug addicts and dealers; pimps and prostitutes; and very few righteous male role models for any children to look up to…especially young boys.

It is estimated that of the children struggling to grow up in Del Paso Heights:

70% are fatherless
Over 80% are on the “Free-Lunch” program at their school
Their Household income is about $13,000 for a family of four
60% in middle schools are 2 or more years behind in basic education
50% entering 7^th grade will graduate from high school
60% live in homes where English is a Second Language

The “Missing Man” Problem and Its Generational Damage

We’ve all heard the expression “Like Father, Like Son”. But what happens when there is NO father…who does a son grow up to be like? In DPH, it is most often only his mom, his drug abusing neighbor, or a male relative who’s recently been incarcerated. A father makes a unique contribution to the development of a young boy and his initiation into manhood. But 70% of the young boys in DPH have no father to look to, often from the very beginning of their lives.

It is our sad experience that most young men raised in this environment will eventually lose their identity as adult males because there is NO righteous male adult in their lives. They are confused about their identity and their role in the family as a husband, father and bread-winner. Most display a profound lack of hope and direction, and have a profoundly negative outlook on life.

Social research on the inner city bears out this sad reality. Boys from fatherless families are more likely to have children out of wedlock, are less likely to marry and those who do marry are more likely to divorce. They will experience a higher incidence of mental illness, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, poor grades, criminal activity, and homelessness. Many will eventually replace their “missing fathers” by going missing themselves, lost in drug addiction, street crime or prison. This is the sad cycle of fatherlessness, generation to generation.

The Powerful Alternative: Mentoring Fatherless Boys

But in this bleak picture, a powerful solution has begun to emerge: the remarkable impact that a healthy male mentor can have on fatherless boys.

Research has found that long term mentoring has the ability to change the outcome of a young boy’s future in dramatic ways.

Boys who are mentored are:

46% less likely to use drugs or alcohol
53% less likely to skip school
33% less likely to resort to violence
59% more likely to get better grades

How STS Is Standing In The Gap

This Mentoring Miracle is what Shoulder To Shoulder began to put into action several years ago in DPH. As you can see from the stories on this website, the results in lives have been phenomenal.

We’ve discovered that to “Break The Cycle of Fatherlessness“ an intervention needs to occur in a fatherless young man’s life. This intervention requires men, principally from non-fatherless zones who have lived lives of righteousness, to step up and stand in the gap as a father figure for the fatherless boys if DPH.

We’re stepping into that gap every day. Will you join us?

Check out what we’re doing through Freedom Hall, Level Up, Care for Moms and Because We Care.