Kid Watch volunteer looks out for children's safety (USC)

The Kid Watch program of the University Park neighborhood, a joint coalition between the Los Angeles Police Department and University of Southern California's Family of Schools mobilizes more than 1,300 community members and volunteers to watch over 8,000 children as they walk to and from five schools within the USC Family of Schools. 

With 183.1 reported crimes per 10,000 people in the University Park area during the past six months according to The Los Angeles Times'  "Mapping L.A.," child safety is the main concern for Kid Watch. 

"We want to create a safe environment so that our children can grow up in their neighborhoods without the fear of getting hurt so they can focus in school," said Bertrand Perdomo, a program coordinator. 

On a typical school day, volunteers can be seen donning yellow and red shirts with the Kid Watch emblem, a logo that students have to recognize as a symbol for safety if danger exists nearby. 

Nora Robinson, a volunteer since 1998, strongly advocates for the power of Kid Watch in the University Park neighborhood.

"It's helping the children feel safer… Especially when they do school fundraisers and bring money in their pocket. If they see the people in the yellow shirts, they're not worried about getting jumped or harassed," Robinson said. 

Since the program started in 1994, the L.A. Police Department has played a prominent role in ensuring that potential volunteers pass a complete background check before their membership as a Kid Watch volunteer is approved. 

In biannual workshops hosted by the USC Department of Public Safety and the LAPD, volunteers are trained on responsibilities as well as how to teach students leadership development and emergency preparedness. 

"We're really preparing and building our teams so they can do their daily activities. But at a greater level, should an emergency happen in the community, our leaders will be able to organize and help out their community," Perdomo said. 

In the next few years, Kid Watch Executive Director Kim Thomas-Barrios hopes to expand the aspect of emergency preparedness. 

"We want to equip our neighbors with a way to not just survive in the first three days without emergency response, but at the very least be able to thrive," Thomas-Barrios said.

But Robinson says she wants to see some of the original initiatives from the 1990s brought back to the organization, like trying to rid the neighborhood of drugs and gangs.

"Back in the earlier days we used to ride with the USC police and we used to go out and look at the homes for drug use in common gang areas," Said Robinson. "They got the drugs and violence out so kids could play outside without getting hurt."

For now, though, Kid Watch volunteers say they see just how productive their program can be in stimulating community involvement in the University Park neighborhood. 

"I think that first Kid Watch builds family, a sense of community. A lot of the members have been around for awhile. They hold Kid Watch dear to them. In inner city communities parent engagement is a challenge. But with Kid Watch parents are involved in activities and the schools," Perdomo said. 

Parent involvement can be used to bridge the student's life at home with the student's life in the classroom, enhancing the performance of typically underachieving children. 

"I think that our parents are really getting an understanding--before we had to look out for gangs or any type of shootings and now the parents are more observant…They are creating a healthier environment," Perdomo said. 

The success of USC and LAPD's first Kid Watch model has spread to more than 40 schools and continues to expand with the City of Los Angeles' "Kid Watch LA." 

The volunteers not only provide a safeguard for the children as they walk to school each day, but are role models to the community and help foster a sense of community in South L.A.'s University Park neighborhood.

"We're trying to create a body of leadership within our network of volunteers so that it's not just a body that is concerned for children's' welfare but a body that is concerned for the neighborhood," Thomas-Barrios said. 

Reach Staff Reporter McKenna Aiello here, and follow her on Twitter @McKennaAiello.