On Sept. 30 there a fight broke out near Chief Sealth High School's temporary campus on Delridge Way.

According to Lt. Steve Paulsen, a member of one gang reportedly stole a necklace from the girlfriend of the member of another gang. Some of the individuals involved had known affiliations to the local African American and Hispanic gangs.

Half a dozen police cars appeared at the scene and in the following days officers from the Southwest Precinct made their presence known around the Delridge school.

Conflicts between different gangs, like this one, are not uncommon in West Seattle. According to Deborah Waynes, a counselor at Southwest Youth and Family Services, the local community has seen an increase in conflicts between African American and Hispanic gangs. Paulsen also added that there have been many instances of non-violent youth disturbances around High Point's new housing complexes.

Many kids describe the conflicts as an issue of respect, that initial offenses are often responded to with acts of retaliation, some which can develop into full-blown gang wars.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has responded to the issue by including a $9 million youth violence prevention initiative in his proposed 2009-2010 budget. While that initiative could provide additional resources to existing programs, severe cuts in King County's 2009 budget could eliminate some county programs all together.

Waynes explained that it is difficult to track the number of gangs in West Seattle because they tend to form so quickly. But, an analysis of violent crimes by the city shows that while most of West Seattle has a low number of incidents, those numbers greatly increase in High Point, Delridge and Burien.

She described several reasons why young people join gangs in the area. Some come from dysfunctional homes or lack strong parental figures. Living in poverty has also motivated many young people to join gangs. While illegal, gang activities can provide quick, and sometimes desperately needed money, the jobs available to teens pay little and can take awhile to find.

If programs could provide youth with jobs that paid well, Waynes said, earning money legally might be more tempting.

Steve Daschle, the director of Southwest Youth and Family Services, added that many young people today have grown accustomed to a culture of violence. Mentorship, he said, can help show young people that violence is not a solution to their problems.

Thankfully, the southwest region of Seattle has not seen the same level of violence as neighborhoods in the southeast, where four teenagers were shot and killed this summer. According to Paulsen, there are many young people living in West Seattle that are involved in gangs, but the members tend to cause trouble outside the neighborhood.

Nickel's program will expand outreach to children who are at-risk for violence and provide them with services that specifically address their needs, including mentorship, youth employment programs and family support services.

Through research, the initiative has identified middle school as a time when academic success is critical. It will address students with frequent truancy and place police officers in schools to provide crime prevention education.

While total crime in Seattle is at it's lowest in 20 years, violent juvenile crimes have remained stagnant over the years.

Paulsen said that he expects Nickel's initiative will extend violence prevention measures that are already in place in the Southwest district, coordinating different existing services.

Meanwhile, King County Executive Ron Sims recently announced a $93 million deficit in the 2009 county budget.

In response, Sims has proposed several budget cuts of social services, including assistance to at-risk and low-income kids. Daschle said that loosing such funding would be seriously detrimental to continuing work against youth violence.

"Despite the dedicated resources we have through the city, it's never enough. There are still kids falling through the cracks," Daschle said.

Rose Egge may be reached at 932.0300 or rosee@robinsonnews.com