One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Beck, mayor: LA youth programs help reduce gang crime by 15 percent
Los Angeles Police Department gang unit officers stop and frisk a known 18th Street gang member in the Rampart district of Los Angeles.
(
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
)
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck say the city’s youth programs helped reduce gang-related crimes by 15 percent last year.
"I estimated that I’ve stood over a thousand dead young men killed by gang violence," said Beck, recalling the bloody 1980s and '90s.
Civil rights activist Connie Rice, long a critic of the LAPD, now helps the department work with former gang members and neighborhood leaders to reduce crime. Rice says that the collaboration has played a key role in reducing gang crime.
"This is an extraordinary effort," Rice extolled, "where everyone gets in the boat and rows in a comprehensive, wraparound community-driven effort."
The Mayor's Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development helped 22-year-old Jesse Monarrez stay out of a gang by hiring him to mentor kids during the summer. He works in the place he grew up — the Ramona Garden Housing project on L.A.'s east side.
When asked what about the program kept him out of a gang, Monarrez said it was "just the little things."
“Waking up in the morning and going to work," Monarrez said. "Brushing my teeth. Taking a shower. Not that I didn’t do that... It just gave me a set schedule and time."
Sponsored message
Villaraigosa says he’d like to expand the Summer Night Lights program, but can’t because of the city's budget deficit.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
