Street Soldiers train Va

Kamika Dunlap
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 18, 2005 12:00 AM

At age 2, Ellen Jaramillo-Lambert ran crack cocaine in a six-block radius of her neighborhood. The drugs in her diaper were tucked there by her father, an associate of the Mexican Mafia, who used his children to distribute dope on the streets of Chicago.

The family moved to Arizona, and the gang ties followed them. Growing up, four of Jaramillo-Lambert's brothers died violently, including one who bled to death in her arms at O'Neil Park in Glendale.

"My father's goal was to raise me to be a hard-core gang member," Jaramillo-Lambert said. "I tried to act hard, but I was real scared."

Today, at 26, Jaramillo-Lambert shares the harsh realities of her involvement in gangs with elementary school students across the Valley. She works for Street Soldiers Inc., a gang- and drug-prevention program.

Street Soldiers Inc. has become a cornerstone of the Washington Elementary School District's effort to reduce violence among its students and the Phoenix and Glendale neighborhoods it serves. Earlier this year, the district received a $9 million grant under the federal Safe Schools/Healthy Initiative, and part of the money is being used to educate students about the high cost of joining a gang: dropping out of school, getting involved in drugs, possibly ending up in prison - or worse, dying.

Besides organizing school assemblies to warn kids about gang life, Street Soldiers offer one-on-one counseling to students identified as at-risk by principals and school psychologists.

Next month, the group will visit South Phoenix Youth Center to meet with young people in Project BRAVE (Bringing Reality About Violence Education). The Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department sponsors the project.

Street Soldiers also hope to organize basketball tournaments and lunchtime concerts this year as well as eventually add a family-counseling component.

Gang activity has decreased in the Valley over the past decade. It reached a peak in the 1990s when gang wars, drive-by shootings and drug sales were prevalent. Since then, violent crime has dropped a combined 8.3 percent for the FBI's Metropolitan Statistical Area, which covers Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale and Tempe.

But a 2000-01 "Prison and Street Gangs in Arizona" study predicted that the drop was probably temporary. The number of gangs and gang-related criminal activity will increase, the study said, keeping pace with population growth. In addition, because of the "three strikes" rule in California that targets repeat offenders, many gang members are relocating to Arizona.

One federal study showed that three out of 10 students in urban schools reported the presence of street gangs at their school. That's nearly double the reports from suburban schools and nearly three times what was reported in rural schools.

The Valley's Street Soldiers program joins the efforts other cities are making to address gangs, gun violence and drug abuse. The Mesa Police Department runs the Gang Resistance Education and Training program for seventh- and eighth-graders, which concentrates on building self-esteem, improving decision-making skills and resisting drugs and violence.

During a recent visit to Mountain View Elementary School fifth-graders in Phoenix, Jaramillo-Lambert recalled the time she spent in Durango Detention Center, after she was accused of being a lookout in a robbery and assault case. Students listened with shock about the consequences of joining a gang, making poor choices and living a hard life.

"You sleep on a mat on the hard concrete floor; you have no privacy because you share a cell; and you get one roll of toilet paper a month," said Jaramillo-Lambert about conditions at the jail. "The toast is so hard you can throw it against a brick wall and not one crumb would fall. That was the worst three months of my life. Is that what you want to look forward to?"

Thinking twice

A similar Street Soldiers presentation by Israel Pablos at Desert Horizon Elementary School in the Pendergast District made an impression on Josh Gonzales, 13, who was headed for trouble.

Pablos, 18, shared how he learned the ropes of crime from his older brothers when they were in gangs. His parents were addicted to crack cocaine, and by the time he was 9, he knew how to steal cars, roll marijuana joints and weigh grams of cocaine.

"I was younger, and I didn't think breaking into houses and stealing cars was bad," Pablos said. "I thought this is what we were doing for fun."

But the good times came to an end after Pablos was arrested for the 12th time and sent to Durango. He learned the hard way to obey authority and take responsibility for his actions.

"I thought the presentation was cool," Josh said about Pablos' assembly. "I should learn from what he did and . . . not get in trouble."

Last year, Josh lost his recess privileges because he organized a group of kids to bully and throw mud balls at other students

"It was so stupid that I chose to do it," Josh said. "Now I pretty much think twice about everything."

Since then, Josh has joined the school basketball team and improved his grades.

"The basketball team is much better than being in a gang," the eighth-grader said. "It's positive and healthy and sure beats going to jail."

Carmen Gonzales said she noticed that her son, Josh, had fallen in with the wrong crowd. She was repeatedly called to school because he was mixed up with other troublemakers.

"It got to the point where I was at the school every week," the 33-year-old mother said. "Even if he wasn't the culprit, he was always in the midst of things."

Carmen said the Street Soldiers program made Josh realize that the little things he was busted for could turn into something more serious. It made him think, 'Dang, this isn't the kind of life I want for myself,' " she said.

Teaching the dangers

In 2002, about 659,000 crimes involving students were committed at schools, according to the U.S. Education and Justice departments.

"Gang violence can happen because of the simplest thing as a look," said Kevin Bickel, a detective for the Glendale Police Department Gang Enforcement Unit, which partners with Street Soldiers to educate parents, students and teachers about gang awareness. "A look may be seen as dirty or disrespectful, so gangs go get guns and start shooting it out."

Joe Negron, principal at Mountain View Elementary, understands students need to learn about the dangers of gangs.

"We want our kids to know that gang members are not their family," Negron said. "We want them to look at the long-term effects."

In the coming year, the Street Soldiers program will continue taking its message to students around the Valley.

Jaramillo-Lambert and Pablos hope to recruit more staff and work closely with schools and neighborhoods.

"I want kids to know about Life 101," Pablos said. "It's a scandalous world when you hustle, and in the end it's going to come back on you."