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Los Angeles -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plans to consolidate the city's anti-gang programs within his office began today with an allocation of $3 million for programs aimed at preventing kids from becoming gang members.
The city will provide the money to nonprofit community groups working in the Baldwin Village, Cypress Park, Florence-Graham, Newton, Pacoima and Ramona Gardens neighborhoods.
The primary goal of the one-year programs will be to prevent children ages 10 to 15 from joining street gangs and reducing their level of association with gang members.
"We have to break the cycle of gang violence by breaking the supply of kids joining gangs," Villaraigosa said.
Each program must work with at least 100 youngsters who are most at risk of joining a gang. The six risk factors are poor parental supervision; early childhood aggression; delinquent beliefs including acceptance of antisocial behavior, guilt neutralization and disengagement; negative life events; having peers or friends involved in delinquent and deviant behavior; and commitment to street-oriented peers.
Providers will be required to have a minimum of three face-to-face meetings with the children every week and at least one monthly visit with the parents.
Attorney Connie Rice, who authored a 2006 report that called for a major overhaul of the city's strategy on gang violence, said the mayor's plans represent a new beginning for Los Angeles.
"It is no longer `whack-a-mole.' You cannot end an epidemic handing out flyswatters, which is what this city has been doing for 25 years," Rice said.
"Gangs exist because we give them a petri dish in which to grow."
Villaraigosa also announced the end of L.A. Bridges, a prevention and intervention program implemented in 1997. Bridges will be funded through Dec. 31.
"What we're doing here is developing a strategy. What we're doing here is targeting limited resources," Villaraigosa said.
City officials announced four new Gang Reduction and Youth Development Zones in Panorama City, Watts and the Southwest and Rampart patrol areas. The city already has eight designated zones.
Eleven of those zones will receive $1.5 million and one will get $2 million in the next year for anti-gang programs. In fiscal year 2008-09, the city is expected to spend $24 million on prevention and intervention programs, up from about $18 million in the current fiscal year.
The mayor conceded that by focusing on those 12 areas, other parts of the city could see an increase in violence.
"It's a possibility. It really is," the mayor said. "We're going to target our resources smarter and better. So, yes, there may be areas where (crime) goes up and it goes up high enough and then becomes a significant area on the numbers -- then we'll have to reexamine. But, right now, these areas were picked ... because on the numbers, the gang crime there is four times greater than the rest of the city."
For months, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has supported a ballot measure that could generate $30 million a year for anti-gang programs.
To promote the parcel tax, Hahn and Councilwomen Jan Perry and Wendy Greuel joined to form Mothers Against Gang Violence.
"In November, we will ask voters to agree to pay $3 a month to fund gang prevention, intervention, job training and after-school programs. With the voters' approval, we will provide $30 million a year to programs that work, like LA's BEST, the Boys & Girls Club and union apprenticeship programs," Hahn said. |
