WOMAN: We’ve all been concerned in recent years with the rise of gang violence in our city. Los Angeles is a very diverse and dynamic city, and we don’t want that to change. And we do pride ourselves on the American value of freedom to gather, freedom of speech, and freedom of association. But we can no longer ignore the serious threat that these gangs pose to our community.

Did you know that there are an estimated 2,000 young people actively involved in street gangs in our city today? I know that seems ridiculous. How could that be when we are watching our kids so closely, right? But actually, it’s often difficult to tell when young people join gangs because they are so good at hiding it. They lie about where they are going, use friends to cover up their stories, and dress differently at home than when with their gang members.

I’m not trying to scare you, but we have to face the reality that gangs threaten every family, and not just poor ones. So the best thing we can do as a community is to come together to develop ways to prevent our kids from getting sucked into organized crime. That’s why we worked hard for the past three years to establish this new youth community center focused on intervening in gang recruitment before it happens.

The center, which we’ve named Los Angeles Angels, is a truly indigenous initiative that has resulted from the efforts of concerned individuals who want to create a safer environment for future generations. The room we are sitting in now is the main hall, and is where large group meetings and events will take place. We also have five other smaller rooms that you’ll see when we take the tour following this short talk.

The center will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. I know it sounds like long hours, but remember that gangs are most active before and after school hours. So we need to make sure that we are here for young people when they need us most. And in order to man the center, we’ve hired two full-time staff and five part-time aides. The entire team will be led by the center’s director, Mary Anderson.

We have three main program areas that we’ll be targeting initially. The first is a primary prevention program that educates elementary and middle school students about gangs and how to identify and report gang recruitment. Members of our staff will go to local schools and give classroom presentations. In addition, we are going to, uh, to have some after-school workshops here at the community center that both parents and children can attend.

The second program is a secondary prevention program. It is designed to keep high school students off the streets by engaging them in after-school activities and groups. This is one of the most effective ways of encouraging teenagers not to join gangs. If they have a community of peers already, they are less likely to seek one out through joining a gang.

So we have sport clubs for basketball, soccer, volleyball, and a drama group for the more theatrically oriented. There’s also a general study and hangout space where any high school student can come and just be with people his or her age. That, uh, that really benefits kids who don’t have a tight group of friends.

Oh, and part of our secondary prevention program is the mentorship program. Former gang members who have come out the other side volunteer to spend time with high school students one-on-one. This is mainly reserved for cases where a student is reporting having been approached by a gang, or who we know is in communication with one.

Finally, we have the crisis intervention program. If a youth from our community is known to be involved in a gang, we will coordinate a group of counsellors, the child’s parents or guardians, and a police officer to attempt an intervention. The student will be brought to the center and will be offered support to safely leave the gang...with extra protection from the police, of course. The last thing we want is to put any of our kids in harm’s way.

Answer Key:

1. 2,000

2. three years

3. Los Angeles Angels

4. The main hall

5. 6 a.m.

6. Mary Anderson

7. C

8. A

9. B

10. B