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Panel wants $600,000 to fight gangs By Beth Barrett Staff Writer Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - A City Council committee on Wednesday directed that $600,000 be found to restore reductions to gang prevention and intervention programs, including Communities in Schools in North Hills. The program, known as L.A. Bridges II, was reduced in the city budget from about $3.8 million this year to about $3 million for fiscal 2005 after losing a one-time funding source. Councilman Eric Garcetti, chairman of the Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee, said it was crucial to restore the funding, which funds three L.A. Bridges II intervention groups. "We finally have forward momentum in adding funds to intervene against gangs. With crime statistics creeping up, we can't afford to roll back the clock," Garcetti said. Communities in Schools executive director William "Blinky" Rodriguez said the committee took the appropriate step, but said the San Fernando Valley continues to get a disproportionately small share of gang-intervention dollars because of its comparatively low crime statistics. "Crime's down in the Valley so we get the least; that's how they reward success," Rodriguez said. This year's L.A. Bridges II budget cut Communities in Schools from $676,830 last year to $554,507. That's about 18 percent of the entire L.A. Bridges II budget. About $1.1 million was earmarked for Public Health Foundation Enterprises Inc., and $1.4 million to Toberman Settlement House Inc. in fiscal 2005. It is unclear how much of the $600,000 would be allocated to each of the nonprofits, said John Chavez, director of the L.A. Bridges division of the Community Development Department. Communities in Schools, a nonprofit, has been instrumental in a variety of gang intervention and prevention efforts, including gang truces, peace marches, and direct interaction with gang members ranging from stopping retaliations to providing employment opportunities. Councilman Bernard Parks, a committee member, said gang prevention and intervention programs are crucial to keeping kids out of gangs. "What Blinky does is not to wait until they're 25-year-old hardened criminals, but he deals with them when they have a chance to survive," Parks said. "These kids are pliable when Blinky makes his impact." News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

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