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Crossroads Project has a new home...
Gang deterrent program now at Al Natividad Center
By Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell Staff Writer
Whittier Daily News
PICO RIVERA - A program designed to help gang members shed their tattoos,
weapons and lifestyles has a new home within a small office building on
Passons Boulevard.
After considering other locations, City Council members this week approved
leasing space to the Pico Rivera Crossroads Project inside the city's Al
Natividad Center for $1 a year.
"We felt it was a good neutral place, where there isn't any known gang
activity, where these young people could come to express themselves and make
a change," said Mayor Pete Ramirez. With statistics showing eight
gang-related murders in the city last year and one possibly gang-related
homicide so far this year, the Crossroads Project's intervention aspects
have the backing of sheriff's Pico Rivera Station Capt. Michael Rothans.
"It's not just suppression that makes a city better, it's also
intervention," he said. The program, which likely will kick off next
month, will target 19- to 25-year-old hard-core Pico Rivera gang members.
But it also will have a component for 14- to 18-year-old teens at risk for
joining gangs, project founder Richard Ochoa said. It will offer tatoo
removal and counseling and educational services through partnerships with
Rio Hondo College
in Whittier, the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps and local trade
unions, Ochoa said. Additional support will come from The Navigators, a
Christian organization based in East Los Angeles.
"There is a great need," said Tom Faranda, a guidance counselor at El Rancho
High School, who is on the Crossroad Project's board of directors.
"I see kids who are second- or third-generation gang members who don't know
anything else, or others who are just attracted to the lifestyle," he said.
While the program must still hire a director and recruit volunteers and
mentors, Ochoa said a viable gang-alternative program has been sorely needed
in Pico Rivera. "We figure the greatest tool to prevent a young person from
being hit by a bullet is getting a job," he said. "This program will help us
reach that goal."
debbie.pfeiffer@sgvn.com
(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3028
Alex@urbannav.com
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