CITY TO FIGHT TEEN VIOLENCE WITH JOBS.Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer The Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. moved Friday to try to counter the
recent rise in gang violence and recoup losses in a federal summer youth
jobs program.
In a 12-0 vote, the council approved a $2 million program to create up to 2,000 jobs for teen-agers at risk of joining gangs around the city. ``The need is clear and the implications are powerful if we fail to act,'' Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas Mark Ridley-Thomas (born 1954) is currently a California State Senate where he chairs the Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee]]. He represents the 26th district which includes the communities of Vermont Knolls, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, Hancock Park, Korean said. ``We have young people who are at risk of either joining a gang or becoming its victim.'' Ridley-Thomas said the program will be available citywide based on census tracts A census tract, census area, or census district is a particular community defined for the purpose of taking a census. Usually these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist within a county. of poverty. Areas in the Valley that would qualify include Pacoima, Sylmar and portions of North Hollywood and Van Nuys among others, Ridley-Thomas said. The funding is coming from community development block grants. While gang crime overall remains down in the city, officials have focused on areas - such as the West Valley and Foothill areas - where it has begun to rise. The most recent LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. figures show gang violence has risen 6.7 percent in the Foothill Division and 22.8 percent in the West Valley, even though the entire gang crime level in the Valley is down 12.6 percent this year. Fear of gangs also escalated this year when Lori Gonzalez, the granddaughter of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. , was slain in South Los Angeles South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural area lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. in a gang-related shooting. Last year, the city was able to create 10,000 jobs because of various federal programs. This year that was cut to 3,000 and limited to those where families are making the transition off welfare. ``We had truckloads of money last year and it paid off in finding work for kids and keeping them out of trouble,'' Ridley-Thomas said. ``It's like my grandmother used to say: 'Idle hands are the devil's tools.' ``We shouldn't be fooled that we are satisfying all the needs of the youth out there, but it's a step.'' The program will be administered by the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. , which has operated it in the past and is prepared to begin immediately, Ridley-Thomas said. Councilman Mike Feuer said the summer youth job program is one of the major things the city can do to fight gangs. ``Every expert on gangs has said the most effective antidote antidote Remedy to counteract the effects of a poison or toxin. Administered by mouth, intravenously, or sometimes on the skin, it may work by directly neutralizing the poison; causing an opposite effect in the body; binding to the poison to prevent its absorption, to increasing gang violence is jobs,'' Feuer said. As part of the proposal, the council also is looking at lobbying the federal government to resume its funding of the program next year. |
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