WOMAN INSPIRES OTHERS; HONOR BESTOWED FOR VOLUNTEERISM.

Byline: Lisa Weiss Daily News Staff Writer

When Paula Rangel became an apartment manager in 1994, she never thought she would have to confront violent men or hide frightened tenants in her bathroom.

But that is what happened, and for her efforts to help stop violence against women, the North Hills woman will receive the Volunteer of the Year for Violence Prevention Award from the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women today.

``I feel stupid talking about it. It's just automatic that when I see someone in trouble, I want to help. It isn't something I've done to be glorified,'' she said.

Rangel is being recognized for her efforts in a high-crime, gang-infested area and is very well accepted by women and by batterers, said Linda Chavez, a spokeswoman for LACAAW.

``She has a habit of calling everyone mi hija, which means daughter, and that's how she treats them, as if they were close to her,'' Chavez said.

Rangel and her family lost their house in 1994 and moved from Arizona to the 69-unit Tropicana complex. ``I took the job just because it was a way to provide housing for my family,'' she said. ``But living so close to people, you know what's going on.''

She was awakened by gunshots from a drug deal gone bad the first weekend after she moved in.

``I thought, What do I do? Well, at least I can make a community out of where I live,'' she said.

At first she started informally inviting residents to her apartment. ``In the Latino community, women are afraid of talking about domestic violence,'' she said.

``I brought it dressed in another form - family planning discussions, dinners,'' she said. When talking to prospective tenants, she would tell them, ``Women are not hit here. If it happens, I will intervene.''

In one case, a couple fought so loudly and often that it disturbed the entire building, she said. Rangel said she evicted both of them after the man stabbed the woman in the back with a crowbar so hard that it came out of her chest.

``But she called me even though I was the one who evicted her,'' Rangel said.

Later, LACAAW approached her to start a six-week support group. It lasted eight months.

Rangel's own experience as a battered wife inspired her to help others.

``I know what it was like to be 17 and alone with a baby, having to admit that (my husband) hit me,'' she said.

She branched out into other forms of community activism, from feeding the homeless one Thanksgiving to Safe Halloween programs to workshops on how to deal with gangs.

``She's teaching us how to confront gang members, to see them first as human beings,'' said Sylvia, an LACAAW client who declined to give her last name. ``I was a shy person, but now I'm more confident. One day I want to be like Paula. She's a very capable person. I trust her more because she's from here.''

One of the rewards of her work, Rangel said, is to see women become empowered. ``It's a very good feeling to see someone become self-sufficient. They will first come to meetings and not say anything. Then you can't stop them. That makes me feel so good,'' she said.

Her work has had positive effects that go beyond the tenants themselves. While Rangel worked at the Tropicana, rents rose steadily, and when the complex was refinanced, the programs she had in place showed the banks that it was a good risk, she said.

She has since left apartment management because she was assaulted by gang members, even though she had gained the respect of many youths in the area who were in gangs.

She is still active, running violence prevention workshops, but her health prevents her from doing as much as before.

She said that the key to preventing violence is education. ``It's teaching women to love themselves, breaking the cycle. If you have a weak mom, you have a weak daughter,'' she said.