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1992.09.17 :  Grants -- Youth Gangs

Contact:  ACF Press Office (202) 401-9215
Louise White (L.A.) (213) 894-7440       
September 17, 1992

       LOS ANGELES--HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., has
announced the award of approximately $1 million in four grants
for comprehensive and coordinated activities to help reduce and
prevent the involvement of youth in gangs.
       "These grants will emphasize creative partnerships to be
formed within the Los Angeles community to reduce the involvement
of youth in gangs and in other behaviors that put them and
society at great risk of harm," said Sullivan.  "The
demonstration projects funded with these grants will stress
coalition building, personal involvement and solutions that
involve the entire family."
       The new grants will help form community based consortia
and develop employment programs for youth at risk of gang
participation.  In addition, they will study the social factors
which may predispose a youth to gang participation. 
     "Local organizations and leaders are in the best position to
rally parents, clergy and others in the community to help prevent
youth involvement in gangs and drug use," said Jo Anne B.
Barnhart, assistant secretary for children and families.
       One grant will fund a five-year demonstration project in
the Maravilla Housing Development and its 30-block radius in East
Los Angeles to utilize a consortium council comprised of
community based organizations, family members, youth and local
government to address the problem of youth gang participation and
drug abuse through such methods as mentoring, the encouragement
of cultural pride and esteem, vocational training, conflict
resolution and spiritual and moral awareness.
       A second grant to the Korean Youth Center and the
Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment
will train and employ 40 high risk African-American, Korean and
Latino youth in small business management and entrepreneurial
skills. This demonstration project will train youth in the "Weed
and Seed" target areas of Los Angeles to serve as role models and
leaders in their communities and to increase cultural
understanding between ethnic groups.
       The third grant will fund a three-year study of the family
dynamics of youth involved in gang activities to better
understand what combination of social factors within their
families may lead them to join gangs.  
       The research will be conducted at the Pico Gardens Public
Housing Project in East Los Angeles, a predominantly Mexican-
American community.  As part of the study, families and gang
members will be guided to self-help programs for drug and alcohol
abuse.
       Another three-year research grant will study the factors
that allow high-risk youth in Greater Los Angeles, areas with
high levels of gang activity, to remain independent of gang
influence.

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