Instead of dodging bullets on the street, they’re dodging paintball pellets in a park. Instead of marking their turf with graffiti on public property, they’re cleaning up taggers’ work from swing sets and basketball courts.
Instead of focusing on all the wrongs in their community, they’re focusing on how to make things right.
Welcome to Youth Empowerment, a burgeoning grassroots effort that began serendipitously just five months ago when Arturo Soriano and his wife, Gabby, strolled over to Teralta Park in City Heights looking for a teen they had promised to help mentor. When they found the youth with a group of others, Arturo joined in for a few pickup games of basketball. Then they talked. For hours. About life. About their challenges. About their dreams.
“We were just hanging out,” Arturo Soriano said. “We brought over some pizza and talked. Then when we got ready to leave, the kids are like, ‘Hey, when are we going to do this again?’ So we said, ‘Hey, how about next Sunday?’ ”
That was in December. They’ve been back every Sunday since. And word is spreading on the street. More than 100 youths, many of whom associate with gangs and almost all of whom fall into the category of being at-risk, have joined the spontaneous movement that now includes park clean-ups, fundraising drives for families in need, and paintball battles in Escondido.
The effort has drawn notice from police officers and Juvenile Court judges, city officials and neighborhood activists.
And a whole lot of families.
[For more of the story please visit: http://cityheightslife.org/201...ves-in-city-heights/]
Comments (0)