Episcopal Press and News

Church's Anti-gang Program Raises $5.4 million in Los Angeles

Episcopal News Service. January 15, 1993 [93009]

The Episcopal Church has joined with interfaith partners in the Los Angeles area to create a broad-based community organization to combat gang violence.

The project, Hope in Youth, has succeeded in collecting $5.4 million from the strapped budgets of both the city and county. Those funds will be matched by other public and private donations in a $20 million-a-year anti-gang strategy that is supported by nine faith groups and four community organizations. The program was announced in February 1991, before the riots that followed the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the brutal beating of Rodney King.

"It is an extraordinary crisis, and the community is waiting for leadership," said Suffragan Bishop Chester Talton of Los Angeles, describing why existing government programs were bypassed and the new project created. "Southern California faces a severe crisis that requires immediate action."

Working through community-based groups, officials said, Hope in Youth will stress preventive measures to reach about 80 percent of gang members who are deeply rooted in gang life.

Bishop Frederick Borsch told clergy and lay delegates to Los Angeles's diocesan convention last month that $20 million is needed to fund 160 centers throughout Los Angeles County. "We may like to think that gang life is confined to poor areas, but the values of gang culture are spreading," he warned.