South Los Angeles Youth Empowerment Program

Community safety

South LA

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Residents in Leimert Park and the surrounding South Los Angeles neighborhoods face many challenges, including poverty, unemployment, incarceration, and low rates of educational attainment.

The median income in South LA is $56,780 (compared to $87,760 countywide), with 22% of households in South LA living below the poverty line. Nearly half (42.2%) of adults in South LA have less than a high school diploma. In Leimert Park specifically, the high school dropout rate is 6.48%, the unemployment rate among youth 16-24 is 13.70%, and 19.95% of youth 16-24 are neither in school or employed. These youth are more likely to be engaged in gangs or other negative activities.

The proposed program is designed to address the specific needs of opportunity youth, engaging them where they are at, empowering them to have a voice in their community, and equipping them with the tools and supports they need to improve their own lives and the well-being of the community as whole.

Grant funds will allow Bryant Temple AME CDC to expand our effective street outreach and violence intervention efforts to engage with opportunity youth, and provide pro-social activities to help them increase their education, secure employment, and address social determinants that impact their well-being.

Community Intervention Workers (CIWs) with license to operate in the neighborhoods served will maintain a consistent presence in the community, visiting areas where opportunity youth are known to congregate to build rapport with youth, distribute snacks and cold bottled water (especially in the summer), and connect youth to available resources. CIWs engage in continuous conflict mediation and rumor control in the community, working to de-escalate tensions when they arise and always seeking opportunities to build bridges and empower the community to work together.

At our Youth Center, youth will have access to prosocial opportunities including tutoring, GED preparation services, counseling, vocational training referrals, college-going supports (assistance identifying potential colleges to attend, understanding the application process, assistance understanding and completing financial aid paperwork, discussions around selecting a major), career path planning, and life skills education (budgeting, communications).

Together, these services connect with opportunity youth and help them get on a path towards college/career to support their adult stability.

Opportunity youth are neither in school or employed. This opens the door to gang involvement and other negative activities, which can lead to arrest and incarceration and a downward spiral. Bryant Temple will engage with these youth and provide them with positive, pro-social opportunities that set them on a healthy life path. This work will reduce gang activity and violence in South LA. The program will reduce the individual and community trauma experienced every time an incidence of violence takes place. The program will provide opportunity youth with a viable alternative to the gang lifestyle, empowering them with supports to succeed academically, cope with trauma they have experienced, and progress towards a stable, gang-free adulthood. The program has enormous potential to transform the targeted neighborhoods, raising up a generation that is employed and earning a living wage, stands against violence, and is actively engaged in improving their community.