A Week in Watts Page #10

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towards the relationship.

We work together to make it right,

and it has been very successful.

Give somebody

your information with an I.D...

I do intervention for SEA:

Soledad Enrichment.

I try to do gang reduction.

That's my specialty.

I try to talk to the youth

and I don't know gang members.

I just know people of the community,

and if I'm not out here doing the job,

how can I say what I do is effective?

So I have to get out here, be out here

in the community to talk to these guys.

My guys right here,

these are a couple of my clients

that I'm reintroducing them

into my program.

So the moment they cut them loose,

I'm going to talk to them

and see what's going on with them.

I try to see if we can come up

with a solution Monday

and try to help them get a job

or something, get themself together.

What's going on, I don't know.

It'd be up to them to talk to me about it,

and I'll be able to translate better

with the police and be a bridge

between the streets and the police,

make it a little safer out here

for both parties.

There's going to be no tolerance.

We'll do a probation compliance check,

and he's good to go.

If they ain't did nothing,

why must you do that?

If he didn't do anything, he's good to go.

Donny and Smurf are gang interventionists.

So about an hour ago, members of this gang

caught their rival gang members

slipping in the city of Linwood,

and they gave them a beat down.

So now, word is that the rival gang

is formulating a plan

to get retaliation tonight on this gang.

So I go to Donny,

who's the community liaison,

and I told him

there's gonna be no tolerance tonight.

Anybody who we can legally take to jail,

we're going to take to jail.

And we do that, not only

to get people off the street,

but for actual... their safety as well.

It's gotten way better, and across

the city just recently this year,

the chief did a press conference about

the increase in crime in Los Angeles,

and what's really compelling about that is

while crime went up throughout the city,

it continued to decrease in Watts.

So if you look at Operation Progress

as being part of this holistic approach,

we've been able to reduce crime.

We're saving the city money.

We're educating our youth,

and we're creating a safe environment

so that we can bring socioeconomic

development into this community

and change the past historical context

of what this community was.

You do anything wrong?

No? Were you in school?

- Huh?

- How old are you?

- Six.

- Six? What school do you go to?

Grape Street.

Yeah?

- You in...

- I go to Grape Street, too.

- Are you guys twins?

- We're both six. Yeah.

Yeah?

Is that how you both lost your teeth?

You like the camera, huh?

When we go out there,

you see kids running up to us,

giving us hugs.

They want to talk to us.

When before, and I'll be honest with you,

before you could talk to a little kid

and the mom and dad

would yank the kid away.

Why are you talking to the police?

Don't talk to them.

You'll see people actually wave

where ten, 15 years ago,

that wasn't necessarily occurring.

Go.

Me, personally,

I think I want to be a police officer

to serve and protect the community.

I was thinking about it...

at first, I didn't talk to them that much.

I used to wave at them

when they rode past,

but now I talk to them

and it's like we friends now.

The guy on the corner

might say the police are bad,

but now since he has

a first-hand view, he talks.

He gets to see them.

He hangs out. So it's different.

You get to form your own opinion of them

and everything,

and you realize

they're human just like us.

So I think that's pretty good that

he gets to be around officers like that.

My brother's been to jail.

And a lot of my siblings are...

I don't want to say the word,

but they have a bad image of the cops.

And so after getting to know the cops,

I kind of have a view from both sides

and not just a biased view.

I felt like people were going to ask me

why are you associated with them

or are you the snitch in the hood

or something like that,

but no one has asked me that.

They just say, are they your friends?

I say, "Yeah. " Because I'm not going

to say, "No, I don't know them. "

These cops being with the kids,

it's changing the minds of the kids

which change the minds of the parents,

which change the mind of the communities.

When you have an organization come in

that's willing to work with kids

to mentor them, to turn them into leaders,

to provide educational opportunities,

it's huge.

They're involved with

after-school activities in OP,

which means they're not going to be

hanging out on a street corner

or being influenced by the gangs.

You're creating leaders and when you pair

them up with an officer who's a mentor,

it's almost like a full circle.

So, to have the opportunity

to take a kid out of an environment

and place them into a private school

where they're going to get one on one

education and mentorship, is huge.

And Operation Progress

has already grown in this community.

It's a household name.

You can walk down the street and "Oh, hey,

it's an OP kid. " Or, "Where's Miss G?"

It's already part of the community,

and I think that the impact that it's had,

we might not see for another

couple of years long term, but short term,

it's definitely been a tool

to reduce crime in this community

and build leadership in this community.

Operation Progress is opportunity.

I'm really happy that I'm in OP.

I think it's really changed me,

and like it says on the shirt,

it gives you an opportunity.

Our kids also need life skills.

Our after school programs

like healthy eating,

conflict resolution

and community service

give them the tools

to not only survive, but to thrive.

These funds will build relationships

between youth and police.

Tonight we're at the Skirball Cultural

Center celebrating fast pitch competition

where it's a program every year.

They accept 20 nonprofits

into the program.

They help you develop your best

three-minute pitch for your organization.

And tonight is the final competition where

the ten finalists will go up in front of

500 people and give their best

three-minute pitch for their organization.

We have two more presenters.

Know that they've been sitting there

like you have waiting, waiting, waiting,

getting more and more nervous.

Our ninth presenter, please give

a very warm welcome to Operation Progress.

Thank you.

It's a great platform to tell them

who we are and what we do,

and how we make an impact in the community

and how they can be

a part of that as well.

It's a typical day in Watts,

one of the most gang-ridden neighborhoods

in Los Angeles.

The parking lot at St. Lawrence School

is packed with police cars.

This usually means a gang fight

has broken out, but not today.

Today is report card day and the halls

are filled with LAPD officers

checking their mentees grades.

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