Poverty, crime, and gang shootings are the side of Santa Monica tourists don't usually see.
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_23476562/shootings-show-troubled-side-santa-monica
We moved here for the ocean breeze and the schools, but we soon learned that our kids' school (Edison Learning Academy) is in the heart of the tough part of the city.
The shootings on June 7 began half a block from that school. Then four days later a gang-related shooting occurred with one person killed.
For a few years I took part in a violence prevention coalition, but that group disbanded, and the Pico National Network in LA County now does some of the same work we did. http://www.piconetwork.org/about/history
We live on the second street south of Pico Boulevard, very close to the two-year college and to the working-class neighborhood where kids without jobs get into gangs and occasional shoot-ups flare up.
How to reach young kids and teens before violence begins?
The Pico Youth & Family Center, located next to the high school, sponsored a vigil and memorial walk from site to site of the recent shootings, and the group also works with at-risk kids.
http://picoyouth.org/
All we can do is start in small ways.
Another small way is to donate to the Katherine K. McTaggart Scholarship for Violence Prevention:
Santa Monica High School Alumni Association
P.O. Box 5592
Santa Monica CA 90409-5592
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_23476562/shootings-show-troubled-side-santa-monica
We moved here for the ocean breeze and the schools, but we soon learned that our kids' school (Edison Learning Academy) is in the heart of the tough part of the city.
The shootings on June 7 began half a block from that school. Then four days later a gang-related shooting occurred with one person killed.
For a few years I took part in a violence prevention coalition, but that group disbanded, and the Pico National Network in LA County now does some of the same work we did. http://www.piconetwork.org/about/history
We live on the second street south of Pico Boulevard, very close to the two-year college and to the working-class neighborhood where kids without jobs get into gangs and occasional shoot-ups flare up.
How to reach young kids and teens before violence begins?
The Pico Youth & Family Center, located next to the high school, sponsored a vigil and memorial walk from site to site of the recent shootings, and the group also works with at-risk kids.
http://picoyouth.org/
All we can do is start in small ways.
Another small way is to donate to the Katherine K. McTaggart Scholarship for Violence Prevention:
Santa Monica High School Alumni Association
P.O. Box 5592
Santa Monica CA 90409-5592
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