Zelenne Cárdenas
	Local service providers estimate that the number of children living in Skid Row in Los Angeles is close to 700 . What are some of the challenges that homeless children face?
	Housing is their first challenge. In this neighborhood some kids live in cardboard boxes, others stay at the missions where they have to stand in line to get a bed for the night, while others are crammed into tiny, seedy hotel rooms with their parents, brothers and sisters. To buy groceries, these children end up at corner liquor stores because there are no grocery stores here. Getting to school involves taking a two-hour bus ride. Kids from Skid Row have to do without things that everyone else takes for granted, like Laundromats. One of our youth was detained after school because his uniform was dirty. I had to go to his school and say, “Do you realize where he lives? You are lucky he gets to school—a lot of the young people in our community don’t go to school at all.” Even among all the violence on skid row the young people here remain hopeful. I am constantly amazed by their resilience, impressed by their creativity, encouraged by their humor and inspired by their courage and that’s what keeps me engaged.
	What is your vision for this community?
	My vision is to improve the neighborhood for the people who live here now. When I first started working here, I wanted to see a market right across the street from our office. Residents have to go to Hollywood or East L.A. just to get groceries. Otherwise, people pay too much at liquor stores that only sell stale bread, expired milk and no fresh meat or vegetables. Ironically, now that redevelopment is happening, there are plans to bring in stores and services – but not for the people living here now. This community is threatened by gentrification. For example, at the Bristol Hotel, residents were displaced and given an hour’s notice to move. Then the hotel was converted into lofts that rent for $1,500 a month or more—far more than current residents could possibly afford. Downtown Los Angeles is indeed a tale of two cities. One shines brightly and captures the American dream. The other Los Angeles is the dream deferred, epitomizing the casualties of addiction, poverty and racism.
	What are the key ingredients for effective neighborhood rebuilding?
	Community organizing is essential. Giving people the tools to identify their priorities and to understand the obstacles in their path is important. The people we’ve met in Skid Row are so resilient, and they have so much courage. What they need is simply an opportunity to relate their personal experiences. They will tell you, “We need homes; we need safe places to play.” They are the experts, and the best way to solve the housing crisis, as well as other problems in our community, is to listen to them.

	Patricia Giggans
	What first inspired you to do this work?
	I was very involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and the feminist movement, and those issues were formed even earlier by the Civil Rights movement in America. I really feel those movements were my influences as a young person. As I was maturing, I think my connection to feminism — and the discovery and acknowledgment of how violence against women was and is so prevalent — connected to my own personal journey of empowerment through martial arts practice.
	Is self-defense still part of the repertoire of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW)?
	Yes. Our self-defense training is a very important part of our violence prevention program. We teach self-defense based on awareness and assertiveness to youth and children. For adult women we have a Women Warrior Training and Women Warrior Weekends. The training is about developing empowerment and courage. LACAAW has one of the more substantial self-defense programs in the country. For the last few years, in collaboration with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, we’ve been training self-defense instructors at centers across the state so that they can build up their programs and reach deeper into their communities.
	Over the last 20 years do you feel that the kind of violence that you’re seeing has changed?
	I’m not so sure that violence has lessened overall, although we keep track of the statistics that we get from law enforcement agencies. One year murder is up and rape is down, and the next year murder is down and rape is up. So, overall, it’s very hard to say whether violence is decreasing. Many more people are conscious about domestic violence, sexual violence, gang violence, gun violence, community violence and hate violence. We’re not there yet in terms of defining prevention or in terms of developing all the programs that are necessary to make violence go away.
	Do you feel that violence is preventable?
	“Violence is preventable” is LACAAW’s motto. We believe that if it can be learned, it can be unlearned. Sound education and enlightened public policies are necessary. Whether violence will ever be eradicated is a whole other story. But I believe that there are so many things — even small acts based on attitude and behavior changes—that we can do to teach ourselves and others to make connections between people and prevent violence, such as treating children with respect and learning how to be a better parent. All violence—from child sexual abuse and family violence to state violence — is based on power and control and fear. Racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, inferior education and marginalizing people are the roots of violence. To make families and communities safer takes a violence prevention commitment.
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	Reverend Anthony Ortiz
	What led you to your work?
	Well, I’m not a stranger to violence. I’ve been involved in gangs all my life. I’m originally from Salinas, California, which is pretty gang prone, as a lot of people know. When I decided to make a change in my life and felt the need to contribute something to society, I looked back at what I picked up over the years. I really didn’t have too much to contribute, but I was very well educated in what leads to violence and what leads to the gang lifestyle. So I decided that the best thing I could do was go back and help those kids who are caught up in the same lifestyle, help them get out of it and really make a better life.
	What message do you deliver that inspires kids in the prisons to listen to you?
	I start telling them about myself — where I've been, what I've done and how I thought. You can tell by the look on their faces that it hits home. "You need to change the way you're thinking,” is the message I give them. “You could change and you can change. Your life can be more rewarding.” When I start sharing with them my "new" way of living and the blessings that come from it, it gives them hope. "I'm not going to tell you what not to do,” I say. “I'm going to give you some things to think about, give you some options. I'm pretty sure you guys are smart enough to make the right decisions."
	What do you think is needed to make your work more effective?
	We need for our communities to invest more in our youth. Work with them instead of against them. Educate youth service providers to help them develop the capacity to better understand the gang culture. Offer them more resources, services that will meet their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs — that will deal with the whole person. There’s a social ill that we have to address like a medical problem. Gang violence is a plague, and the penal institutions are not the remedy. What works are the community-based programs which give kids more choices and the life skills they need to leave gangs.
	Is there something communities can do differently to make their programs more effective?
	Well, the biggest thing is not only to do what we’ve been doing, but to do it with a more united effort. Sometimes different messages at different times confuse kids. If schools, police, community-based organizations and churches could come to an agreement on one specific message and relay that one message in a united front to all of our kids, we could make a deeper impact on them.
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