ANAHEIM : Anti-Gang Group Planning Carwash

On the southern edge of Anaheim, bordering Stanton and Garden Grove, is a tiny neighborhood filled with old single-story, wood-frame houses. The neighborhood is home to a decades-old gang, which for years has been part of conflicts involving rival gangs from surrounding cities.

Dannue Mayo watched this longstanding dispute for the past three years and decided to do something about it. In something of a one-man effort, Mayo set up shop for his program, the Golden Opportunity Youth Assn., inside the Anaheim Independencia Community Center in the heart of the neighborhood.

In the back room of the center, he is beginning to “break the ice” with residents and show youths that in GOYA there an alternative to gang involvement.

GOYA offers young people the use of weight-training facilities, job workshops, counseling about how to prepare for interviews and field trips to learn about life outside the barrio. The group plans a carwash today, for example, to raise money for a trip to Sea World in San Diego.

In the month since the program began, about two dozen gang members have become regular participants.

“I try to show them another way,” said Mayo, a former counselor for the Turning Point youth program who works as a shuttle bus driver in the Disneyland area.

In September, Mayo plans to start the county’s first education program in which young people can learn about civic and state laws that govern their neighborhoods. In addition, he hopes to begin college preparation workshops in September.

The group operates with money from donations and other fund-raising activities. The city decided against funding GOYA, saying it duplicates services offered by Turning Point. That youth counseling organization hit financial troubles and closed last month.

GOYA’s carwash today will be held outside the community center on Katella Avenue between Brookhurst Street and Magnolia Avenue.