LA HABRA : Leaders Get Advice on Gang Prevention

The director of a successful project aimed at reclaiming streets from gangs instructed La Habra community leaders this week on how to stem the growing gang problem in the city and urged them not to write off today’s youth as a “lost generation.”

Anthony Boron, director of a Lomita-based anti-gang project, addressed 50 members of the city’s newly formed task force, Residents Against Gang Existence, or RAGE, for more than an hour at the headquarters of the La Habra City School District on Thursday afternoon.

“In California, 11% of the youth are perpetrating gang crime. That means the rest--that’s 89%--can still use our help,” Boron said. “It’s costing us $32,000 a year (each) to incarcerate them in the state Youth Authority, but it takes $4,000 to educate them.”

Boron, a former corrections officer, was instrumental in getting the Los Angeles County communities of Carson, Lomita and Harbor City to come together under the Community Reclamation Project. The program’s strategies in combatting gang-related problems have been chronicled in a guide Boron authored, titled “Rising Above Gangs and Drugs.” He applauded the city for initiating the task force, and repeatedly emphasized involving young people in gang abatement programs.

Joan Mallard, anti-drug and tobacco education coordinator for the La Habra City School District, said the mission of RAGE will now include “actively recruiting youth and keeping the momentum going” for the group.

Since forming last month, RAGE members have organized five subcommittees to start programs they hope will control the growing gang presence in the city.

The Tutoring and Mentoring subcommittee coordinates after-school assistance for elementary students in private homes, public schools or local schools. Another subcommittee, Neighbor-to-Neighbor, gets residents involved in Neighborhood Watch and related activities.

The Property Matters subcommittee works on cleaning up neighborhoods through graffiti removal, pressing enforcement of housing code violations, and checking into absentee landlords. The Civic Actions subcommittee concentrates on legislation, and the finance subcommittee handles fund-raising for RAGE programs.