County Gives $2.9 Million to Gang Program : Supervisors: The contribution to Hope in Youth is the largest single allocation of its kind in Los Angeles. Organizers seek to raise nearly $20 million.

In the largest single allocation ever made to a gang-prevention program in Los Angeles, the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday awarded $2.9 million to the fledgling Hope in Youth campaign, one of the most ambitious and expensive plans to take aim at gang violence.

Although the amount is only a dent in the nearly $20 million that organizers are hoping to raise this year from government and corporate sources, it marks the first financial commitment to the program since a coalition of religious and grass-roots groups launched the campaign five months ago.

As an indication of just how little money is spent on gang prevention, the county’s contribution instantly made Hope in Youth the best-funded anti-gang program in Los Angeles, surpassing the budgets of such established agencies as Community Youth Gang Services, Save Every Youngster Youth Enterprise Society and Community Youth Sports and Arts Foundation.

“I think it serves as proof that L.A. is finally serious about addressing gang violence,” said Lou Negrete, an Eastside activist who is helping lead Hope in Youth. “We’ve come a long way and this is the first step.”

The supervisors approved the plan by a 4-1 vote, as about 750 supporters showed their enthusiasm by rising to their feet in applause three times. Although the county is in a financial crisis, the board agreed to allocate half of the $2.9 million from a special fund set aside for innovative ideas and the other half from a 0.03% cut in departmental budgets.

“We’re tired of burying our young people,” Supervisor Gloria Molina told the audience that had gathered at the Hall of Administration. “We want to be the first government to join in a partnership with the people of our community to say: Enough!”

The key element of the Hope in Youth campaign revolves around the creation of 160 family outreach teams, which would aid 10,000 families a year whose children are involved in gangs or at risk of becoming involved in gangs. The 460 paid workers would provide parent training and help the youths with school, jobs and recreational opportunities. A large chunk of the $20 million a year that organizers are hoping to raise would go to salaries for the workers.

Supporters say that Hope in Youth is unique because it is backed by an unprecedented coalition of leaders from eight major Southern California religious denominations, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, and four community-based groups representing nearly every corner of Los Angeles County. Each congregation will serve as a kind of support group for the family outreach teams.

“I think this is an opportunity that you take advantage of now, or it will not come around again for a long time,” said Brother Modesto Leon, a longtime gang worker in East Los Angeles who is helping spearhead the campaign. “This isn’t just a mob of people--it’s people who are organized.”

As a condition of Tuesday’s vote, the $2.9 million allocated by the board will be held by the county until Hope in Youth can secure at least an equal amount from other government agencies. The goal of the campaign is to raise $2.5 million from the city of Los Angeles, about $4 million from the state, $6 million from the federal government and $4 million from businesses.

The last time Hope in Youth leaders tried to win a financial commitment from Mayor Tom Bradley, however, they were publicly rebuffed. During a March rally at a South Los Angeles church, Bradley told supporters that it was not fair to demand money from him when he was already struggling to cut more than $180 million from the city’s budget.

Organizers hoped to use Tuesday’s victory to turn up the heat at City Hall. “We want to work with Mayor Bradley,” the Rev. William R. Johnson, a leader from the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, told a crowd that gathered on Temple Street after the vote. “But he evidently doesn’t recognize the fact that we are his friends.”

The amount of money allocated by the county to Hope in Youth dwarfs the entire budgets of most gang agencies. Even Community Youth Gang Services, which was founded in 1981 with help from the county, received $900,000 from the supervisors this year.

Steve Valdivia, executive director of Community Youth Gang Services, while acknowledging that he would always welcome a larger budget for his agency, said the county’s commitment to Hope in Youth represents an important investment in community-based solutions as opposed to relying on the suppression efforts of law enforcement.

“I think people are realizing that we need more of a neighborhood response than an after the fact response,” Valdivia said. “It’s going to be a welcome addition to this battle for our children.”