EL SERENO : Parents of Gang Victims Find Help

Parents whose children have been killed by gangs have found help and consolation in a support group called VOCES--Victims of Crime in El Sereno.

The group, founded two years ago after El Sereno Junior High School special education student Mario Martinez was killed in gang cross-fire, has started focusing more attention on reducing the number of gangs and the violence that often accompanies them, said president Marina Martinez (no relation to Mario).

“We plan to do whatever we can to help these kids,” Martinez said. “We want to have boxing, education, parent classes, a swimming pool. This is for the kids to see if we can keep them out of the streets.”

Martinez, whose 30-year-old son Ismael was killed 10 years ago when he went out for pizza and got caught in the cross-fire of rival gangs, also heads the board of directors for the El Sereno Youth Development Corp., a new nonprofit organization formed to raise money to build a youth facility in the neighborhood.

Money raised at a fund-raiser scheduled for this Saturday at the Biltmore Hotel Downtown will help pay for the center, said Monica Tabarez, field deputy for Councilman Richard Alatorre.

The group hopes to raise $300,000 initially and find a site to build the center, Martinez said.

For now, VOCES, which means voices in Spanish, continues to reach out to parents who have lost a child to gang violence. Through word-of-mouth, members hear about the killings and try to contact families. They recently held a candlelight vigil in El Sereno that was attended by about 100 residents.

Martinez recalls the confusion and pain she suffered when her son was killed. She did not know where to go for support and was unaware that the city offers a victim’s assistance program for families of slain bystanders.

“We didn’t know anything and nobody had the answers,” Martinez said. “We got this (VOCES) started for so many people who don’t know how to get assistance.”

Information: (213) 223-5401.