Ex-Gangsters Fight for Social, Civic Change : Community: Solevar and its allies now work with neighbors, City Hall to improve west Anaheim, lives of at-risk youth.

Dressed in their street-style wardrobe of baggy pants, Pendleton shirts and the occasional headband, the members of Solevar tend to make heads turn in official circles and leave others feeling uneasy.

But while they still walk the walk and talk the talk of the gangsters many once were, the group’s members say they traded in their weapons and graffiti paint for Robert’s Rules of Order when they signed a charter to become Solevar, Spanish for “to raise” or “to lift up.”

The organization was started two years ago by members of a west Anaheim gang known as Oeste (West), and it wasn’t long before non-gang members joined, attracted by Solevar’s goal of community empowerment.

Since then, group members have successfully persuaded the city to repair traffic lights and install crosswalks, and have familiarized themselves with parliamentary procedure.

“When we first started, we didn’t even know what an agenda was,” said Raymond Campos, the group’s president. “Now we know what an agenda is, and we won’t start any meeting without one.”

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Still, Solevar is relatively new at the political action game, and its members are just beginning to understand how much effort is needed to accomplish even the smallest goal, such as organizing a carwash.

Many city officials say they know little about the organization. Mayor Tom Daly said he knows of it by name, and Frank Rosales, a member of the city’s community services board, called the group “dedicated and well-intended.”

“One of the things I see is that they are trying to provide job training for the youth,” Rosales said. “They are particularly effective with dropouts seeking jobs.”

Nevertheless, the budding organization vigorously attacks each task.

“It’s an overused word, but Solevar is truly a grass-roots organization,” said Manuel Marquez, a financial aid counselor at Cal State Fullerton, and a member of Solevar. “They’re trying to get job opportunities, food and clothing banks, and their youth back to school.

“They’re doing it in a manner that works because they are action oriented. There are a lot of organizations that talk and talk, but Solevar wants things to happen now. That’s why I joined them.”

Solevar’s primary goals are to give neighborhood teens the resources to expand their education and put an end to the street warfare that has affected some members’ lives.

However, their commitment to nonviolence has been tested during the last 10 months, when three members of their organization have been gunned down in separate shootings in Orange County.

Several members of the organization said that in the past, they would have retaliated, but now are committed to maintaining their pledge for an end to gang violence.

“What they did to my brother, that was cowardly,” said 17-year-old Pete Aguirre, the brother of one of the slain men. “I wish nobody ever got into gangs. You’re playing with your life. Look at my brother.”

Aguirre, who wants to attend college, said it’s hard for Solevar members to refrain from seeking revenge for the shootings. But Aguirre and other members have “given their word” and intend to keep it, he said.

Solevar’s executive director, Seferino Garcia, said that in less than two years the group has reached many of its goals, including raising money for college scholarships and creating job training and youth programs.

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Now, Solevar hopes to raise $180,000 for a youth center that would give neighborhood youngsters an alternative to the street. The group has submitted a proposal for community development block grant funding.

Some city officials say they are leery of establishing a community center in conjunction with Solevar because the group is “an unknown quantity” and needs to be looked at more closely.

Chris Jarvi, director of Parks and Community Service for the city of Anaheim, said city officials have seen the proposal for the community center. The six-month delay since Solevar’s application was filed is not unusual, he said.

Because Solevar is untested in such projects, the city wants to find out more before agreeing to fund the proposed project, Jarvi said.

The group’s transformation from street gang to socially conscious organization was initiated by several older residents of the community.

On Sept. 16, Mexican Independence Day, in 1992, Campos, a 31-year-old resident of the neighborhood, depressed after losing yet another “homeboy” to gang warfare, approached Garcia, a community organizer, for advice on forming an organization to provide sports and other activities for neighborhood youth.

That day, the two talked for hours and formulated the outline for Solevar.

“I remember that day like it was yesterday,” Campos said. “I felt really bad, and I just kept walking and walking, when I got this idea to see Seferino Garcia. He had done a lot of work in the community, so I thought he could help us.”

Word of Solevar’s efforts has caught the attention of senior citizens, non-Latinos and educators who, in their own ways, have sought to improve the area.

Some of them have joined Solevar. Ross Romero, a real estate broker and president of UCI’s Chicano Alumni Assn., said Solevar can have a “tremendous” impact on the neighborhood and surrounding communities. He said he was especially attracted to Solevar’s attempt to help neighborhoods gain political power and self-sufficiency.

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Richard Ornelas, at 65 one of the oldest members of Solevar, began working with the Anaheim gang task force and now works with Solevar’s “elders council.”

“One day (members of Solevar) came to me for advice on how to get a youth center. That was exactly what I had wanted to do, so I joined their organization. They are all very committed.”

Ornelas has helped organize trips to Big Bear Lake for 20 neighborhood teens in conjunction with the YMCA and the Boys Club. Solevar also raised money to help send more than 100 teens to the mountains this summer, to give them experiences in a new environment.

As city officials ponder the fate of the youth center, 31-year-old Solevar member Dwayne Flores said group members have already achieved much of what was previously believed to be impossible.

Flores, one of the leaders of the organization, said that “Two years ago, we didn’t know what CDBG (community development block grants) was. Now we go to the CDBG meetings and help (influence the spending of) $2.3 million.”

“I’ve done my share of bad. Well, now this is the time for giving back,” Flores said. “There are a lot of young Chicanos in prison, and I would rather see them become doctors, lawyers, judges or going to the moon.”