SOUTH-CENTRAL : Hope in Youth Plans a Thank-You Party

Hoping to bring a little harmony to its neighborhood, Hope in Youth is hosting a day of thanks for its surrounding communities.

The church-based, nonprofit anti-gang organization will host a day of free activities dubbed “Hope in the Hood” on Sept. 25 from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the parking lots of St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church, at Normandie Avenue and Imperial Highway, and Phillips Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 971 E. 43rd St.

Activities scheduled at both sites include mini-tournaments in basketball, softball and volleyball; seminars on parenting, drug and gang prevention; performances by gospel choirs and mariachis, and a barbecue. The event’s special guest is Kay LaRon of television’s daytime soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

“What we want to do is present an atmosphere where people can get to know each other,” said Greg Flynn, event organizer at the 43rd Street site. “It’s so people in the community are not just faces in a crowd. We hope to get a good number of blacks and Latinos in the community and break bread together.”

Hope in Youth is expecting about 500 people at the events. The organization, whose backers come from 10 religious denominations and which recently received a $2.5-million city appropriation, focuses on youths who are in danger of drug or gang involvement.

Information: (213) 756-5408.