Anti-Gang Leader to Get Award in Geneva
Two weeks ago, William “Blinky” Rodriguez got a surprising phone call.
The 44-year-old anti-gang activist from Sylmar heard the voice of Wilda Spalding, president of the World Wins Corporation, telling him: “You’ve been awarded the Medaille d’Excellence and you can fly to Geneva.”
Rodriguez--executive director of Communities in Schools, a program that works to prevent teenagers from joining gangs--leaves today with his wife, Lilly, for Switzerland.
After receiving the medal for excellence at the Fete D’Excellence on Thursday, he will participate as a panelist in a United Nations round-table discussion of peace.
The Fete d’Excellence is a two-week celebration of academics, athletics and culture set to coincide this year with the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The World Wins Corporation helps sponsor the event.
Rodriguez will be among individuals from around the world who will receive a medal for efforts to improve their communities. The former world champion kick-boxer helped broker a truce between rival Valley gangs five years ago.
“I’m just really humbled that I was selected,” he said. “I want to speak about the heartbeat of our community . . . whether it’s prevention [of violence] on the front end or the intervention of peace on the back end. The community has begun to stitch together.”
Rodriguez lost his 16-year-old son to gunfire in 1990.
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