Community Mourns Death of Activist Evelio Franco

Shock and grief struck this community Thursday as word spread that activist and social services leader Evelio Franco died unexpectedly in his home of an apparent aneurysm.

Franco, 45, quit his longtime job in the aerospace industry to become director of a program created at the United Methodist Church in North Hills to foster community harmony after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

The modest church grounds are surrounded by rundown apartment buildings and two of the San Fernando Valley’s most gang-infested streets, Langdon Avenue and Blythe Street.

That is where Franco spent much of his time, helping the area’s mostly poor Latino immigrants, and working to keep children away from drugs and gangs.

“His main purpose was to keep kids in a straight-arrow path and he made a significant difference,” said Capt. Joseph Curreri, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Devonshire Division. “This is a great loss for the community.”

Shalom Zone, the program Franco ran, provides free services to area residents. Family counseling, after-school sports and tutoring for kids and programs for the homeless are among the services offered.

By Thursday afternoon, a group of area residents stood in the church courtyard, mourning Franco.

“This neighborhood is devastated,” said Irene Brennick, director of development for Bridge Focus, the Van Nuys-based nonprofit social service agency that paid Franco’s salary. “He was the godfather of North Hills. You want to talk about a hero, this man was it.”

Ruth Garcia, frantic and crying, ran to the church parking lot from her home a few blocks away when she heard the news. She said she and her granddaughter frequent several of the church programs.

“This is shocking,” she said. “He was such a wonderful, loving man and he loved the kids. I don’t know how my granddaughter is going to take this.”

Soledad Valadez, who participated in family counseling sessions, said the entire community loved and respected Franco, a longtime San Fernando resident who served on that city’s City Council from 1988 to 1990.

“He was always helping people,” she said, sobbing. “All he wanted to do was help people. This is too huge of a loss.”

Franco didn’t just run the programs that served an estimated 500 people a day.

Often working 14 hours a day, he would intervene for tenants in getting landlords to make repairs, help immigrants with legal issues or take sick people who had no transportation to the doctor.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” said Michael Reyna, Shalom Zone assistant director. “I was homeless at one time and he helped me. He’s done so much for so many people in need.”

Reyna said that through the years, Franco received numerous threats from area gangs upset that he kept children from joining forces with them.

But the threats didn’t stop Franco from regularly confronting gangbangers who often tried to recruit children as they walked home from nearby Langdon Elementary School, Reyna said.

Ernest Jimenez, the North Hills senior lead officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, said he saw firsthand how Franco helped kids stay away from drugs and gangs.

“On a regular basis, I would pick up kids that were involved with drugs and I would bring them over to Evelio,” Jimenez said. “He’d help them with tattoo removal and getting them back on the right track. He helped the police so much.”

Jimenez said Franco also helped in other areas and called him the most influential force in the area.

“He was the dream liaison between the community and the police,” Jimenez said. “He helped curb crime by getting the community to work with police.”

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Franco is survived by his wife, Griselda, and three sons, Cesar, 22; Evelio, 18, and Brian, 15.

A Rosary for Franco will be said at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Utter McKinley Mortuary in Mission Hills. His funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Bridge Focus, 16360 Roscoe Blvd., Suite 120, Van Nuys 91406.