Talking, Walking to Tackle Troubles

Mona Castillo wants to cleanse Boyle Heights of the things that keep her 5-year-old daughter and other children from learning.

She wants to rid the neighborhood of violence, drugs and, especially, the bad image that she says haunts the place where she was born and raised.

Castillo took the first step Saturday with hundreds of other parents, teachers and community members who fanned out from a morning rally at Breed Street Elementary School to talk to neighbors about problems they share.

“We need to clean,” Castillo said, “We need to clean the violence.”

Last Sunday, two Breed Street fifth-graders were hit by gunfire in a drive-by shooting, leaving one in critical condition.

For Castillo and many other Boyle Heights residents, these senseless, random tragedies are an unbearable stain on the community.

They took to the streets as part of a “Walk for Success,” determined to find, or create, the tools to sweep away the off-campus problems that Boyle Heights residents see as obstructing their children’s education.

Organizers said the walk marked the launch of a community-development initiative called the Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative.

The collaborative will provide professional development for teachers, leadership and enrichment training for students, and increasing community involvement.

The initiative is part of a 25-campus effort called the Los Angeles County Alliance for Student Achievement, said Gustavo Valdivia of L.A. Metro Organizing Strategy.

L.A. Metro, an affiliate of the populist Industrial Areas Foundation, borrows strategies developed by that group to help organize community involvement, along with the East Los Angeles Community corporation, Valdivia said.

“Boyle Heights is a very dense community, but in a lot of ways, people are isolated from each other,” he said.

To overcome that isolation, “team captains” like Castillo led groups of 15 to 20 blue-shirted volunteers door to door to hear firsthand their neighbors’ concerns.

Not all of the complaints were about violence, but the need to improve security was a common theme.

“We need a stop sign right here,” said Robert Alvarado, 15, on the sidewalk next to a busy stretch of Soto Street. “People drive too fast, and kids are afraid to cross the street.”

Two mothers in a nearby apartment building complained about people who they said loitered in front of a corner liquor store, harassing passersby.

For Castillo, 28, the litany of complaints was a familiar one. She grew up in Boyle Heights and was used to avoiding the same corner until her daughter, 5-year-old Kimberly, entered kindergarten at Breed Street in September. “That’s when I got involved,” Castillo said.

After the canvass, participants gathered in Vest Pocket Park at 1st and Chicago streets for a community march. Led by a mariachi band, they walked the streets holding signs that read “United for Change” and “For a Better Future” before returning to the school to evaluate their findings.

City Councilman Nick Pacheco, whose 14th District includes Boyle Heights, pledged his support for the effort, but Castillo said she couldn’t wait for others to clean up her neighborhood.

“People have such a bad impression of East L.A.,” she said. “I’m sick and tired of it.”