Was contacted by someone for the first time who came across my "LA City Water-Wasters" YouTube video, today. (LOVE being contacted by people for the first time because I always learn a lot of new things.)
She was contacting me about an upcoming meeting about the water crisis and invited me to attend. I invited her to send the information and I will blog it, even if I can't attend, in case others can.
The caller never heard of me before and had no idea who Zuma Dogg was (LOVE new constituents); and she aksed me who I was; as in what group or organization I was with and what the goals were. So I basically said, "I'm just a guy off the streets who attends a lot of council meetings; blogs; calls radio; takes out public access TV shows...whatever I can do to notify people."
She liked that and I think she felt more comfortable with what I was doing and she told me she tries to do the same thing (activism), which she obviously does because she was inviting me to a public gathering about the "water" issue.
So then she mentions that she is a "gang intervention specialist" and I was kinda blown away. Cause you can say what you want about the programs, but you have to admire someone who is at least trying to make an impact in this most challenging arena. And even if you think the programs are broken and a big waste of money, the person I was speaking with was in it for the right reasons.
And you know ZD, he can't hold his hypothesis in, no matter how combative sounding to the person I am speaking with...so I mentioned, "Yeah, I admire you for that because conceptually and fundamentally these programs are a great idea and who can argue with them for what they propose; but I am concerned the money for these programs gets wasted and doesn't make it into the areas where it is needed."
Luckily, although she was a specialist, she was well aware of the pitfalls and I got a real education and I'll try and recap what she said:
Her immediate response to my statement was, "Yeah, the money goes into the wrong hands." And she agreed that it is wasted (on purpose and by accident/general beauracratic waste). But besides her response to that, the first thing she noted was, "These programs are ineffective because people are scared to take action." And went on to say that a big part of the problem isn't even the purposeful corruption (if there is any); or wasting it by giving it to the wrong people, but when you have a program that would like to make a difference, well the people assigned to the task of rolling up there sleeves and actually going out there like Batman and Robin to do the actual work of intervention...well they're too scared, just as you and I would be.
She went on to say, "Intervention is a waste, it's all about prevention." Going on to say the cliche that is a cliche for a reason, "You have to start young and get to them before the intervention stage." (Of course! Even the criminals themsevles would go along with that, because one thing ZD would like to mention is no criminal wants his OWN kid or little brother or nephew being a gang member. They aren't out there doing this because they don't feel like going to Six Flags that day; or are too lazy to go to their job in Century City...It's not like they are TRYING to end up in that lifestyle. And just like every mamma who has the perfect kid who never acts up in school...No one in that street life wants the same thing for their own brother or kid or nephew.
Now maybe these folks wouldn't be so keen on the "intervention" part for themselves, but I'm sure they wouldn't be opposed to the City doing everything possible to help start rebuilding these communities so their kids don't have to go through what they did.
So anyway, it was nice to hear from this new person who called about the water-wasting video and I ended up learning a new angle about "intervention" that is, "Even if you are ready and aimed, the people on the front lines are too scared to get out of their seats to fire." So it looks like "intervention and prevention" is going to end up being more about "prevention" whether you like it or not.
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