Finding a Home, Then a Job, Where Teens Get Solid Guidance

Alfredo Roman knows where he'd be Fridays if he weren't at the Mar Vista Family Center.

"To tell you the truth, I'd be in the streets," he said. "Not a good life."

Roman, 18, leaves Venice High School each Friday afternoon and heads to his job as a youth leader of the center's By Youth for Youth program. He began attending the program at age 13 and credits it with saving him from a life plagued by "wrong decisions."

As assistant to program coordinator Blanca Diaz, Roman advises other young people on how to steer clear of gangs, drugs and the streets -- and how to deal with the sort of peer pressure that prompted him to begin drinking at age 11.

"It's like having another family," Roman said.

The program recently received a $20,000 grant from the 2005 Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which raises money for nonprofit groups serving disadvantaged children and youths in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The grant was earmarked specifically for programs aimed at preventing violence.

By Youth for Youth is designed to help prevent "self-destructive behavior" in the 13-to-21 age group, said Mike Hernandez, development administrator. Hernandez notes proudly that he attended the Mar Vista Family Center's preschool program and graduated from By Youth for Youth.

About 65 youths who are enrolled in the program meet every Friday afternoon. By Youth for Youth also offers after-school tutoring, groups for preteen girls and boys and a summer day camp for children 6 to 12.

In addition, By Youth for Youth holds a national conference each year for youth organizations from around the country to share ideas. The seventh annual conference is tentatively set for next June in Washington, D.C.

By Youth for Youth participants gather at the Mar Vista Family Center, a two-building complex at the end of a dead-end stretch of Slauson Avenue that slices through a rough-edged Mar Vista neighborhood inhabited primarily by low-income immigrants.

Not many years ago, the notorious Culver City Boys gang terrorized the area, tagging buildings and openly selling drugs. The situation has improved markedly, and many residents attribute the progress to the 28-year-old center and its efforts to nurture kids who otherwise might stray.