Gang interventionists distribute food, prayer -- and a sense of change

Gang interventionists distribute food, prayer -- and a sense of change

By Scott Gold
June 28, 2009
Alfred Lomas stood at the front of a bus. "This," he bellowed, "is not a bus!"

The driver pulled out of the Dream Center, a church ministry where Lomas directs a mobile food bank. Lomas stared into the anxious faces of congregants and do-gooders, his sunglasses hiding dark, deep-set eyes that have seen more than their share of hurt, much of it of his own making.

"This," he said, "is a vehicle of hope!"

The bus lurched and sighed into South Los Angeles. On Slauson Avenue, once a sturdy spine of industry, they passed empty, tin-walled warehouses and an abandoned rail yard. With every pothole, piles of supplies on the bus threatened to tumble -- bags of oranges, boxes of peanut butter, even dog biscuits.

"These children see terrible things," said Lomas, 45, quieter now. "Let's transform the atmosphere. The goal is love."


Each month, Lomas' crew distributes prayer and 80 tons of free food in the city's urban core. A growing number of civic leaders, including police commanders, are watching. It is not so much Lomas' food program that has drawn their attention, but what he does with his free time: building a renewed sense of community in South L.A.

With gang violence down, city officials are looking to secure lasting change in South L.A., in part through a large injunction targeting six gangs in a 13.7-square-mile area straddling the Harbor Freeway. Critical to the success of that campaign is the work of gang interventionists, who act as liaisons between police and gangs -- "like the social workers in the places no one else will go," said Brian Center, executive director of A Better LA, a nonprofit that combats violence in South L.A. and funds 26 interventionists.

Lomas is emblematic of the possibility and the delicacy of that work.

The city is scrambling to "professionalize" the ranks of interventionists, providing new oversight and training in an effort to separate the credible from the pretenders. It's no simple task.
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Gang interventionists distribute food, prayer