The Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development was established in 2007 to provide a comprehensive, targeted approach to reducing gang crime and violence in Los Angeles. A signature feature of this approach has been to identify the areas of the City with the highest rates of gang violence and to provide intensive prevention and intervention services to the youth in these areas. The twenty-one core areas identified, known as Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) Zones had rates of gang-related crime that were at least 400 percent higher than elsewhere in the City. In addition to high levels of gang crime and activity, the GRYD Zones also have extremely high truancy and school dropout rates, poverty levels, and unemployment.
Program Requirements and/or Eligibility Criteria:
- Be between the ages of 14-25
- Have a regular association in the GRYD Zone
- Willing to explore an alternative to gang violence
- Explore positive solutions that will affect their future
*No eligibility requirement to participate in community events or workshops*