Programs

Making An Impact

Our programs and education services supply the best practices needed for a comprehensive gang strategy. The US Surgeon General’s Report on Youth Violence tells an important part of the story regarding what prevention strategies work and what do not based on scientific study.

Do Work

school-based social skills training combined with parent training for at risk students
academic improvement programs including mentor tutors
moral reasoning, social problem-solving, and thinking skills training
wholistic programs including social skills training, parent training, home visitation, academic tutoring, and classroom behavior management
home visitation and case management
parent training

Don't Work

peer counseling
peer mediation
peer leader programs
academic non-promotion (holding children back a grade due to risk factors alone)
nonspecific universal prevention programs like DARE

The Gang Alternatives Program has established a targeted prevention program that incorporates virtually all of the “DO WORK” strategies, including:

Gang prevention education programs for 2nd, 4th and 6th grades supporting LAUSD and State of California Principles of Learning and objectives in reading and writing, reinforcing moral reasoning, social problem-solving, thinking skills, and classroom behavior management
Graffiti education and prevention assemblies in elementary schools; graffiti abatement partnerships with communities actively resisting the effects of gang culture
After school programs for social skills, homework assistance, and tutoring
Referral Services
Parenting Programs (i.e. Parent Project^® and Teen Project^®) in English and Spanish addressing parent training
LIBERTY Instant Recess® – “Life Is Being Equal, Responsible, and True to You.”

LIBERTY

LIBERTY means “Life Is Being Equal, Responsible, and True to You.” This new program will be offered to LAUSD schools starting in the 2025-2026 school year. In a nutshell it’s a program to teach inclusiveness, diversity, and respect through music, motion, and words.

After School Programs

STEP UP! After School Program was designed to provide positive child development in a safe, fair, and fun environment. This atmosphere allows students to achieve academic, individual, familial, and social goals through our STEP UP! concepts expressed in the program’s key words.
STEP UP! creates educated, contributing, and successful citizens.

Gang Prevention

Originally based on the City of Paramount, California GRIP model is continuously updated to meet the best practices in the field of gang prevention. Our Gang Prevention Education program for 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders present both the realities of gang involvement and the alternatives that young people have available to them. The in-school, in-classroom classes run from six to eight weeks, depending on the grade level.

Youth Employment Program

GAP’s Seasonal Youth Employment Program (SYEP), formally the Summer Youth Employment Program was first started in the summer of 2006, under the Los Angeles Harbor Gateway Weed and Seed funding, through the US Department of Justice. The pilot program was a success, and sustained its program through the support of the City of Los Angeles, Office of Community Beautification (OCB).

Parenting

GAP offers Parent Project^®, Loving Solutions^®, Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), General Parenting, and Teen Program as part of its comprehensive gang strategy. Most in the field, working with high-risk children, know that parental involvement is the key to behavior modification with strong willed children. Both Parent Project^® and Loving Solutions^® are programs that are highly concentrated with parental involvement initiatives.