Jaime Ciavarra has two reports on gangs in today’s Gazette.
For first time, data on who’s at risk for gangs:
The survey, analyzed by research students at The George Washington University, assessed the teens’ socioeconomic status, perception of safety, peer pressure and family and school connections.
Funded by a $22,000 Montgomery County Empowerment Grant, the survey results will be shared with school and police officials, and will help guide programming at area nonprofits.
Gangs are a growing concern in Montgomery County, a region that in the past two decades has been met with the violence and crime often associated with these organized groups.
In September, county police reported 28 gangs operating around the county with 930 documented members. Over the past year, crime attributed to gang members has increased at a steady and alarming rate, police report.
Most recently in Gaithersburg, a 17-year-old was stabbed in the abdomen and severely wounded in a fight between the Bloods, a typically black gang, and MS-13, a traditionally Latino gang, in a neighborhood near Gaithersburg High School last month.
Most of the teens involved were students at the school, police said.
The survey was done by Identity, a Gaithersburg-based nonprofit that serves Latino youths and their families.
Youth who felt less connected to their families or who felt disliked by their peers were significantly more likely to join a gang, according to the results.
Nearly half of the youth surveyed said they spent the hours after school unsupervised and nearly half said they felt lonely more than one day a week.
And 17 percent said they did not feel that family members listened to them.
‘‘Family needs to show them love and interest. If they don’t, gangs will,” said Sergio, a former gang member who counsels youth through the Identity program. ‘‘Love is what starts the flame.” Given his prior gang involvement, The Gazette is not identifying Sergio’s by his last name.
Ms Ciavarra also reports, Former gang leader warns kids of ‘dark side’
At age 7, Sergio had gang members in Los Angeles buying him clothes, shoes and ice cream.
By 13, he had ‘‘jumped into” the gang MS-13 and began pushing drugs and carrying guns.
After nearly two decades of living on the streets and behind bars, Sergio, now 27, has reformed.
He has gotten his GED and a new job at a Gaithersburg nonprofit. He is getting a gang-related tattoo — a daily reminder of where he once belonged — removed.
And he is beginning to steer other youth away from the lifestyle.
