PASADENA – As executive director of El Centro de Accion Social, Randy Jurado Ertll is a recognizable figure in Northwest Pasadena and beyond.
The nonprofit he leads offers social service programs for low-income youth and seniors while advocating on behalf of vulnerable communities on key issues such as education, job creation and violence prevention.
So when Ertll heard about several officer-involved shootings of unarmed Latino and black men in Southern California – including the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kendrec McDade in Pasadena last March – Ertll felt compelled to act.
“I felt it was something that could have been prevented,” Ertll, 40, said of the McDade shooting that involved two police officers responding to an armed robbery call. The incident is still under investigation by four agencies, including the FBI.
“He was a nice young man who was hanging out with the wrong people but he didn’t deserve of course to be fatally shot,” Ertll said.
Such shootings, as well as gang and other violence that has plagued much of the San Gabriel Valley, have prompted Ertll to spearhead a new regional collaborative project to brainstorm and enact solutions to reduce the bloodshed. The project is made possible by a $101,150 grant from The California Endowment, a private health foundation that views such violence as a social health issue, Ertll said.
“A lot of times, not enough attention is paid to violence prevention and I
think that’s what we need fundamentally,” Ertll said. “We need violence prevention classes, workshops within the public school districts and in all the cities.”Schools are so busy trying to meet state standards, he said, “that we forget to focus on social issues.”
The project, which will target San Gabriel Valley communities, could include the cities of Pasadena, Duarte, Monrovia, El Monte and Azusa, he said.
Ertll has hired three people to help implement the project who are now developing relationships with individuals, community groups and cities. Partners will include non-profit agencies, advocacy organizations, faith-based groups, elected officials and community leaders from law enforcement, school districts and public health departments.
The partners will meet monthly, focusing on a range of issues from community policing to family violence and black/brown/Asian relations. The nonprofit will also contract with the Western Justice Center to share best practices in conflict resolution and peace promotion strategies, according to the project’s work plan.
The project will not only identify problems but “create a model” that will help reduce violence in the San Gabriel Valley, he said.
The project’s priorities could include improved police officer training, strengthening community policing tactics and advocacy to reallocate resources for prevention and intervention programs.
For Rosa Gonzalez, an El Centro de Accion Social board member who lives in east Pasadena, the collaborative could be just what the community needs. One of her neighbors’ sons, she said, is currently serving time in jail for his involvement in a gang-related murder.
“I think it’s perfect,” Gonzalez, a mother of three grown daughters who has taken classes through El Centro, said in Spanish of the new project. “(Ertll) likes to help the youth so they don’t hang out on the streets … It would be better if there wasn’t this violence and they would dedicate themselves to something else.”
A former Pasadena Unified School District spokesman who has led the 44-year-old nonprofit El Centro since 2005, Ertll said he is proud of the fact that the organization improves the lives of students and senior citizens every day.
He enjoys seeing the elementary and middle school students he worked with years ago graduate from high school, receive scholarships from El Centro and go on to college. He also enjoys seeing senior citizens who take advantage of El Centro’s programming live longer and healthier lives, he said.
The nonprofit also offers classes in English as a Second Language, U.S. Citizenship and health education as well as popular after-school and summer programs for youth.
Rogelio Flores, a senior at John Muir High School, credits a newfound interest in his studies to his involvement in El Centro’s youth leadership program.
“It has changed me a lot,” Flores, 17, said. “Before … I didn’t care about school. I would blow it off. Then I started caring because El Centro started helping me with everything.”
The nonprofit, which helps about 200 senior citizens and 200 students a year, not only serves the Latino community but anyone in need, Ertll said.
“We have a lot of Asian senior citizens; the demographics in Northwest Pasadena are changing,” he said. “That’s where the greatest need is.”
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link: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_22165536/pasadena-activist-randy-ertll-tackles-community-violence-head?source=rss_viewed
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