The men gathered together in a cramped auditorium and began to dig into their plates piled with mashed potatoes, green beans and hamburger patties. Some dressed in business suits, others in plain white T-shirts and jeans.
They weren’t all related by blood, but they laughed and joked as if they grew up together.
Jorja Leap, a UCLA anthropologist and professor in the department of social welfare at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, sat at the head of a collection of tables exchanging conversation with a group of 25 to 30 that drifted in and out of the room.
A paper green Christmas tree hung on the wall leftover from the holidays. Pictures of men, women and children filled the room – the faces of the Jordan Downs community in the heart of Watts, about 20 miles southeast of UCLA.
The group prepared for Wednesday’s meeting of Project Fatherhood, a parenting program where fathers struggling to reconnect with their families can support each other. The program doubles as a form of gang intervention. Leap co-facilitates the weekly meetings with three former gang members.
Story by: Nico Correia