Gang-related crime in Los Angeles declining

Recently compiled police data showed that gang-related crime has dropped 40 percent over the last three years in inner-city neighborhoods that have Summer Night Lights recreational centers, a program intended to curb violence through mentoring, counseling, and leisure activities.

Summer Night Lights was launched in the summer of 2008 and has now expanded to 24 sites in the Los Angeles area. The hours of operation were extended to midnight four days a week to provide a safe place for residents to go to during the time of night when violent crimes are most likely to occur.

The data showed that residents of neighborhoods with a Summer Night Lights center made 710,000 visits between July 7 and Sept. 4 in the summer of 2010. The program also provides free meals; on average, 10,929 people received a free dinner each night that Summer Night Lights was in operation throughout the city this past summer.

“You are there to feed these neighborhoods, literally and symbolically,” Deputy Mayor Guillermo Cespedes told the Los Angeles Times. “This isn’t a soup kitchen. This is literally nourishing the neighborhood,” he said.