Go Homeboy!

Kern County Supervisors approved Sheriff Donny Youngblood's new plan to increase the Gang Unit. The plan will triple the number members in the unit and, "open up dozens of beds at Lerdo jail to house gang members." Oh yeah, and somewhere in there they "will look at prevention and intervention concerning gangs."

That's all well and good, Lord knows we've got some pretty serious gang problems around here, but it bothers me that they don't put more emphasis on the prevention and intervention. A few years ago I heard about a program started by Father Greg Boyle in the Los Angles area. He called it Homeboy Industries, which I personally thought was kinda cool. If you've never heard of it, be sure to check out the website. They're doing some really great things.

I think it'd be great if Kern County took a page from Father Greg's book and started a similar program here.