LOS ANGELES -- A former gang-banger says he plans to start giving tours of the streets that gave rise to the Crips, Bloods and other notorious gangs.
L.A. Gang Tours is expected to start operations in January.
The nonprofit group plans to offer two-hour tours at an initial cost of $65 per adult. Profits will be funneled back into the community through jobs, "franchised" tours in new areas and micro-loans to inner-city entrepreneurs.
"This is ground zero for a lot of the bad in this city. It could be ground zero for a lot of the good too," said Alfred Lomas, a former Florencia 13 gang member and intervention worker in South Los Angeles who is spearheading the tours. "This is true community empowerment."
Initially, the routes will focus on South L.A., with forays into Watts and Florence-Firestone.
Lomas, who will lead tours at first, plans to talk about important chapters in the development of the city's core, such as how racist housing restrictions shaped ethnic enclaves and the formation of gangs.
The organization is bolstered by business leaders and gang experts who are contributing start-up capital and advice.
Several are connected to the Dream Center, the L.A. church ministry where Lomas directs a food bank. Lomas credits the group with helping him to turn his life around.
Kevin Malone, a former Dodgers general manager, sits on the board of the Dream Center's charitable arm and has become one of Lomas' chief supporters.
He said the goal is to introduce self-sustaining economic development into the city's poorest neighborhoods.
Similar tours have cropped in Mumbai's slum of Dharavi and in Rio de Janeiro's "favelas."
While operators say they help humanize poverty, critics say they are further exploiting them.
L.A. Gang Tours is expected to start operations in January.
The nonprofit group plans to offer two-hour tours at an initial cost of $65 per adult. Profits will be funneled back into the community through jobs, "franchised" tours in new areas and micro-loans to inner-city entrepreneurs.
"This is ground zero for a lot of the bad in this city. It could be ground zero for a lot of the good too," said Alfred Lomas, a former Florencia 13 gang member and intervention worker in South Los Angeles who is spearheading the tours. "This is true community empowerment."
Initially, the routes will focus on South L.A., with forays into Watts and Florence-Firestone.
Lomas, who will lead tours at first, plans to talk about important chapters in the development of the city's core, such as how racist housing restrictions shaped ethnic enclaves and the formation of gangs.
The organization is bolstered by business leaders and gang experts who are contributing start-up capital and advice.
Several are connected to the Dream Center, the L.A. church ministry where Lomas directs a food bank. Lomas credits the group with helping him to turn his life around.
Kevin Malone, a former Dodgers general manager, sits on the board of the Dream Center's charitable arm and has become one of Lomas' chief supporters.
He said the goal is to introduce self-sustaining economic development into the city's poorest neighborhoods.
Similar tours have cropped in Mumbai's slum of Dharavi and in Rio de Janeiro's "favelas."
While operators say they help humanize poverty, critics say they are further exploiting them.
