Learning New Skills Helps Gang Members Shed Violent Lifestyles

At 24, Carlos Nieto’s resume includes an armed robbery conviction, several stints in state prison for parole violations and a 12-year membership in the notorious Toonerville street gang.

His job skills, which he acquired in prison, include the ability to make tattoo ink by melting down chess pieces and being able to fashion a spear capable of inflicting serious injury from a rolled up newspaper and syrup.

Appearance-wise, Nieto sports tattoos of demonic horns which seem to sprout out of both sides of his shaved head and has virtual murals of jailhouse ink adorning the lengths of both of his arms.

Not exactly a prime candidate for the workforce.

But in the two months that he’s been working at Homeboy Industries in East Los Angeles, Nieto is beginning to acquire new skills that, while nowhere near as interesting as his old ones, will far better serve him outside prison.

Part of what Nieto and others are learning as entry level workers at Homeboy Industries is what it’s like to have to show up every day at 9 a.m., clean, sober and ready for work.

Talking on the phone without using street vernacular is another lesson, as is suppressing the urge to become belligerent -- or worse -- with a co-worker.

“They’re learning what a work ethic is,” said Allison Gustorf, Homeboy’s development director. “For these young men and women who are trying to change their lives this is just a critical, critical step.”

There are more tangible skills taught as well, such as computer use, data entry and public speaking, an ability required when leading tours of Homeboy headquarters.

The Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign, which raises money for nonprofit agencies in Southern California, provided a $15,000 grant to Homeboy Industries.

Founded by Father Gregory Boyle in 1988, Homeboy Industries is devoted to turning around the lives of at-risk youth such as gang members. In addition to job referrals, Homeboy performs a graffiti removal service, runs a silk screening shop, and sells clothing and merchandise bearing its logo. The organization is also in the process of acquiring a bakery to replace the one that burned down in 1999.

Nieto, who went by the moniker “Sneaky” during his gang days, said he plans to use what he’s learning at Homeboy to launch a new life that he hopes will include college and a career as a counselor specializing in dealing with troubled teens.

Despite his criminal past and a childhood he says was marred by a drug-addicted father and the absence of his mother, Nieto was charming and witty as he gave a guided tour of the Homeboy office last week.

After a stop at Homeboy’s tattoo-removal facility, he quipped that he was going to have his devilish horns traded in for a halo.

Reminded of his repeated parole violations for associating with his old gang, Nieto was asked what made him think he was going to stay out of prison this time around.

The difference, he said, was a recent conversation with his father, who he said is dying of cirrhosis of the liver.

“He looked at me the other day and said, ‘I want you to know that I’m very proud you,’ ” Nieto recalled. “ ‘Now I know that when my day comes I can rest in peace knowing that my son is doing something with himself.’ ”

Nieto said his decision to straighten out his life is reinforced every day as he walks to work past three buildings, all in the same block, which he sees as representing different potential paths in his life.

There’s an LAPD station, a mortuary and, finally, Homeboy Industries.

“I could either go to jail, die, or have a life at Homeboy,” he said.

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