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County To Spend $1.3M On Gang Prevention Program

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Los Angeles County will spend $1.3 million to help at-risk youths and young adults under a program approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

Officials will work with Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit, gang-intervention program founded and run by Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest.

The effort will involve "tattoo removal, job development, and re-entry services (for) high-risk, high-need probationers and at-risk individuals between the ages of 14 (and) 30," according to William Fujioka, the county's chief executive officer.

Program participants will work on detailed educational and vocational plans with Homeboy staffers.

They will also have access to job placement and legal services, as well as classes, job training and therapy, including mental health and substance abuse counseling. Some will even be given money to buy clothes and transportation for job interviews.

Homeboy Industries had been forced to lay off 300 employees in May.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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