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# Building a safer community, one youth at a time
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/building-a-safer-community-one-youth-at-a-time/
- Published: 2005-12-15T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:17:49.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Pico, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

A drug and violence summit has been scheduled for this weekend, one which will primarily consist of former gang members and drug addicts serving as panelists.

A community forum has been organized by the Pico Youth & Family Center and the Pico Neighborhood Association (PNA) to identify proactive solutions to youth violence based on the principles of prevention.

“We are building on the issues raised during the gang violence awareness workshops that were organized by the City of Santa Monica and Sen. Sheila Kuehl last April,” said Maria Loya, co-chair of the PNA.

“We invite youth and parents to attend this forum to learn from those who lived through the struggle and pain of gang violence and drug addiction firsthand,” said panelist Steven Luciano, a community mentor who used to be a gang member.

Each of the panelists that will speak during the forum is a former gang member or drug addict who has made a positive transformation happen in their lives.

The form is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the John Adams Middle School cafeteria, 2425 16th St. The cafeteria is on the 17th Street side of the campus.

For more information, call the Pico Youth and Family Center at (310) 396-7101\. St. Joseph’s holiday happenings

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 15, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121505.pdf?ref=smdp.com)