2nd Call is a grassroots, power-building organization working towards community safety, justice, and liberation. 2nd Call's mission statement reads, "2nd Call is a community-based organization designed to save lives by reducing violence and assisting in the personal development of high-risk individuals, proven offenders, ex-felons, parolees, and others who society disregards."  Instead of downstream "see a problem, stop a problem" intervention, we are encouraging healing and activism within the community. We believe our model will help end the suffering of communities of color, starting with those who have been most embroiled in the violence of our age. 

 

To address the needs of the community, 2nd Call provides:

 

1. Job Readiness Life Skills Classes

2. Trauma Informed Healing Life Skills Classes

3. Community Ambassadors 

4. Job Coordination

5. Court-Ordered Classes: Batterers Intervention and Anger Management

6. Alternative to 911/ Non-Emergency Response

7. Violence Intervention Response (Credible Messenger)

8. Referrals for Licensing, Substance Abuse, Housing, and Education

9. Pre-Apprenticeship Programs to Union Trade Careers

10. Safe Passage

11. School Ambassadors

12. Youth Diversion and Development

13. Gang Intervention

14. Community Intervention Training

15. Homeless Support Services

 

Following the needs of our community and learning to provide care and intervention for the highest-risk populations of the city, we have facilitated weekly classes in the California State Prisons, local churches, and high schools, beginning all classes with Trauma Informed Life Skills to allow all of our participants the opportunity to address childhood trauma, triggers and the effects of growing up in dysfunctional families. Topics of discussion include triggers, low self-esteem, effective communication, functioning beyond dysfunction, parenting and the cycle of violence, domestic violence, anger management, unresolved and vicarious trauma, and career readiness and retention.

 

Using a healing circle format, we build on strengths, heal family connections, and explore the impacts of personal, community, and intergenerational trauma, strategies for resilience, and motivations for breaking the cycles of poverty and violence.Through education and peer support, 2nd Call builds healthier human beings, promotes healthier lifestyle choices, and ensures that the participants from 2nd Call will be productive members of society. 2nd Call believes that the healing process is vital to the self-esteem and confidence of marginalized communities and promotes longevity and upward mobility within the workforce. 

 

2nd Call promotes economic justice by partnering with agencies and labor sectors that do not discriminate based on past criminal records. The re-entry population is the core constituent that our organization serves. Honing the leadership abilities and influence of the re-entry population in the jails and the community can be an alternative to recidivism and dysfunction. 2nd Call provides pathways to union construction careers, offering peer mentoring and entrance exam preparation. Several 2nd Call life skills facilitators are in union leadership positions and can guide participants along the pathway to success. Union construction careers give community members the opportunity to make beyond livable wages, health benefits, and retirement benefits. Most of all, these careers allow community members to create and maintain a healthy family structure without dependency on government systems.

 

Following decades of inequity and disparities in policing, youth, families, and community members in the greater Los Angeles area are mistrustful of the intentions and capacities of police-led programs to respond to or prevent violence fairly. 2nd Call is the first in the nation to be the actual alternative to 911. The historical Leimert Park area of Los Angeles has deployed five community members as 2nd Call ambassadors to keep the peace and address community needs in and around the park. We work towards creating positive community-driven dialogue and conducting outreach with various neighboring communities to mediate peace and understanding, along with safe passage for all community stakeholders.