Episode 7

Roots of RAP part 3: Mitchell Salazar, Loyal to the Soil

In a multi-part episode, we begin to tell the story of Mitchell Salazar, the Real Alternatives Program's executive director from 1984 to 1999. We cover from the blocks of San Francisco's Bernal Heights as a young hustler with a deep entrepreneurial drive, to the legacy in the Mission for his You & I dances, to the young community leader who led RAP at the young age of 24, Mitchell's tenure at RAP, the level of youth services expanded, which also included starting a four year high school and a teen clinic.

Mitchell passed away in 2022. His story is a complex one filled with twist risk and opportunities. We follow a handful of events that not only help shape one of the San Francisco's Mission District's most effective community leaders, but also show what his heart and intentions were for the actions and decisions he made.

We are honored to have called Mitchell Salazar, our mentor, our friend, our brother.

This episode was written and edited by Darren J. de Leon and Host Socorro Gamboa for the 5 Sisters Audio Garden.

You can DONATE here to support the RAMA Blueprints podcast.

Transcript
Socorro:

You are listening to the Rama Blueprints Podcast,

Socorro:

the roots of RAP, part three.

Socorro:

Mitchell Salazar, Loyal to the Soil.

Socorro:

Welcome to the Rama Blueprints Podcast.

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In the next episodes, we present Mitchell Salazar, the Real Alternatives Program's

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executive director from 1984 to 1999.

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During Mitchell's tenure at wrap, the level of youth services expanded,

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which also included starting a four year high school and a teen clinic.

Socorro:

Mitchell passed away in 2022.

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His story is a complex one filled with twist risk and opportunities.

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We follow a handful of events that not only help shape one of the San

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Francisco's Mission District's most effective community leaders, but also

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show what his heart and intentions were for the actions and decisions he made.

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By no means is this a complete biography, but only a fraction

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of his incredible story.

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We are honored to have called Mitchell Salazar, our mentor,

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our friend, our brother.

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We present Mitchell Salazar, Loyal to the Soil.

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Mitchell was born in Clovis, New Mexico on November 21st, 1961.

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One of three kids, they grew up within a household filled with domestic violence

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until his mother moved her and the kids to San Francisco to escape the abuse.

Socorro:

They would find themselves in San Francisco's Bernal Heights.

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This is where our story begins inside the neighborhood, where Mitchell's

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entrepreneurial spirit begins to surface as a very young man in his early teens

Mitchell:

I would say that much of my hustle, started in

Mitchell:

Bernal Heights the seventies.

Mitchell:

Bernal Heights and Corland Street was a real multicultural, family

Mitchell:

working class neighborhood.

Mitchell:

There must have been 25 businesses on the stretch of Cortland

Mitchell:

Street from Bocana to Folsom.

Mitchell:

Predominantly African Americans who had beauty shops, barber shops, record

Mitchell:

stores, candy stores, cleaners, and an array of, businesses And I was a kid

Mitchell:

growing up there, and I hustled and worked at many of these places and it

Mitchell:

gave me a real, um, Appreciation for running around and trying to make dollars.

Missin friend:

Mitch was a hustler from the very beginning,

Socorro:

This is the voice of a Mission Veterano.

Missin friend:

Mitch worked at the laundromat.

Missin friend:

Mitch worked at the Bait and Tackle shop.

Missin friend:

Mitch worked at Porta Picnic.

Missin friend:

and, you know, he just always was a person that hustled.

Socorro:

At this time.

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Mitchell would've no idea of what doors he was opening nor which path

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of his life's journey had begun.

Mitchell:

When I was in the eighth grade, I cut half of my thumb off in metal shop.

Mitchell:

At that point my mom said I was just going outta control.

Mitchell:

She sent me back to New Mexico, when I was maybe 14.

Mitchell:

And I lived in a little town called Portales, New Mexico, which

Mitchell:

was like on the Texas border.

Mitchell:

I was there for a year and I landed up working in the fields

Mitchell:

picking weeds outta peanuts.

Mitchell:

And for that year that I was there, you know, I definitely said, Mom,

Mitchell:

man, it's time for me to come home.

Mitchell:

And she allowed me to come home and I was probably 15 years old and

Mitchell:

ended up going to John O'Connell.

Mitchell:

Back in those days, there were Filipino gangs and we used to fight him and

Mitchell:

one of my good friends by the name of Arturo Duran was killed when he

Mitchell:

was 15 And so from that experience, I started not to be a good boy.

Mitchell:

And I started pedaling marijuana because the local biker club

Mitchell:

would give me it, big bags and say just bring me back some money.

Mitchell:

And once that happened and I learned how I could make that kinda money,

Mitchell:

all the other drugs followed.

Mitchell:

And again getting caught up in some entre entrepreneurial behavior with

Mitchell:

mescaline and acid and I remember I had two shop classes at John O'Connell

Mitchell:

, and just kinda went in and out of those classes didn't take it serious.

Mitchell:

Went from John O'Connell to downtown High, and something happened.

Mitchell:

Probably around 17, a friend of mine used to do these dances and charge,

Mitchell:

and so I decided to do 'em to make money, entrepreneurial behavior.

Mitchell:

And we called it Mitchell Salazar presents You and I, and they took off.

Mitchell:

It was the right time at the right place.

Mitchell:

U&I Veterano: If it wasn't for Mitch, I don't think the mission would be

Mitchell:

exactly what it would be without him,

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This is the voice of a Mission Veterano.

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U&I Veterano: cuz he's the one that brought so many people together

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because back in the old days, it was just mainly people from the Mission

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but by Mitchell having these dances, it was bringing people from San Jose,

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Hayward, Oakland, all over the place to the Mission to unite with the music.

Roberto:

In the late seventies and early eighties, low riding became very popular.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Roberto Hernandez, former director

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of the Real Alternatives Program.

Roberto:

I think the movie Boulevard Nights just like P blew up and everybody

Roberto:

wanted to be a cholo, everybody wanted to be Chuco, everybody wanted to be a low

Roberto:

rider So you had low riders coming from as far as Sacramento as far as Fresno,

Vicente:

so, you know, I grew up on the mission born and raised.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Vicente Padilla, former RAP High School teacher.

Vicente:

I used to go to the You and I dances that Mitchell used to put

Vicente:

together, which were so much fun and cruising in the Mission afterwards.

Vicente:

You know, we used to walk up 24th and down Mission Street on the weekends.

Vicente:

That was a thing to do.

Mitchell:

Um, there was not all this blue red shit going on.

Mitchell:

And I used to walk from Cortland and Mission to Dolores Park, putting up

Mitchell:

the posters for the You and I dances and I would do these little events.

Mitchell:

And those little events grew into bigger events.

Socorro:

Mitchell, by this time, has realized that academics are

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not his forte and turns to the school of real life experiences.

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He meets individuals that are both street smart and business professionals.

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To navigate his way to finding a balance in both worlds, Mitchell

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begins to apply risky strategies and meets success and failure.

Socorro:

He's now enrolled in the School of Hard Knocks.

Mitchell:

And I was approached, by one of the neighborhood, businessmen whose

Mitchell:

name was Simon and he was from Detroit.

Mitchell:

He used to be a writer for Motown.

Mitchell:

He was a pimp.

Mitchell:

and then he came to California, went to college and became a psychologist,

Mitchell:

and then became a compulsive gambler.

Mitchell:

And he had a business called the Portable Picnic.

Mitchell:

And basically it catered to a very white group of people in downtown

Mitchell:

buildings that wanted to eat healthy, salads, turkey sandwiches, carrot cake,

Mitchell:

vegetables and tuna and egg salad.

Mitchell:

And he had this whole little menu of items and I started making cookies for them.

Mitchell:

After you know, a couple of months, he said, Hey man.

Mitchell:

Why don't you come work full-time for me and if this business takes off, me you

Mitchell:

and a white boy from Southern California that wanted to be a probation officer that

Mitchell:

was like a folk singer, straight whitey.

Mitchell:

It was the three of us and I worked from 10 at night till around noon or 11:30.

Mitchell:

We would prepare all the turkeys by scratch and make all the food by scratch.

Mitchell:

And I did it and I did it, and I did it, and I did it.

Mitchell:

And I landed up quitting school, because I couldn't do both.

Bobby A:

And all his dances were just so beautiful.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Bobby A, a childhood friend, DJ and promoter.

Bobby A:

that you and I record right there the story behind that record

Bobby A:

is, That one record Mitch always used to play and everybody would get up

Bobby A:

and party and dance and go crazy.

Michelle Hernandez:

Me and Gilbert we've been married together 43 years

Socorro:

This is the voice of Michelle Hernandez, longtime family friend and

Socorro:

former member of RAP's Parents for Peace.

Michelle Hernandez:

And if it wasn't for the You and I dances we

Michelle Hernandez:

wouldn't have had a place to go.

Michelle Hernandez:

We wouldn't have had a place to entertain ourselves and be off the streets.

Mitchell:

I started doing these dances and there was a gentleman that had

Mitchell:

an ice cream store next door that was a very, um, influential consultant

Mitchell:

that worked for McKinsey and Company.

Mitchell:

And he had this ice cream store as a tax shelter.

Mitchell:

And myself and the compulsive gambler asked him to borrow a thousand dollars

Mitchell:

so that I could do a big dance at the California Hall on Polk and Turk.

Mitchell:

And, and this gentleman by the name of Juliet Fairfield, said,

Mitchell:

I'll give you a thousand, but I wanna charge you a thousand.

Mitchell:

We said, what the fuck?

Mitchell:

Uh, we said, fine, we'll do it.

Mitchell:

And we brought in a group from Chicago called the DeSoto Band, which was Latino

Mitchell:

musicians playing funk and dance music.

Mitchell:

And obviously we had DJs.

Mitchell:

And back in those days, when you're talking 1978, 1979, back in those days,

Mitchell:

you only had two or three radio stations.

Mitchell:

And one of the most listened radio stations back in those days for us

Mitchell:

in San Francisco was KDIA . Mm-hmm.

Mitchell:

And I hired one of their black host, Alvin Wekell, maybe?

Mitchell:

And there I was at 17 years old, did all the promotion.

Mitchell:

We, you know, obviously we didn't have, uh, social media and uh, word of mouth.

Mitchell:

And there I was at around 1700 or 1800 people showed up and I was in

Mitchell:

the middle of that dance floor fucking in awes, couldn't control shit.

Mitchell:

Wanted to do a dance contest And Ernesto Salazar popped up and came

Mitchell:

up to me and said, "Hello brother.

Mitchell:

My name is Ernesto Salazar and it looks like you really need some help.

Mitchell:

I got a bunch of homies with me.

Mitchell:

What do you want me to do?"

Mitchell:

I said, clear the dance floor.

Mitchell:

and let's do a dance contest and try to keep this shit intact.

Mitchell:

And at that time, the guy that loaned us a thousand dollars had, been

Mitchell:

selling fucking hot dogs and selling sodas and was just blown away, blown

Mitchell:

away, and the event was a success.

Mitchell:

Couple weeks after that, he called me up and he said, Hey

Mitchell:

Mitch, let uh, talk to you.

Mitchell:

So he he says, Hey, Stop working for Simon.

Mitchell:

Come work for me.

Mitchell:

You'll work at the ice cream store three days a week.

Mitchell:

I'll pay you $500 a month for your spending money, and I'll front

Mitchell:

all the money to do the dances and we'll save the money and invest it.

Mitchell:

I said, oh, that sounds like a great deal.

Mitchell:

I did it.

Mitchell:

And the first chunk of money that he gave me, I tried to flip it and fucked it up.

Mitchell:

And he was somewhere out of the country.

Mitchell:

He called me up and said, Hey, I don't have no time to fuck with you.

Mitchell:

So, uh, the deal's over.

Mitchell:

By that time I was around 18 years old and so I was still doing the You and I dances

Mitchell:

but I was working at a Dry Ice Factory in San Francisco for around a year.

Mitchell:

I worked, uh, helping my friend install office partitions.

Mitchell:

This was like, you know, 17, and, and maybe part of my 18 year olds.

Mitchell:

And then one day, I was approached by Roberto Hernandez at RAP located on

Mitchell:

23rd and Florida, and he asked me if I wanted to the, uh, youth organizer

Mitchell:

because I had the ability to organize.

Mitchell:

That's what he saw.

Mitchell:

Because he was one of the witnesses that saw me organizing these dances.

Kathy:

Mitchell is my husband who became the executive director.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Kathy Velez Salazar, wife of Mitchell

Socorro:

Salazar and former RAP employee.

Kathy:

Actually Mitchell and I started the same day, same day in April of

Kathy:

1980 even though he was involved with the RAP agency I believe as a youth.

Kathy:

But um we both started our employment the same day I was the office coordinator

Kathy:

He started as a youth worker And then he ended up as the executive director

Mitchell:

So I, agreed to go to work at RAP as a youth organizer.

Mitchell:

And I'll never forget it, walking into a space that was a bunch of desks,

Mitchell:

conference tables at the back, a raggedy ass bathroom and RAP was doing

Mitchell:

services at Youth Guidance Center.

Mitchell:

They were doing foster care.

Mitchell:

they was, uh, the group home was already in operation and there I was as a

Mitchell:

youth organizer And then I was being exposed to advocacy and community work.

Mitchell:

After the foundation for RAP was laid, RAP became involved in

Mitchell:

communities throughout the city.

Mitchell:

This is the voice of Jim Queen.

Mitchell:

Founder of the Real Alternatives Program.

Jim Queen:

There was a RAP program in every community throughout the city, in

Jim Queen:

Bayview, Hunters Point, Western Edition, Filipino community, Chinatown, so forth.

Jim Queen:

It all came out of RAP.

Jim Queen:

Centro de Cambio came out of RAP and so that basis, 17 years later,

Jim Queen:

this young man who was just a child when RAP started, came on the scene.

Jim Queen:

Mitch was brilliant.

Jim Queen:

And Mitch layed the foundation as people have said.

Jim Queen:

He came in at a time when the gangs and the drugs were rampant.

Jim Queen:

People were getting killed every day, every day.

Jim Queen:

Because of Mitch and his leadership in developing programs within the

Jim Queen:

Mission, coalitions within the Mission and citywide, RAP became the primary

Jim Queen:

leadership in developing violence prevention programs for the city.

Jim Queen:

RAP has always been a social revolution, has been in the forefront of the

Jim Queen:

social revolution, and Mitch carried on that in a most beautiful way and

Jim Queen:

one of the most hardest time possible.

Mitchell:

In RAP's early days, it was really a movement.

Mitchell:

It was a social action of people doing things in the community with

Mitchell:

no funding in some cases, volunteers.

Mitchell:

And I believe that the organization then, prior to me taking over as

Mitchell:

executive director had began to implement programs that was based

Mitchell:

on the need of the community.

Mitchell:

Jim Queen had a vision that there needed to be a strategic planning

Mitchell:

process for children, youth, and family services in San Francisco.

Mitchell:

And it was a citywide strategy.

Mitchell:

and there was citywide groups of people mm-hmm like Lefty Gordon, Jeff

Mitchell:

Maury, Tom Kim, Enola Maxwell, Espanola Jackson, Sharon Hewitt, Yuri Wada.

Mitchell:

There were community leaders throughout San Francisco that shared the vision

Mitchell:

that there had to be something going on.

Mitchell:

Because prior to the Department of Children, Youth and Families being

Mitchell:

created and implemented, which was Prop J back in the day, I believe that

Mitchell:

I listened and I was mentored quite a bit from Jim having explained to

Mitchell:

me about what the strategic planning really mean and why is it important?

Mitchell:

And it can only be done if you can do it with the institutions and a community

Mitchell:

representation at the same time.

Mitchell:

Because otherwise it's being done in a vacuum.

Mitchell:

Because the institutions, if they've done no community needs, if they've done no

Mitchell:

community engagement, if they haven't even been in the communities, how do

Mitchell:

they know what is best for the community?

Socorro:

RAP from its inception provided services and advocacy to

Socorro:

youth coming in and out of Juvenile Hall or Youth Guidance Center.

Socorro:

Mitchell was versed in working directly with youth.

Socorro:

Through strategic organizational planning, RAP created the

Socorro:

opportunities for youngsters to thrive and empower themselves.

Pastor Ronnie:

I remember when I was knee-deep in trouble.

Pastor Ronnie:

And uh, my mom goes, I brought this guy home to talk with you.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Pastor Ronnie Muniz, a former

Socorro:

RAP student and employee.

Pastor Ronnie:

And I remember walking in the living room on 19th and San Carlos

Pastor Ronnie:

Street and Mitchell was sitting there with a Pendleton on and some Dickies and I was

Pastor Ronnie:

like, you brought a homie to talk to me?

Pastor Ronnie:

And we started talking and again that voice, right?

Pastor Ronnie:

I was just listening to him and then he started talking about

Pastor Ronnie:

school and I was like, oh you just messed the whole thing up.

Pastor Ronnie:

But then I remember going to RAP and the different thing about RAP

Pastor Ronnie:

for those of us that went there.

Pastor Ronnie:

It was like being on the block, but we was being educated.

Pastor Ronnie:

God, I could go on with the stories of Snapper, Porky, all of us just laying on

Pastor Ronnie:

tables acting crazy and then the teacher would come in and we would learn, you

Pastor Ronnie:

know, we wasn't just going to hang out.

Pastor Ronnie:

And then when I went to prison and I came home, I remember Mitch asking

Pastor Ronnie:

me to come to the office and I went to the office on Potrero and 25th.

Pastor Ronnie:

And I remember talking to these youngsters about why they shouldn't go to prison and

Pastor Ronnie:

it wasn't the thing to do and it isn't always to be glorified and I remember

Pastor Ronnie:

Mitch coming and saying, You want a job?

Pastor Ronnie:

And I'm thinking, of course I want a job, what do I gotta do?

Pastor Ronnie:

And he was like, exactly what you're doing.

Pastor Ronnie:

And I remember working with him doing that and then as time went on, I ended

Pastor Ronnie:

up starting my own organization and Mitch was the president of my board.

Pastor Ronnie:

Mitch, you know, Help me to create and I can say giving back.

Pastor Ronnie:

I work with folks coming out of reentry or prison So and being a

Pastor Ronnie:

pastor, I mean God I was a dust head and all that other stuff, but never

Pastor Ronnie:

was looked at any different by Mitch

Socorro:

The county of San Francisco had no answer for the

Socorro:

disjointed youth services at YGC.

Socorro:

Young people were being tossed out with no follow up.

Socorro:

They found themselves running amok with very little family support.

Socorro:

Failed city services pushed RAP to respond.

Socorro:

And RAP convinced the city to give them the opportunity to open a

Socorro:

temporary group home, La Casa, where they provided refuge and offered

Socorro:

community service to help motivate and reconnect young people to a greater

Socorro:

purpose, living full, productive lives.

Mitchell:

In addition to that, there was the group home.

Mitchell:

So there was an emphasis on foster care And the group home was dealing

Mitchell:

with young men and women that were pretty much failure placements.

Mitchell:

And we would take them because when they get classified as failure

Mitchell:

placements nobody wants to touch 'em.

Mitchell:

So we took 'em and most of them were Latino and it was a six bed

Mitchell:

residential facility located on San Carlos Street between 20th and 21st.

Mitchell:

And this was prior to the gang saturation that the Mission then

Mitchell:

experience later down the road, because I don't think that group home could

Mitchell:

have existed without neutrality.

Socorro:

Under Mitchell's direction, RAP expanded and created more clinical

Socorro:

intervention services and the need for building a cohesive team and staff.

Socorro:

Up to this point, RAP was committed to hiring local youth to develop

Socorro:

their leadership skills, but now some of the positions needed to be

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filled with college educated and professionally certified people.

Socorro:

Many from outside the Mission or San Francisco stepped up to help and became

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adopted by the Mission community.

Socorro:

These new staff further exposing young people to engaging with the

Socorro:

PhDs in streetology and those educated in the academic world.

Chico:

I'm I'm a New Yorker and I went to school in Syracuse I was gonna be

Chico:

a aerospace engineer but I quickly find out that I wasn't smart enough.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Chico Moreno, a former RAP

Socorro:

employee and CASA manager.

Chico:

So I started traveling west and I lived in a few cities in between

Chico:

Boston, Dallas, and then I ended up in San Francisco So one of my initial

Chico:

jobs was actually working for a diversion program at the county jail.

Chico:

And I realized that I had a different path that was gonna be my ultimate destiny.

Chico:

And as one thing led to another I happened to meet a couple of people in the Mission

Chico:

District that were very knowledgeable, interesting, very culturally grounded,

Chico:

and they told me about a position as they were doing some hiring at RAP and they

Chico:

needed somebody to manage the group home which was at that time it was fairly new.

Chico:

I think we all started right around the same time late 79, 80 I had

Chico:

the opportunity to start to get involved in with RAP and I could

Chico:

see that the majority of people were all born or had lived in the Mission

Chico:

Disctrict for a very long time.

Chico:

Everybody knew each other.

Chico:

So I felt as an outsider at the beginning but I was quickly welcomed

Chico:

and adopted by all of these folks.

Chico:

And for me it was a learning process you go from a corporate background to someone

Chico:

who had to get involved with the community and to be accepted by the community.

Chico:

And meeting Alfredo Bojorquez meeting, uh Mitchell , I could see

Chico:

that they had all the knowledge.

Chico:

They just needed someone to help them put it together in understanding how

Chico:

to write proposals et cetera And at the beginning Mitchell couldn't put a sentence

Chico:

together but that man was so determined that he accomplished so many things

Chico:

that I'm to this date I'm finding out

Chico:

The philosophy of RAP which I really respected was that you

Chico:

do your time, you contribute, and then you move on and leave a young

Chico:

person to take over your job.

Chico:

So we were working ourselves out of a job by leaving the seeds and the roots for

Chico:

that person to continue and take over.

Chico:

So because I was a little older than than the rest I really I really absorbed

Chico:

that philosophy that I said yeah it's true yeah I could be here for a long

Chico:

time but that's that's not the essence.

Chico:

And in the case of Mitchell, he needed to stay because there was so many

Chico:

things going on that it needed him and he needed RAP at the same time.

michelle:

I remember the interview Mitchell gave me, and of course Mitchell

michelle:

was in his little office on Potrero.

Socorro:

This is the voice of Michelle Alvarez, former RAP case manager, Mission

Socorro:

Native and clinical services director at Instituto Familiar de la Raza.

michelle:

and it's something that always sticks to me and

michelle:

I utilize it all the time.

michelle:

Mitchell liked to do right.

michelle:

Used to crumble paper up and miss the garbage can.

michelle:

Sometimes he would make it and I remember he missed and during the interview he

michelle:

asked me, what are you gonna do now?

michelle:

He asked me that during the interview and I don't think he remembers.

michelle:

Oh.

michelle:

But he goes, someone with the initiative will get up and put that little

michelle:

piece of paper in the trash can.

michelle:

Wow.

michelle:

So I knew then that being at RAP was really about it really talked to.

michelle:

Right.

michelle:

That self-determination.

michelle:

That's right.

michelle:

Initiative that we seek in young people.

michelle:

'cause, 'cause all young people have it, we just have to find it.

michelle:

Right.

michelle:

Or we help them find their own initiative.

michelle:

So that's always stuck in my head that interview with Mitchell.

Socorro:

Mitchell, having been schooled in RAP's philosophy of

Socorro:

youth empowerment through personal change, he knew how to change a

Socorro:

misguided youth's life with a job.

Socorro:

Sometimes foregoing the application and interview process is more important.

Socorro:

Remember, if you want to give someone hope, start by giving

Socorro:

them a job and direction.

Socorro:

This is Coffy Johnson, former RAP staff and case manager.

Cofy:

Mitchell rolls up with Calles one night and of all nights for

Cofy:

me to be there in the damn park.

Cofy:

"Coffy, what are you doing here?"

Cofy:

And I'm like, oh my God.

Cofy:

I was so busted.

Cofy:

I was like so scared that it was him, cuz I was like, oh shit.

Cofy:

My brother, like my brother didn't even know what I was into cuz I was

Cofy:

trying to hide in the back streets and oh my goodness, as soon as he

Cofy:

find out it right, it was over.

Cofy:

You get your ass home right now and it was done.

Cofy:

You better be at, go right there across the street.

Cofy:

I was at La Raza Park.

Cofy:

Right there, nine o'clock!

Cofy:

Matter of fact, you better be there before nine.

Cofy:

And I'm like, for what?

Cofy:

And he's like, you're, you're gonna start working.

Cofy:

And I was like, what?

Cofy:

Boom.

Cofy:

He takes me right off the street, puts me at the front desk and first

Cofy:

day tells me, I don't give a shit who you see come through that door.

Cofy:

You better remain neutral.

Cofy:

And I'm like, is this guy serious?

Cofy:

He was dead ass serious.

Cofy:

He took me at 19 off the streets and made me the secretary and turned me

Cofy:

from the secretary into so much more.

Cofy:

Six months, I proved to myself that I was willing to get off of the

Cofy:

streets completely and change my life.

Cofy:

And he believed in me and it gave me an opportunity to become a case manager.

Cofy:

And in that position, I was able to give back so much more.

Cofy:

And I was able to use the person who I was to get into places that

Cofy:

a lot of people in RAP couldn't be.

Chico:

What I realized at RAP is that uh the emphasis on youth.

Socorro:

This is Chico Moreno

Chico:

Our challenge was to seek out the talents in the young people and

Chico:

after working in the jail I saw young people going astray and unless they

Chico:

were first time offenders there was very little that I found myself being

Chico:

able to contribute mm-hmm to anything positive So when RAP came along it gave

Chico:

me the opportunity to start younger.

Chico:

To start with young people who were waiting for direction who were

Chico:

wanting direction and they just didn't have it And that was the

Chico:

essence, that was the root of RAP.

Socorro:

Many times RAP staff would take on a bigger role for

Socorro:

youth, such as a big brother, or a sister, or a parental figure.

Socorro:

Here is motivational speaker, and former RAP student , Alex Humphrey,

Socorro:

who tells us how Mitchell brought him into boxing through RAP.

Alex:

I haven't been in touch with my biological family for many years, but,

Alex:

um, I found family when I came to RAP.

Alex:

I go back with Mitch since I was 10 years old.

Alex:

Went to RAP down on 16th and Mission.

Alex:

I grew up in the projects.

Alex:

I was between Hunters Point, the old Geneva ,Towers before they imploded

Alex:

'em and the Overland Gardens before they demoed them and rebuilt them.

Alex:

But I went to school there and fought all the time.

Alex:

Mitch turned around and was like, what am I gonna do with you?

Alex:

We gotta figure something out.

Alex:

And he says, we're taking you to this meeting and you're

Alex:

gonna talk to the board.

Alex:

We have to convince them to allow the money to get you a personal trainer.

Alex:

And they agreed and started training me.

Alex:

And then the summer came up, Ray Balberan sat down with me filling out

Alex:

applications because he was like, "we're getting you out of here for the summer.

Alex:

You're going to the Youth Conservation Corps.

Alex:

You're gonna live there for the summer."

Alex:

I didn't get acceptance from my own family, but I got

Alex:

acceptance with everyone at RAP.

Alex:

I remember trying to self-medicate.

Alex:

The big drug back then was, was dust.

Alex:

So I was dealing with the Devil's dandruff back then.

Alex:

And I remember smoking that stuff and, I was so high, my brother wanted to help me.

Alex:

He was like, I'm gonna take care of you.

Alex:

But I felt like he was impeded in my space.

Alex:

And had I not been stuck, I would've killed my brother.

Alex:

So I remember calling Mitch and crying.

Alex:

I was like, Mitch, I need you again.

Alex:

He says, look, man, me and Kathy and the kids, were gonna be rolling

Alex:

around just paying some bills.

Alex:

I'm gonna come pick you up.

Alex:

You just roll with us.

Alex:

And I remember I didn't say much, I just looked out the window as

Alex:

he just drove down the streets.

Alex:

I eventually got it together, but what I carried with me were things

Alex:

that I learned from Mitch, you know, which was being a person of

Alex:

your word, principles, integrity.

Socorro:

With RAP continuing to provide comprehensive services, which included a

Socorro:

high school, which started as a classroom inside a garage, then inside trailers,

Socorro:

only to grow into occupying its own building, which provided enough space for

Socorro:

all of RAP's services, a one stop shop.

Mitchell:

Setting up an alternative school program was possible cause we

Mitchell:

did it and we understood that the only way that it would work is that if it had

Mitchell:

intensive case management services, we went into collaboration with the health

Mitchell:

department, and we put a clinic on site and had got the attention of the Robert F.

Mitchell:

Kennedy Memorial Fund.

Mitchell:

And we actually had Effel Kennedy and Michael Kennedy at the RAP site

Mitchell:

dedicating the site, as the Robert F.

Mitchell:

Kennedy RAP health clinic.

Mitchell:

Right.

Mitchell:

We had Dr.

Mitchell:

Pierre that was paid from the health department to staff it.

Mitchell:

And we were providing preventative care for young people in the school

Mitchell:

that didn't have no healthcare.

Mitchell:

And we had the violence prevention.

Mitchell:

We had case management and we were able to provide a wraparound services.

Mitchell:

Dr. Pierre: In my medical school application,

Socorro:

This is the voice of Dr.

Socorro:

Pierre Marie Rose, public health physician.

Socorro:

and On Site Doctor at the RFK RAP Teen Clinic and the Second

Socorro:

Chance Tattoo Removal Program.

Socorro:

Dr. Pierre: I wrote that my goal was to provide healthcare and underserved

Socorro:

communities and actually start up my own clinic with a kind of a one stop

Socorro:

shopping model where kids could not only come without an appointment and

Socorro:

get their needs met, but also in a way that was culturally appropriate.

Socorro:

Have the medications, the immunizations, and everything like that onsite,

Socorro:

along with mental health support.

Socorro:

And I'll be damned if I didn't end up doing that at RAP.

Socorro:

So, that was something I wrote back in 1984 when I was

Socorro:

applying to medical schools.

Socorro:

So RAP will always be special to me because I took great pride I was serious

Socorro:

and RAP gave me the opportunity to kind of manifest that and will always be linked.

Socorro:

Violence prevention and intervention changed dramatically in

Socorro:

San Francisco on the Saturday evening of January 11, 1992, with the killing

Socorro:

of 12 year old Bayron Alvarado Martinez.

Mitchell:

But what I was thinking about was Bayron Alvarado.

Mitchell:

A 12 year old kid that was shot in the back when he was released from Mission

Mitchell:

Police Station, because at that time, the gang task force was just pulling

Mitchell:

in everybody and they thought he belonged to a gang and they let him out.

Mitchell:

They didn't go to contact his mom and he got shot in the back with a

Mitchell:

shotgun And he was a little kid too.

Mitchell:

So the image of the little kid running down the street being shot

Mitchell:

in the back was something that the community as a whole came together

Mitchell:

on, and that stemmed that whole issue around this is some serious stuff.

Mitchell:

If kids are gonna be killed outside of the police station, a half a block away

Mitchell:

on a Friday night with as much police cars and traffic that is on Valencia Street

Mitchell:

between 23rd and 24th on a Friday night.

Mitchell:

So it also showed the kind of insanity that these youngsters were living in

Mitchell:

to get out of the car and shoot them.

Mitchell:

Not a normal person will go shoot a 12 year old kid you don't know in the back.

Mitchell:

I mean, you gotta be high as hell.

Mitchell:

Or you gotta have some serious mental health issues where you're

Mitchell:

gonna take someone's life like that.

Mitchell:

And if it was, an initiation go kill him.

Mitchell:

Well, I mean, why him?

Mitchell:

So I just think about him because that particular murder had just perpetuated

Mitchell:

the need for the community to really look at this issue in a broader context.

Mitchell:

And we started to flip the script and say it was not a criminal justice

Mitchell:

issue, it was a public health issue.

Mitchell:

And just try to focus in a different way because everybody

Mitchell:

was still being looked at as bad.

Socorro:

RAP is now in a position to seize opportunities to strengthen

Socorro:

violence prevention intervention services and develop other programs citywide.

Socorro:

On the next episode of Rama Blueprints, we continue to follow Mitchell's

Socorro:

heart and his decisions as he leads the Real Alternatives Program into

Socorro:

a new era of youth empowerment.

Socorro:

Unfortunately for many, the Mission also experiences multiple incidents

Socorro:

of community violence that demands citywide response and true investment

Socorro:

in seeking solutions towards peace.

Socorro:

We also follow how some of RAP's foundational

Socorro:

components receive a new life.

Socorro:

Thank you for listening to the RAMA Blueprints podcast.

Socorro:

If you like what you've heard, please subscribe to the

Socorro:

podcast and tell two friends.

Socorro:

You can also listen to all the episodes on CARECENSF.

Socorro:

org website, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Socorro:

This episode was written, edited by Darren J.

Socorro:

de Leon and host Socorro Gamboa.

Socorro:

We want to thank all of the interviewees, the Salazar family, CARECEN SF, Instituto

Socorro:

Familiar de la Raza, Pacific Resource Hut, United Playaz, San Francisco Foundation,

Socorro:

Change Elemental, and those individual private donors, who have graciously

Socorro:

contributed and donated to our production.

Socorro:

It is because of your kindness that we are able to produce

Socorro:

the RAMA Blueprints podcast.

Socorro:

You can donate and become part of our family by visiting CARECENSF.

Socorro:

org.

Socorro:

Thank you for listening and remember To listen is to heal.

Socorro:

All power to the people.

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About the Podcast

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RAMA Blueprints
The History of the Real Alternatives Program (RAP), a Revolutionary Youth Organization practicing Self-Determination.

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About your hosts

Profile picture for Darren J. de Leon

Darren J. de Leon

Darren J. de Leon is an award winning poet from San Bernardino, CA., playwright, podcast/radio producer, street DJ, high school teacher, taquero and community activist. For 12 years, he produced and hosted Radio 2050, a Latino Arts Radio Magazine for KPFA in Berkeley, CA. In the mid 90’s, Darren was a teacher at Real Alternative Programs (RAP High School) where he developed a curriculum that emphasized the practice of non-violence, composition, and self-expression for juvenile delinquents and the chronically truant. Currently, Darren lives in San Bernardino, CA in his family’s house of over 50 years. He continues to write, create art, and tend to his garden of vegetables and fruits. He produced Podcast Descarga: A History of Los Delicados and Project 1521, a poetry podcast. An avid bicycle rider, he can be spotted around the L.A. area on weekends pedaling and enjoying the art and literary scene. He loves mezcal and hates gasoline.
Profile picture for Socorro Gamboa

Socorro Gamboa

Socorro R. Gamboa is a conscious and passionate leader born and raised in Oxnard, California, she is a Community Activist, Artvist, an original Chicano Park muralist, a former high school principal, former Gang Reduction Intervention/Outreach specialist, a podcast producer and a community engagement consultant.
Socorro is truly a renaissance artivist. Socorro moved to San Francisco in 1988 where she began her journey working at the Real Alternatives Program (RAP) where she worked for 15 years as Case Manager, Education DIrector and the interim Executive Director of R.A.P. She also worked as the Director of the Community Response Network (CRN) a city wide community youth violence street intervention program, supervising 25 formerly incarcerated individuals, providing outreach and professionalism development. She is currently the co-founder of the 5 Sisters Audio Garden Production Company and co-producer and host of the RAMA Blueprints Podcast. She is rooted deeply in her spiritual practices, working the land, gardening and preserving the legacy of the elders by leaving a repository of valuable life lessons and insights.