Peace4Kids offers stability to foster youths in South L.A.

By Carla Hall

May 17, 2009 12 AM PT

Charnay, who is 8, chatted outside the gymnasium while her 5-year-old brother, Nathan, scampered by. Two more siblings wandered into the rambling South L.A. community center that serves as the home of the Saturday activity program run by an organization called Peace4Kids.

“When they started,” Michelle Tattini, the program director, said of the siblings, “they were in different foster homes, so this was their chance to see each other.”

Now they are back together in the same home with their mother (who requested that their last names not be used in this article), but still they go to the Peace4Kids program.

“It’s like another family to talk to,” said Machere, 15, the oldest of the four siblings at the Saturday program. Other children from the program swirled around her. “I know just about everybody,” said Machere, an aspiring fashion designer from whose earlobes dangled enormous silver, heart-shaped earrings. “I’ve been here a long time.”

Which is pretty much the point of Peace4Kids -- to offer foster youths something to go back to over and over again, an anchor in a rootless life. The nonprofit, started 11 years ago, offers a variety of services and programs -- including the Saturday gatherings -- to foster and at-risk youths.

Peace4Kids co-founder Zaid Gayle said the average foster child in Los Angeles County changes homes three times a year.

“When a kid moves, they lose everything -- their friends, their homes, their pets, even the food they eat,” said Marni Otway, 37, a former social worker and other co-founder.

“One of the things missing from the lives of foster kids is people who can be consistent in their lives from Square One to 1,000,” said Gayle, 34, who left a career in the entertainment industry to work with foster children. “We want to be a community for youth in foster care.”

The organization offers programs for youths ages 5 to 18 and also transitional help for foster children who leave the system at 18 but have a difficult time finding a place to live. Some former foster children are so enamored of the program that they stay involved as volunteers.

On Saturday morning, the community center reverberated with boisterous voices. Before the younger children, ages 5 to 13, wandered off to classes in drumming, music appreciation, comic book design or yoga, they assembled in the gym.

“We’re going to go over our peace contract,” said Lakeisha Thomas, 26, the creative program manager. “Can you tell me some of the rules?”

Hands shot up.

“No play fighting,” answered one.

“That’s right. Play fighting can lead to real fighting,” Thomas said.