SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – It's an ordinary church building in the Oak Park area of San Diego, but the work being done here is far from typical.
"I've been coming here for about two months already,” said Abraham Razo, a mentee at Community Wraparound. "I come here because I've done something, and I have to fix what I've done."
Surrounded by these walls is where Razo is hoping to find a different path.
"People don't see the difference between getting a better life, graduating, having a family,” Razo said.
Razo joined the Community Wraparound program, ran by Robert Ontiveros. The group has helped steer young people away from danger and violence to purpose for their future. And it's mission really hits close to home for leaders in charge like Ontiveros.
"What made me change my life around is something that it hit me when I was looking at 25 to life,” Ontiveros said.
And upon hearing the news about the two teens gunned down in National City and other stabbings and shootings in San Diego County over the weekend involving young people, it’s troubling.
"It's very concerning and it's very alarming. And that's why we do what we do here at Community Wraparound is we try to save lives. We try to save these kids and the route that they're going down is the route we've been down,” Ontiveros said.
The executive director of the City's Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention told ABC 10News anecdotally in certain cases involving firearms there's been an increase in violence in our youth.
It's something that hits home for Razo, seeing as he knew the 18-year-old man who was killed in National City.
"I'm stable. I cry sometimes when I think about him, the memories that we had; just very heartbroken,” Razo said.
Folks here have an idea of what it's like to be the situations that Razo and others have been in.
The biggest thing Ontiveros says is to listen to these young people, to relate to them and hopefully keep them away from violence.
"I have kids of my own too. And I have teenagers and, yes, it's very difficult. They do shut down,” Ontiveros said. "More importantly, you have to listen because a lot of people don't listen to them to actually hear what they're going through."
