Press Conference Held Today to Announce Historical Partnership

Posted By ABLA Staff

March 15, 2010

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The Professional Community Intervention Training Institute (PCITI) , the Southern California campus of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and A Better LA are collaborating to enhance current methods used to train local gang interventionists & violence abatement experts that risk their lives daily to prevent senseless murders in their communities. With the new addition, The Chicago School of Psychology  will help provide training and accreditation to interventionists.  Here are some tidbits from this mornings press announcement and what the members of this collaboration think of the new partnership:

Aquil Basheer, Maximum Force Enterprises & Founder of PCITI

“We’ve been pushing to set a standard, we have been pushing to try and defy the fact that what we stand for, our purpose, is saving lives, restoring communities and  providing hope…”

“We have to stay true to the integrity of the work, we have to stay true to the communities that we serve and we have to stay true to the collective cause…”

“This is something of a legacy leaver, we have to put in place the blueprints, the strategies, the models which others can step in to and others can lead”

“This is again about the blueprint that can be duplicated nationally and internationally”

“You are going to see this model duplicated all over the nation you are going to see it duplicated all over the world!”

“My hats off to Councilman Tony Cardenas-he’s been fighting this battle with us for a long time-he stood up when very few others would, he took personal blows that very few people in that city council of chambers would”

“My hats off to Pete Carroll (A Better LA founder), he was one of the few private individuals who created a mission, who stepped forward and said, “I got to support this, I got to back this” he went there with us, we hit the streets together it was outstanding and it formed a unit and bonding that I think really moved his mission forward.”

Tony Cardenas, LA City Councilman 6th District

“This is about a grass roots movement of people who care about this issue and care about people so much so that they put their lives on the line every single day.”

“Intervention is integral to saving lives in this city, it’s integral to saving lives anywhere in this country.”

“We can not arrest our way out of these issues, it’s up to the community, it’s up to the family. It’s up to the community to make sure that we are on the front end of these issues, that we are preventative that we are intervening and that we are standing up for ourselves and for our communities.”

“I support organizations that are out there getting the work done, literally saving lives- that’s what brought me here today.”

“I believe that every human being deserves to be able to walk whatever streets they choose to walk, they should live wherever they live and not be in fear of their lives.”

“We have a Mayor and Chief of Police who, rightfully so, talk about ‘crime is down’, but the thing that we have to understand is that crime is not down in certain neighborhoods, for that family that lost their teenage boy: is crime down for that family? – No, that crime is at an all time high for that family.”

“This training academy will save lives, it will empower men and women who choose to dedicate their lives to being a solution.”

LA Fire Chief  Kwame Cooper

“As fire fighters working in that fire house, we got tired of responding to shooting because we were getting good at it, we were good, we were trained as firemen and paramedics but we were really getting good- you get good at something from repetition from practice-and we were getting so much practice and so much repetition that it was without thinking to roll up on a body-a young african american, a young latino full of holes-full of bullet holes, the images are etched in my mind like you would never believe.”

Thank you to everyone who came to support Maximum Force Enterprises and the Chicago School of Psychology. This is truly a historical event in terms of the intervention movement and we look forward to a long partnership and much success.