"I was a gang member. I was a drug dealer. I turned out the worst at all my brothers, you know, gangbanging , jail."
There was a time these men couldn’t be together on the same Los Angeles street corner.
Two years ago, could you have seen yourself working side by side like this?
No.
Why?
We have come from different backgrounds. So …
Different gangs?
Different gangs.
Today, former gang rivals, Richard Reyes, Cesar Cruz and Rudolpho Marquez carpool together to their job, and work side by side installing home solar systems.
We treat each other like normal human beings, get along, great.
Are you guys gonna run it all the way up?
Albert Ortega learned the trade by taking solar installation classes paid for by Homeboy Industries, a community organization that’s been working with parolees and former gang members for more than 20 years.
Nice, we’ve got voltage.
The classes offered Albert a chance to break into alternative energy programs, Homeboy Industries led by Father Gregory Boyle pays the class fee about 130 dollars, and eight dollars an hour to attend the 10-week program. He says it’s a lot cheaper than incarceration, which costs tax payers 45,000 dollars a year.
What’s your alternative to not trusting them though, you know, I mean on one hand, this is the thing that actually helps keep our street safe, this is what you called smart on crime.
"It just opened my eyes, you know, to so many things. You know, like this man right here, believes in us so much, and I mean if you see his logo, I means his motto is, you know, guns not jail, nothing stops a bully like a job."
Which one you think is easier?
After spending ten years behind bars, and missing the births of his daughters, Valerie and Vanessa, Richard Reyes now has homework duty, and says he’s finally learning what it means to be a father.
I just thought making baby, was, was being a father but that's not a father, a real father is somebody who takes interests in your kids.
How hard is it?
It’s hard, that’s, that’s one of the hardest things in life, ah, being a parent.
Before he was more immature, now he knows what his responsibilities are.
“Now,” Richard says, “it’s all about his kids.”
What do you want for your daughter’s future?
I want her to become somebody in this world.
He says for the first time he’s looking to the future with confidence. He’s up for a promotion at work, and Richard says he knows he can support his family.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
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