OPEN DOOR YOUTH GANG ALTERNATIVES

Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives was founded by Dr. Leon Kelly in 1988 in response to the growing community concerns regarding gang activity and violence in the Denver Metro area, which continues to grow today. In 1988, it was estimated by law enforcement agencies that there where 50 gangs with 2,000 reported gang members in Colorado. Today, statistics show that there are approximately 250 gangs with 28,000 reported members in the State of Colorado. Hispanic gangs have grown from nearly 300 documented members in 1994 to 32,000 documented members today. Since 1986, Open Door has tracked the number of deaths related to youth and gang violence and has noted 1,096 deaths to date. This number only represents what Open Door has tracked, and does not represent statistics from the State of Colorado or the nation as a whole, which number Open Door believes to be in the thousands. The age for gang recruitment and influence is getting younger and younger. Open Door was the first agency in Denver area to exclusively implement intervention and prevention programs and after thirty years has become a leader in community-based programming that addresses the social consequences of gang activity.