BRAD CARSON:
It is the mission and purpose in this life for Brad Carson to help create safe communities by breaking the cycle of the repeat criminal offender and the intergenerational gang violence. How? By addressing the spiritual, social, and economic causes. It is my philosophy that through jobs and education the cycle of the repeat criminal offender and the intergenerational gang violence can be broken and the quality of life issues achieved.
As a Deputy Probation Officer for the past 21 years, Brad as helped create, develop, and implement numerous programs and services to help meet the needs of the target population. In 1987, Brad was selected to serve on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s Gang Committee, which created the Gang Alternative Prevention Program (GAPP). In 1989, Brad was assigned to the “Venice Oakwood Project” where he was involved in community –base policing with the multi-agency F.A.L.C.O.N. unit. He initiated and mediated the gang truce in Venice/Oakwood (LA’s worst gang war) in 1994. He brokered the “Gang Cease-Fire” between the VSLC in Venice and the CC Boys in the Mar Vista Gardens Housing Project in 1997. Brad helped create partnerships, coalitions, and collaborations with political, corporate, faith-base, and community-base agencies, which serviced the Venice area.
In 2000, Brad was assigned to the “Probation –To- Work” pilot project program in the East San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The “Probation-To-Work” pilot project was a public/private partnership between the Probation Department and Communities in Schools, SFV.Inc. and Mission College WorkSource One-Stop Center, and the Sun Valley WorkSource One-Stop Center. In 2002, Brad was given countywide authority in his current role as “The Employment Resource Coordinator”.
Since July 2002, Mr. Carson has been working as the Adult Field Services Bureaus Employment Resource Coordinator (ERC). The goal and the intent of the ERC position is to provide information and assistance to probationers in the form of referrals to vocational training and employment readiness programs, and to connect probationers to employers. In 2005, Mr. Carson conducted one-on-one Career Development Motivation Orientations to 332 new adult probationers from Probation Area Offices in South Central Los Angeles. Of the 332 probationers, 52 of them obtained employment within the next monthly reporting period. Mr. Carson completed the monthly “Job Talk” newsletter that was made available to the over 4,500 Probation staff. Additionally, Mr. Carson was the “driving force” behind the Countywide Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee’s four Ex-Offender Job and Resource Fairs, and the two Business/Employers Symposiums that were sponsored by the Inter-Agency Gang Task Force.
As the Board President of Venice Community Housing Corporation, Brad Carson helped expand the vision and policies of the non-profit organization in order to initiate local hiring, training, and education of high-risk offenders in the actual development of building affordable housing in their communities. Brad Carson developed a task force called “The Ad Hoc Committee to Enforce At-Risk Youth Employment on Proposition A” (now known as Jobs Create Peace Coalition). As a result of this effort, Brad was the first to bring together both Black and Brown Gang Truce Peacemakers to obtain a $54 million set-aside for “at-risk” youth employment on a major public works project. Accordingly, 21,346 “at-risk” youth worked 2,755,696 hours as of the “ Regional Park and Open Space District’s” report dated July 17, 2008.
Brad also negotiated the 10% set-aside for “at-risk” employment in the Project Labor Agreement at the Playa Vista development. The Playa Vista development is the largest ($7 Billion) private mixed-use development in the United States. Brad Carson is an original member of the Playa Vista Jobs Task Force. Brad played a major role in the design, development, and implementation of the PVJOBS program. Brad still oversees the implementation of the program as a Board member of the non-profit corporation PVJOBS.
Brad Carson is a licensed General Contractor. As a General Contractor, Brad builds affordable housing while at the same time employs and develops the life skills of the “at-risk/gang member”. Brad as a social-entrepreneur utilizes these projects for a pre-apprenticeship program, and then sells the house to low-moderate income homeowners or non-profit corporations for no money down and no closing cost. Brad is also a partner owner of the “At-Risk Youth General Labor Corporation (ARY)”. The ARY did a lot of the clean-up work at the Playa Vista Development and hired as well as trained/supervised most of the “gang-members” at the site.
In 2006, Brad Carson was a co-founding member of the United Job Creation Council which is a strategic alliance forged through the Anchor of Hope Ministry (Jean Franklin, under the auspices of Bishop Noel Jones, Senior Pastor of City of Refuge Church) and the Jobs Create Peace Coalition. On April 23, 2008, UJCC reached its two-year set goal when the historic milestone of the “CRA-LA Construction Careers Policy” was unanimously passed by the LA City Council and signed by the Mayor.
On October 21, 2008, Brad Carson was moved in order to help set-up and implement another first of its kind pilot program called “ The Day Reporting Center (DRC)”. The DRC is where male re-entry probationers 18-25 years of age, gang-members that are high-risk offenders, and resides in South Central LA, reports daily for “wraparound” network services.
Brad Carson has received numerous awards including “Employee of the Year” from the Chief Probation Officers of California. He received the first “Community Hero Award” from the Season for Nonviolence honoring the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King. He was honored at L.A. Dodger Stadium receiving the “Hometown Hero” award in memory of Jackie Robinson as a barrier breaker.
Brad Carson is the author of a meditative daily devotional book and CD called “Nothing But The Word”. He is a licensed credentialed ordained minister of the gospel certified under the “Western Evangelical Association”. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Southern California College. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. He has been married for 23 years, and has three beautiful children.
Experience and Qualifications:
• 19 years experience as a community base Probation Officer
• Demonstrated ability in gang prevention, intervention, suppression, and mediation.
• Demonstrated ability in community organizing, and coalition building
• Working knowledge base of non-profit, public and private sector management and policies
• Demonstrated ability to affect policies and outcomes at the local, state, or federal level
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement effective programs resulting in job creation and retention for the target population.
Brad Carson
http://jobscreatepeace.com
Email: jobscreatepeace@yahoo.com
Phone: (213) 368-6556
