Other Highlights
Biography of Guillermo Cespedes, New Director of Gang Reduction and Youth Development
As the new Director of Mayor Villaraigosa’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development, Guillermo Cespedes will oversee and advance all aspects of the City’s efforts to reduce gang violence through enhanced opportunities for youth, as well as oversee all of the City’s gang prevention, intervention and re-entry programs in the Mayor’s gang reduction strategy.
Mr. Cespedes has over 25 years of experience in the design, implementation and supervision of the delivery of services to disadvantaged and at risk youth.
He brings to the office of Gang Reduction & Youth Development an expertise in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships between law enforcement, gang interventionist and the community that are crucial to addressing the root causes of gang crime.
Mr. Cespedes was the architect of the City’s successful gang reduction program, SUMMER NIGHT LIGHTS, playing a critical role in the expansion of the program to 16 sites in its second year. In this capacity, Mr. Cespedes was responsible for the overall implementation of the summer-long gang reduction program, which, in its first year, helped to record the City’s safest summer in more than 30 years.
In 1972, Mr. Cespedes began a career in community service that has spanned over three decades, serving a variety of roles in social services targeting low-income families and disenfranchised youth. Before making his home on the West Coast, Mr. Cespedes worked with the Mid-Fairfield Child Guidance Clinic, Sacred Heart University, Juvenile Court, Meriden Wallingford Hospital, Cuban Refugee Settlement Program and the Clifford Beers Clinic in Connecticut.
In 1981, Mr. Cespedes continued his passion for social service in California with the Eden Children’s Center, designing and implementing a family therapy program. He went on to spend an additional 12 years in the Bay Area working with Clinica de la Raza, Oakland Children’s Hopsital, Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation, California Arts Council and the East Bay Agency for Children.
Mr. Cespedes began working with low income families through the CALWORKS program in 1997. He played a pivotal role in the development of programs and curriculums for participants at Vista Community College in Berkley, California, and three years later at Long Beach City College. Mr. Cespedes also provided direct academic counseling to low income students at both colleges.
In the Summers of 2003 and 2003 Mr. Cespedes served as the Deputy Director of the Summer of Success Baldwin Village, where he implemented and supervised gang prevention programming that would later serve as the model to the city’s SUMMER NIGHT LIGHTS. Mr. Cespedes was responsible for overseeing staff and implementing programming that kept Jim Gilliam Park busy with sports tournaments and family activities until 2:00 AM during the summer months.
Mr. Cespedes also took his years of experience to the African Studies Department at California State University at Dominguez Hills, where he taught on his passion—the contributions of Africa’s Children throughout Latin America from 2005 to 2007.
Mr. Cespedes holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from Sacred Heart University and Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. He has also received post-graduate training from the Nathan Ackerman Family Institute, Bronx State Hospital Family Studies Unit and Bristol Hospital Family Unit.
A native of Cuba, Mr. Cespedes is married and has two children.
Mr. Cespedes has resided in South Central Los Angeles since 1999