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Job training to replace Gang injunctions

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The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to pay up to $30 million over four years to fund job-readiness programs for gang members who were among a group that successfully sued the city over its gang injunction curfews.

If the settlement receives federal court approval, the funds would be doled out to nonprofits that will offer job training, apprenticeship programs and tattoo removal for gang members who are part of the class of plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The city would pay at least $1.125 million but no more than $7.5 million annually into the programs over four years.

The City Council also agreed to no longer enforce curfew provisions that were deemed unconstitutionally vague as a result of the 2011 lawsuit.

The settlement also calls for additional funds to go toward the education of the minor daughters of two of the plaintiffs.

City Attorney Mike Feuer said “the settlement ends a five-year court battle by creating an innovative pathway for individuals served with gang injunctions to gain the job skills they need to turn their lives around.”

Councilman Paul Krekorian said he was “proud that we reached a constructive resolution of this case that focuses on gang prevention and intervention efforts.”

Olu K. Orange, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the city’s gang injunction curfews “forced several thousand Black and Brown residents of Los Angeles indoors on a nightly basis.”

“These individuals are part of the Los Angeles community and this settlement is a step by city leaders toward showing them that their lives do matter,” Orange said.

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