| Helping
Teens Through 'Barrios Unidos' |
By Christopher L.
Moore 
Observer Staff Writer |
| Juan Pacheco gathers a bunch of teenagers from the back
of his white Honda Accord. He herds them up over a hill at
Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Herndon with a camera crew and
some television producers. |
| The teenagers look like average young residents of Herndon
or Reston. They are dressed for the weather this Saturday
in March, wearing sweatshirts, coats and jeans. |
| Pacheco's young looks make him seem like one of the teenagers.
He's dressed casually, with a black fleece pullover, a knit
winter cap, blue jeans, with a black backpack thrown over
his shoulder student-style. |
| He speaks in Spanish or English, and sometimes both. He
has a great rapport with children, and he always greets people
with a warm smile. But if you knew Pacheco was associated
with a gang, you might not take the time to understand his
relationship to the teenagers he is with today. |
| Pacheco is being honored at the upcoming Best of Reston
awards banquet for his work with the group Barrios Unidos,
which is helping Reston and Northern Virginia teenagers avoid
getting into trouble on the streets and focus on education,
careers, and being productive. |
| On this Saturday morning he and a group of Barrios Unidos
teenagers are filming a series of commercials that will be
put together and turned into public service announcements
for television broadcast. |
| For this first shot of the day, the cameraman directs four
of the children to stand, downcast and sad, in front of a
gravestone, pretending to mourn the death of one of their
friends through violence. |
| Pacheco watches from the background, letting the teenagers
be teenagers and the production crew do their work. He only
steps in to offer advice when one of the girls needs to change
sweatshirts with someone else for the shot. |
| Although he doesn't like to talk about it, Juan Pacheco
knows about the gang life. He knows about street violence.
He knows about attitude. He knows about acting tough and being
tougher. He knows what its like to try to get respect by being
irresponsible. |
| It is his experience as a gang member when he was a teenager,
as a person involved with violence, and as a person who has
committed felonies and spent time in jail, that now drives
Pacheco to teach a younger generation to steer clear of trouble. |
| Pacheco said his mother and father came to Falls Church
from El Salvador because they wanted to provide a safe place
for their children to grow up, away from the violent rebellions
that were shaking their country. |
| But only a few years later, as young teenager, Pacheco said
he became involved with thugs and gangs on the streets of
Northern Virginia. He said he saw his friend shot and killed
in front of him, the victim of a gang dispute, and that wasn't
even enough to break him away from gang life. |
| Pacheco won't talk about the crimes for which he was convicted,
but he said the jail time he served helped to turn him around.
When he got out of jail, he took a job at a Boston Chicken
cutting vegetables, the lowest position at the restaurant. |
| But he felt calm for some reason, content. So he worked
harder. Soon, he was washing dishes, a step up from vegetable-cutting.
A short time later he was the manager of the store, entrusted
with the keys and the money. And the responsibility with which
he was entrusted turned him around. |
| He now attends George Mason University on a path that he
says leads straight to becoming a pediatrician. He won't say
he wants to be a pediatrician. He says he will be one. Sitting
in a booth at Pizza Hut, Pacheco lights up when questioned
about why he changed his life and now works to help children.
"If there's no medium for them to excel, then they won't be
doing anything," he said. |
| The perception that teenagers are involved with trouble,
associated with gangs or violence, hurts teenagers, Pacheco
said. He now recognizes the sacrifices his family made for
him, and he's working to live up to their respect by helping
other teenagers understand the futility of fighting their
peers. |
| "I've hurt people who actually love me, and myself," he
said. |
| Pacheco describes the loss of friends, pride, respect, life,
trust, and dignity that went along with his experience in
a gang. Now he spends time guiding other, younger, people
away from making the same mistakes. |
| Erica Garcia, a junior at South Lakes High School, said
Pacheco, and the Barrios Unidos program, has helped her by
making her feel included as a Hispanic. "I know that if I
had a problem and I could call him and he would help me out,"
she said. "He's like a role model, so he's a good person." |
| Carlos Palacios, 19, of Reston met Pacheco and now holds
a paid position as one of the leaders of Barrios Unidos in
Reston. He said he is trying to focus on the future and help
other children not to make the same mistakes he has. |
| "He know all my problems," Palacios said of Pacheco. "You
learn from other people's mistakes. I'm going to pay attention
to the guy. He has something good to say." |
| Jesus Fuentes is 18 years old and is known as the comedian
of the group. After the scene at Chestnut Grove, Fuentes was
the primary actor in a scene at Baron Cameron Park in Reston
where two policemen handcuff and arrest a gang member. |
| Fuentes said Pacheco is endowed with a "realness" because
of his experiences that makes his advice and leadership more
believable and reliable. "He's a person that I can trust,"
Fuentes said. "I can talk to him about anything. He's the
type of person that I can relate to." |
| Barrios Unidos meets every other week at the Reston Community
Center. The teenagers who show up discuss various problems
they face and help each other solve problems, with the help
of guidance from Pacheco and Palacios. |
| Barrios Unidos of Northern Virginia is a non-profit organization,
founded in 1995, association with the National Coalition for
Barrios Unidos, which is based in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Northern
Virginia group is located at 6053 Argyle Dr. #7, in Falls
Church. Call 703-845-0400 |
| The Best of Reston Awards will be held April 25 at the Hyatt
Regency Reston. |
| The honorees for this year's Best of Reston Awards for Community
Service are: Janice Lee Arnold, M.D., Booz Allen Hamilton,
Myers Public Relations, LLC, Bill Nicoson, Juan F. Pacheco,
Ann Rodriguez, and Washington Gas. An audio-visual presentation
highlighting each of the award winners is on the program. |
| Call 703-787-3126. |
