In Pasadena, the Survivors Become the Healers

On the eve of graduating from a program that teaches people to prevent street violence, a Pasadena father received the worst possible news: His son had been shot dead.

But despite his grief, the father made certain his final program project on community healing would be presented to his graduating classmates, a huge effort that validated how important that graduation was to the bereaved father.

That act crystallizes what The Institute is about—a place where those who’ve survived gang wars, lost children to bullets, and endured the streets become the teachers. In a radical departure from traditional violence-prevention efforts, 80 percent of the instructors aren’t outsiders with theories. They’re neighbors with scars.

“These people really know the community and the underbelly, put it that way, the underbelly of community … in ways that no political space could, no data could, and no professor or teacher could,” said Florence Annang, who co-founded the program and teaches community organizing.

A former Police Oversight Commissioner, Annang also serves as Third Vice President of the NAACP Pasadena Branch and directs THRIVE Learning Lab NW Pasadena.

The Institute represents a bet that expertise born from conflict and pain might succeed where academic approaches are less effective.

Since its 2021 revival—resurrected from an earlier incarnation (Vision 2020 Institute, 2010-2015) during a spike in violence—nearly 70 graduates have completed the 10-week program.

The reboot expanded from seven to 11 modules and implemented stipends for participants and facilitators to ensure equitable participation. They’ve launched fathers’ groups, support networks for grieving mothers, and reentry programs for the formerly incarcerated.

The curriculum reads like a survival guide written by survivors.

Chris Finney teaches gang history. K-Rahn Vallatine, a trauma specialist with Live Above the Hype, helps participants recognize how violence reshapes entire communities.

“A lot of the responses that we’re dealing with in our community, or reactions I should say, are trauma reactions,” Vallatine explained. “When we’re looking at what we have, the behaviors we have normalized, particularly in what we call in the so-called ‘hoods, we find that we have a trauma organized culture.”

Other modules include Leadership (Brandon Lamar), Mental Health (Eshele Williams), Financial Literacy (Diana Zuniga), Gender Dynamics (Hilda Franco), and Restorative Justice (Raul Ibanez).

Annang, who also serves as lead organizer for Pasadenans Organizing for Progress, teaches organizing strategies drawn from Black and Brown activism, including the “inside-outside game” and “pocket campaigns” that address immediate financial needs while building toward systemic change. The approach assumes participants already possess deep community knowledge—they just need frameworks to channel it.

The results suggest the model works.

Edwin Hernandez created Dads Are Dependable Solutions (D.A.D.S.), training eight fathers in leadership.Heavenly Hughes, who had founded My Tribe Rise, graduated from The Institute for violence prevention right before the fire. . Andrea McCraw launched Emancipate Me, connecting the formerly incarcerated to resources.

Some graduates now serve on nonprofits, work at organizations like Rose Bowl Community Engagement and the Pasadena Job Center, or have run for City Council.

“The common thread is relationships … whether I’m talking to a mother or a parent, or whether I’m talking to a councilmember or whether I’m talking to the police chief, they’ve all come out of relationships,” Annang said.

The Institute runs cohorts twice yearly and is developing a summer program for high school students. Each graduation adds to a growing network of community members who’ve transformed their trauma into teaching.

At 236 West Mountain Street, neighbors are proving that perhaps the best teachers for a wounded community are those who’ve bled alongside it—and learned how to heal.

For more information, contact Florence Annang at avisiontovictory@icloud.com