Meet Kimi Lent | Youth Intervention & Gang Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kimi Lent and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kimi, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in a family of educators and sports. I’ve lived near the ocean most of my life. I was a swimmer, surfer, and I played soccer, My father was a football coach and I learned at a young age the importance of being a team player. I also learned the importance of fairness. This gave me the passion to work in impoverished communities when I saw with my own eyes the inequities, lack of love, and despair children suffered in our underserved communities in Los Angeles. It also lead me to my work in the Criminal Justice System because I learned that justice was not given to everybody. I had a great childhood. I was loved and protected. I wanted that for all the youth. This ambition drove me to LA to witness the 1992 riots. That’s how my career path began and that’s how I became the unlikely person I am today.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a gang and violence prevention and intervention professional. My goal has always been to prevent violence and crime by using a more creative approach than the systems that be. I created an alternative high school that focused on gang members and those involved in the criminal justice system. I hired former gang members to facilitate, educate, and mentor our youth population. We helped kids graduate high school that were kicked out of traditional schools. We focused on whole person care back in the 1990’s. We had a 97% success rate. The biggest challenge from the beginning to the present is funding. After struggling for fifteen years I had to close the school as it was because people did not want to invest in troubled youth, especially if they had a gang label. They just wanted to send them to prison. LA Unified & probation often asked me for advise, but they never gave us a penny, so of course I denied any invitations to their meetings.

Working in the Criminal Justice system as a Gang Specialist has taught me a lot. It’s so difficult to defend a person that is in a gang, and not many of us do it. But I have to because I believe the prosecutors present unfair overly-broad scenarios and they use evidence that I believe is irrelevant, assuming, bias, and untrue information. I take these cases so there’s at least a glimpse of fairness. Someone has to tell the other side of the story and that’s what I do.

I now have created the Big Dogg Academy, which is thriving today, although not financially. The funding is still a big problem. There’s a lot of money for reform and interventions today, but grassroots do not get the support they deserve. We remain grassroots for a reason too. No matter how difficult it is, we must be selective about who’s giving us money and their ulterior motives.

We overcome our challenges by just keep on going. We have to be relentless. We have to be creative. We have to endure.
And I want the world to know that investing in impoverished communities in ways that the people in the community relates to, and by constructing creative and unconventional policies and laws, we can deter crime and violence and save our youth.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If I had the resources to do so, one place I’d take them to eat and learn is Alta’s restaurant in West Adams. Chef Keith, the owner, came from the Jordan Downs projects in Watts and was a gang member. He learned to cook and a lot about life in the prison kitchen that was run by inmate Tobias Tubbs, who also has an extraordinary story. Alta’s is known as a more healthy soul food restaurant with delicious food, even my students love it, but the place also has a tremendous success story and roots.

I would take them the Tupac museum, “Wake Me WhenI’m Free”, which I recently took my students to. It is a great history lesson and basically shows how far we’ve come and how far we haven’t.

I’d love to take my friend to a LA Chargers football game. Football is how I grew up and I’m a long time Charger’s fan. Player Keenan Allen gave our Big Dogg Academy tickets last season and it was such a unforgettable experience for the youth and our mentors. I know my friend would love the So Fi stadium experience.

I would take my friend to the Santa Monica pier, which is always fun with lots to do. And Hermosa Beach to actually swim and go in the surf. They have great waves and restaurants too.

I would like to take my friend to the hood to experience what I do on a daily basis, and have them attend a Big Dogg class.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people that brought to the place I’m at today, but I’d like to honor my beginnings with recognizing Kody Scott aka Monster, R.I.P. After discovering the most neglected youth in my experiences were the gang members, I read Kody’s book “Monster” to learn more about the gangs in L.A.. After reading his book we corresponded through letters until I began visiting him at Pelican Bay State Prison. This was one of my most eye-opening and disturbing experiences of my life. Long story short, Kody became my mentor and educator in so many facets. He was my first rock.

My other primary influence and supporter was Bo Taylor,, R.I.P. and the Unity One organization. Bo accepted and inspired me. He helped me collaborate with the gang intervention world. He lifted me up and gave me a sense of belonging in a world where I was often rejected and felt alone. He was my second rock. Both Kody and Bo accepted me for who I was and where I came from. They shared my passion and my dreams. I felt spiritually connected to them and still do today.

And I must recognize my students, my kids. When I loved them, they loved me back. They taught me so much about their struggles, the unfair systems, the school atrocities, their roots of violence and neglect. They are my third rock, and what has kept me motivated for so many years.

Website: bigdogggangprevention.com

Linkedin: Kimi Lent

Youtube: Big Dogg Gang Prevention Academy