getting dorchester youth off the street and out of trouble

This is cool story in the Boston Globe about a community initiative to help Vietnamese American youth in Dorchester stay out of gangs and avoid street violence, through programs like basketball and breakdancing. The idea is, if they're in here doing this, at least they're not out there doing god-knows-what: A little nudge to play offers aimless teens a turnaround.

The program largely started as a response to a brutal, gang-led beating of two teenagers in August 2007, which was caught on video and widely shared over the internet, shocking the local community. Gangs and violence among Asian youth were nothing to new to the area, but publicity surrounding the incident was a wake-up call. More here: Teaming Up.