Articles in this section:
NCTSN Briefs Congress on Culture and Trauma
NCTSN Presents at Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit
That's a Rap?
www.NCTSN.org Gets an Overhaul
www.NCTSN.org Recognized in
Pocket Guide to Evidence-Based Practices on the Web
NCTSN Welcomes New Staff

That’s A Rap? 

Not long after she participated in a panel discussion on violence and gang involvement among youth in Los Angeles, Marleen Wong of the Los Angeles Unified School District Treatment and Service Adaptation Center received a phone call from a record producer from Epicenter Records.

“At the time I thought it was kind of weird, but now I think it's kind of cool.” Wong recalls. What’s cool is that Wong’s voice and words can be heard on the latest album of the Latin rapper known as Chazz on a track entitled “Behind Bars.” The song depicts the pitfalls of gang life as told by an imprisoned ex-gang member.

“I thought it was very creative of the artist to go beyond his scope to find material,” says Wong. She received the phone call around the time that famed ex-gang member and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley ‘Tookey’ Williams’ death sentence was being reviewed by the governor of California. “[Williams] had a very positive message because of his past. He did a lot to get that message out to kids who might be on the same path that he was on. Like it or not, kids listen to those who they believe have street credibility.”

Wong isn’t a fan of rap music, but her children are and they interpret the lyrics for her on occasion. "My daughter and I commute to work together everyday and we’ve

gotten into some very interesting and philosophical discussions based on the lyrics of a rap song," she recalls. "Lyrics in rap songs have a lot about real life in them and kids pick up on it because it’s being delivered to them in language they can relate to.”

Wong is also credited as a lyrist on the album’s cover.

NCTSN Presents at Juvenile
Defender Leadership Summit

Susan Ko conducted a workshop, "What Juvenile Defenders Need to Know to Help Traumatized Children and Adolescents," at the National Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit on October 22, 2005, in Los Angeles.  Ko, Service Systems Core director for the NCCTS at UCLA, also presented information on the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. The leadership summit provided was a great opportunity to help make child-serving systems more trauma-informed, and potentially develop a partnership with the National Juvenile Defender Center. 

Both presentations were received with great energy and enthusiasm. They highlight our need to continue to work on developing trauma information resources and training opportunities for front-line professionals across a diverse array of child-serving systems.