Paul Carrillo is the co-founder and executive director of Southern California Crossroads, a nonprofit organization providing young people with alternative programs to gangs, drugs and violence. For more than a decade, Carrillo has worked in the youth and gang violence field, providing services in schools, hospitals, jails and in various communities throughout Los Angeles.
Carrillo grew up in South Los Angeles, raised around drugs, gangs, violence and poverty. Many of his family members were gang affiliated, and as a teenager, he realized how hard it was to remain positive in a troublesome environment. With family members murdered and friends sentenced to prison, he found a way out.
In 2012, Carrillo co-founded the annual L.A. Gang Violence Prevention and Intervention Conference, which brings together professionals from around the world to share best practices, data-proven models, new trends and solutions to youth and gang violence challenges. In 2010, Carrillo was an original steering committee member for Google’s SAVE (Summit Against Violent Extremism), which took place in Dublin, Ireland. He was recently awarded the “Hospital Hero Award” by the Hospital Association of Southern California for implementing violence prevention programs for youth in L.A. County.
Carrillo has worked in El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic as a consultant, sharing his expertise in the area of youth and gang violence prevention. His current projects include research on the issue of cyber violence.
