funding for crossroads cafe was provided in part... by the departments of education of the states of... california florida, illinois...

and new york. and by the united states department of education... and the united states immigration and naturalization service.

i'm sorry i'm late. carrie couldn't find the key-- ¿ pero que paso aqui ? my feelings exactly. we better check the back. someone might still be in there. you're right. you stay here. no. i'm going with you. it's all right. there's nobody here.

all the money is here. i don't understand. - probably one of those gangs. - how do you know ? look at the wall. we are lucky they only came here to mess the place up. yes, very lucky. you are going to call the police, aren't you ? oh, yes, of course. look at this. it has chinese lettering on it. henry must have left it here when he was opening boxes. - so what is it doing in the wall ? - i don't know. maybe they wanted to show us they could do whatever they want to our property. - what shall we do with it ? - oh, just give it back to henry. oh, no ! who is that ? who do you think ? it looks like a war zone in here. have you called the police ? i was just about to. unbelievable.

mr. brashov, i knew we couldn't rely on that old alarm system. forget about it, jamal. do you want me to make a sign that says we're closed for repairs ? yes. i'm afraid we might be closed for a few days. i'll get some paint to cover up the graffiti. no, no, no. wait until the police come. all right. - i'll go check the kitchen. - be careful not to touch anything. - there might be fingerprints. - thank you... detective blake. mr. brashov, any problems with customers or anyone else in the neighborhood... who might be upset about something ? no. we have good food at good prices. why would anyone be upset ? - wow. - who's this ? - this is henry, our busboy. - what happened ? somebody thought rosa's oatmeal was too lumpy. - shouldn't you be in school ? - teacher conferences today.

- so, for that you miss school ? - hey, i don't make the rules. so, officer, any idea who might have done this ? - well, obviously, it's gang related. - what did i tell you ? probably some young kids trying to make their mark. anyway, if you think of anything else please give me a call. oh, thank you, officer rizzo. you're welcome. is it okay if we clean up now ? sure. go ahead. - we won't disturb the evidence ? - no. but thank you for staying on top of the situation. - good-bye. - so long, mr. brashov. he probably already checked for fingerprints. - i better go clean up in back. - i'll help you. i'll go get some paint. see you later, jamal. what a mess. this ought to keep me busy for a while. henry, here's your knife.

where was it ? in back. thanks. it's no big deal. i turned it in the next day. - you can't just make up your own rules. - okay, forget about it. this is not the first time edward. if it happens again you will be punished. fine. whatever. what was all that about ? sometimes i just can't stand her. what did she do now ? she gets all crazy just because i didn't get my homework done on time. - did she tell you you're throwing away your future ? - twice. - and that she only wants what's best for you ? - three times.

good old mom. - did you have to put up with all this crap ? - all the time. so how come you were late with your homework ? - hey, i don't need it from you too, okay ? - fine. hey, where did you get that ? katherine, do you know why rosa isn't here yet ? well, it's got to be one of four things. either her roommate's car is in the shop, they turned off the water in her building, her alarm clock died or-- i'm sorry. my bus was late. - that was my next guess. - but it won't happen again. you're right. it won't. it won't ? - no, i have good news for you. - you're moving to another planet.

no, my neighbor just bought a brand new car. are you purposely trying to make no sense ? - her old car would be perfect for you. - i don't think so. rosa, i thought you were saving money to buy a car. - money is not the problem. - so what is ? i can't drive. rosa, is your accent getting worse, or am i losing my hearing ? - i can't drive. - what ? - i can't drive ! - i don't believe it. - good morning, victor. mind if i come in ? - you are certainly here early. i've got to take that old jalopy i drive in to the shop so i thought i'd drop by for a cup of coffee first. that's a coincidence. i was just telling rosa about this car that i thought would be perfect for her. great ! can we change the subject ? - did i miss something here ? - the car is perfect except for one thing. - rosa can't drive. - you're kidding ? - i just haven't had time to learn. - it's so easy. - you could do it in no time. - i'm not sure. look, i'll have my car back by the end of the day. i'd be happy to teach you.

thanks, jess, but i don't think i want to drive in all that traffic. how about on sunday ? there's hardly any traffic then. - maybe next week. - rosa, what is your problem ? i guess i might be a little bit scared. a little bit ? it sounds like we're talking major phobia. there's got to be some place you could learn to drive. okay. how do you feel ? great ! this is easy. see ? i told you. just keep your eyes on the road. i am. i can see everything perfectly. excellent. so, how am i doing so far ? best indoor driver i've ever seen. hey. hi.

you're going to have to talk about it sometime. how did the knife end up at the cafe ? how should i know ? you didn't answer my question. great. now how am i going to explain this to mom ? how are you going to explain all those bruises ? i fell down at school the other day. from what, a three-story building ? - why don't you cut the crap, edward ? - that's what happened. fine. if you don't want to talk to me you can talk to mom. wait. every day they've been messing with me. - who ? - these guys. they say if i don't do what they tell me, they're going to keep beating me up even worse. - what are you talking about ? - a couple of weeks ago, they wanted money.

then they wanted me to take something from the principal's office. and then it was breaking into the restaurant. - why ? - they said it was part of joining. - what are you doing hanging around with a gang ? - i didn't want to. but they said if i didn't join they're going to keep beating me up. - why didn't you tell me ? - i wanted to take care of it myself. oh, you took care of it, all right. the cops have been all over the cafe since this thing happened. - you're going to tell anyone ? - i don't know. - so, what are you going to do ? - what do you think ? there's 20 of them and 1 of me. you may find this hard to believe,

but i haven't decided what to talk about today. i might tell you about my childhood... or show you my collection of rare coins. you might say the possibilities are endless. as you've noticed, the word that we're using to indicate possibility... is "might."

and you might be interested in getting back to the story. at least it's a possibility. if only real driving was this easy. believe me, rosa, it is. all right. now, let's say you're driving down a city street and you want to make a left-hand turn. what do you do ? i put on my left-turn signal. and if your left-turn signal is broken ? i put out my arm like this. excellent. now, you're coming up to a stoplight.

and you don't want to wait until the last minute to slow down so you start slowing down. how do i slow down ? put your foot on the brake. what brake ? it's on-- it's nice to see everything is finally back to normal. you did a good job jamal. the only problem is, every morning before i open the door, i wonder what i might find inside. - officer rizzo, hello. - mr. brashov. and who do we have here ? this is one of the punks we think broke in here the other night. - he's just a kid. - yes, well, he may be a kid, but he's running around with a pretty tough crowd. the rest of them got away from us, but we managed to run this one down. - where did you find him ? - outside another restaurant about an hour ago. he wouldn't tell us where he lives, but he said his brother works here. hello, edward. - is this your brother ? - yes. officer rizzo, there must be some

mistake. no, i don't think so. we found this on him when we picked him up. have you seen this knife before ? yes. it's the same one we found in the back after the break-in. i didn't want to bring my family's problems into the restaurant. but, henry, we are not like strangers here. i know, but it's not the same thing. what are you going to do ? i'm going to take this boy down to the station. please, let me call his parents. - this boy needs to be taught a lesson. - of course. what he did was wrong. but what if we came up with a plan to stop this gang ? a plan that henry's brother would be a part of ? i'm listening.

[ narrator ] in cities large and small, in countries around the world, gangs have become an unfortunate aspect of modern life. gangs exist for a couple of reasons. one, they provide a sense of belonging a sense of status, a sense of family protection and a safe harbor... for youngsters who have become alienated, who have developed a low self-esteem, see life as basically being hopeless... and are looking for a place to be accepted. it's good to be in a gang because of the money and the power. they are my family right here. i'm with them every day, and they're with me all the way. we belong together. as a seventh grader, manaia petaia was involved with a gang called the s.o.s. but today, he's teaching children to resist the temptation...

of gang membership. what made the difference for him ? a very determined volleyball coach. a lot of the kids that i hung out with... were involved in gangs. and i truly believe that if mr. muenzer didn't take the time... to work with not only myself but the rest of my family and friends, we would probably be involved in gangs... or, you know, we'd probably be in jail, you know. or even dead. he's definitely a positive role model. who in this classroom knows somebody who's been shot before ? a lot of you. i didn't give up on him. i just kept saying, "come on i need you on this team." and i made it hard for him to say "no." if you join a gang are you the only one who gets hurt ? no. yeah. who else ? the other ones. bystanders. okay, the bystanders we talked about. now i'm in the position where i hope i'm making the same difference.

okay. now. what are some of the ways we can say "no" to negative peer pressure ? i don't do that kind of stuff that's bad for you... and it can get you in a lot of trouble. [ narrator ] across the country schools and community groups... are uniting to teach children the dangers of joining a gang... before it's too late. a lot of these children, they live in the community. they know about gangs and maybe some of them have relatives brothers and sisters that are involved. so we try to teach them the skills that they need so they can make a choice, a better choice, so they don't fall and make that wrong choice. remember we talked about this one boy who joined a gang ? and all of a sudden, he wanted to quit the gang. they burned his house down. with this program, we try to instill in the children that once you make a bad choice, it's not as easy to just one day say, "well, i changed my mind. i don't want to be part of this group anymore." if you try, you can get hurt. not only you, but your family members can get hurt. so bottom line is, we're trying to help them save their own lives.

it's not as fun anymore, like when i was a kid. it's like you're in a deep hole and you can't find your way out. no, i have better things and we can get in trouble for that. [ narrator ] as part of this program, students role-play options they can use to avoid trouble with gang members. okay. chicken. lorenzo moss. students who complete the nine-week program... are recognized at a graduation ceremony. in addition to their teaching assignments members of the team conduct gang awareness programs... for parents and community leaders... and respond to requests for one-on-one counseling. i don't know. i do get bored real fast at school. and then i get in trouble a lot too. and now i'm being kicked out. if the schools or administrators have a really high-risk student or at-risk student... or even someone that they may even have a feeling... that needs the extra one-on-one attention

we do that. do you live with mom and dad ? no, i just live with my mom. how does she feel about the whole thing, seeing you come and go come and go to all these different schools ? well, she gets mad at me. she tells me, "why do you do that ?" and this and that. or someone looks at you or says something, just ignore them. the fact of the matter is, you need to be in school. so what i'm going to do is i'll talk to mom also. we'll go through the different options that you have, and maybe she can help you make a choice. maybe you together. i do this program because... it's my way of giving back to the community that gave so much to me. it's sort of like... i was one of them. and maybe one day they can be one of me. who in this classroom is not going to join a gang ? is not ? is not going to join a gang ? is that a promise ? yes. okay. think you've got it now ? yes, i think so.

good. did you call him yet ? yes. i'm meeting him at 8:00 tomorrow night. - i still don't know how to get him to the restaurant. - you'll think of something. yes. all right. i'll show you again. - what is going on in here ? - nothing. - well, could you do nothing a little more quietly ? - sorry. - edward, have you finished your homework yet ? - almost. your father wants to check it over when you're through. - henry ? - hmm ? could you teach your brother something useful ? - maybe you should tell them what happened. - it wouldn't do any good. any time there's a problem with outsiders, all they do is smile and look down. wrong. you have no idea what you're talking about. they've had to stand up to much more than anyone in that stupid gang ever will. all right. come on, your turn. you got a long way to go little brother.

where did you get the key ? i stole it from my brother. well, you're not as stupid as you look. well, where did you say the safe was ? it's in back. let's do it. - hey, what's going on ? - let's get out of here. get out of my way. come on ! let's go ! that's pretty good. you think you can stop all of us by yourself ? he does not have to stop you by himself. - oh, and who's going to help him ? you ? - yes.

- i'll help him too. - me too. - so will i. - and me. me too. so will i. - so will i. - so will i. these are all the people who live and work in this neighborhood. and they will not run away from you or your friends. you wait until tomorrow night. we'll be back with the others, and then we'll see how tough you are. i don't think so. thank you, officer rizzo. you haven't solved anything, mr. brashov, but it's a good first step.

okay, i've washed all the pots and pans. now what ? clean up the stove then the refrigerator. and when you're finished with that start mopping the floor. how long does your brother have to work here ? mr. brashov said three weeks would be enough to pay for all the damages. - that seems fair. - well, i was hoping it would be a little longer than that. - why ? - i'm really going to miss bossing him around. - see you tomorrow. - you're leaving a little early, aren't you ? tell her, rosa. - i'm on my way to a driving lesson. - where's jamal's cart ? i meant my first real driving lesson in a real car. so how did you finally get up the nerve ? i decided if people around here can stand up to those gangsters i can probably stand up to rush-hour traffic. i'm sure you will do fine. - i do have one small word of advice. - what is it ? - when you are out on the road, driving ? - yes ? keep away from tables and chairs.

closed-captioned by captions, inc. los angeles

crossroads cafe is a series that teaches english... to speakers of other languages. for more information call toll-free:

august 9, 1999. on december 8, 1997. november 30, 2002. i was hit by a drunk driver. i lost both of my legs. a stranger tried to kill me with a hammer. our 7-year-old son evan was murdered after signing up for basketball. i was severely beaten in a hate crime. i was raped. when your child is murdered, it's devastating. you have to re-think life again. it just keeps on running over and over in my head all the time. while i was in the hospital, a friend told me about victims' services. they helped me with my medical expenses. they helped me with counseling.

a victims' advocate stood by us through the court process. victim assistance paid all my hospital bills. i needed them to fight for me while i was fighting for my life. with the right help, you can move on with your life. i will dance the salsa again. justice isn't served until crime victims are. i think it breaks a little to the left. uh-uh. to the right. nope. straight. girl: come on!

i told you it was going right. ♪ get up, get up, get up ♪ ♪ and be a playah ♪ ♪ get up, get up, get up ♪ ♪ get up, get up, get up ♪ ♪ and be a playah ♪ players: get up and play. an hour a day. announcer: for fun play-time ideas, go online-- just don't stay long. ♪ get up, get up, get up ♪