andre jolly is himself a convicted felon and recovering substance abuser. >> i have an 8-year-old son and i have a 7-year-old son, and what i'm trying to do right now is be in their lives, be a father, and i think that's a big part of the problem. a lot of the fathers here are even incarcerated or dead. >> reporter: but west baltimore has not given up. father and ex-marine brandon gibson brought his children out today to join others in cleaning up debris in the neighborhood his family came from. >> we can cry and we can have sorrow about all the bad things that are happening and all the things that are going wrong such as the tensions world trade center police and the things in the neighborhood, but, you know, at the end of the day, you're going to have to take action and you're going have to do something positive to make that positive change. >> a lot of older people here old enough to remember the riots of '68 have been trying to reach out to young people throughout the day reminding them that violence in their own neighborhood only continues to set them back. >>> president obama to