At a time when society's reaction to juvenile crimes is to toughen crime laws, a United Methodist community center in Texas is having young people do push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, lift weights, and climb ropes.

About 30 boys ranging from 5th grade to post-high school participate in a grueling hour and a half workouts two nights a week and long distance running every Saturday at Los Duros (meaning "The Tough Ones"), a program at the Houchen Community Center, a national mission institution of The United Methodist Church in El Paso, Texas.

But beyond being a crime prevention measure, the program provides the youth an alternative way "of being in the world," according to the Reverend Sherron Courneen, who as executive secretary for community and institutional ministries of the General Board of Global Ministries, acts as a liaison between the center and the general church.

"We are in the business of empowering people. Los Duros is an outstanding example of empowerment of the youth in their local community. It provides them an alternative, a new way of being in the world, of living and thinking. It gives them some hopes and dreams that weren't there before," the Rev. Courneen added.

Los Duros' physically challenging program, now on its seventh season, climaxes with the Super Duper Killer Diller in May, which begins with a seven mile run up and down a dirt road, four rounds of body boxing bouts and strength competition. About a week later, the participants are given awards and prizes at a banquet in a fine restaurant.

While the emphasis of Los Duros is on physical fitness and health, the program has intellectual, social and spiritual components as well. It offers tutoring twice a week and a modest scholarship fund to subsidize college or other post-high school educational expenses. Participants of Los Duros have held retreats, attended youth camps, and joined in group sessions on character formation with Bible emphasis. They have also beeninvolved in service projects, a summer employment project, and special fun events.

Twenty-one year old Efrain Saenz, a computer science major at the University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP) attributes his dogged pursuit of a college degree to Los Duros. He was one of the boys that participated in Los Duros during its first season. "It was pretty tough, but you learn the lesson of achieving your goals. I wouldn't be in UTEP now if I didn't go to Los Duros," he told Kim Baca, a reporter for El Paso Times. College funding for Efrain, whose father is a migrant worker, came from supporters of the Los Duros program.

"Los Duros is a very beautiful program. We get to share each other's lives. We become united. We learn to love one another and forgive each other. It is not easy; but it is not hard because I know God is helping us," attests Joel Alvarez, Houchen Center youth coordinator and a black belt karate instructor. "It helps the youth stay out of gangs."

The idea for Los Duros was inspired by the experience of a retired minister, who said that it was "the result of a nudge from the Spirit of God." As chaplain of the Lydia Patterson Institute, the Rev. Richard C. Campbell used to organize one-day athletic competitions in which students and athletes enthusiastically participated. Using that experience as a model, the Rev. Campbell approached Houchen Center and was given the green light to go ahead with the project in January 1994. But Rev. Campbell said the leadership provided by Houchen Center Joel Alvarez was critical. "I couldn't have done it without him," Rev. Campbell claims. Currently, Jose Pepe Moreno, who is expected to graduate from UTEP this year, is also helping with the program.

The boys in Los Duros come from Segundo Barrio in El Paso, where the high school dropout rate, and the risk for gang membership is high. "What is heartbreaking," according to Rev. Campbell, "is when boys drop out of the program and disappear, because they have gotten in trouble with the law. Los Duros is the very program they need."

Considering that only two to three per cent of barrio youth go on to college, stories like those of Ephrain Saenz, and five other young men who are now in college prove that Los Duros is making a difference in the lives that it has touched. Based on his experience with the program, Rev. Campbell recommends Los Duros as a workable strategy for working with young people in similar situations. He hopes that it could be duplicated in other community centers in the country and elsewhere. Soon, he said, they will start the program with a younger age category, to be called "Pee Wees" for boys between second and fourth grades.

Houchen Community Center has been providing services for children, youth and adults since 1893. Its Child Development Center, a day care, has nearly 200 children and is considered one of the finest day care centers in El Paso. Its Food Pantry, which just a couple of years ago served 50 families a month now serves 250, and the number continues to increase each day. The center has also initiated a new program for girls, called "Mujeres Fuertes"("Women with Power").

November 29, 1999