Coach Javier: Youth Alive Showed Up For Me
Programs like Youth Alive’s TNT and Pathways are so important because after a violent incident, most people don’t know how to conduct their lives. But with programs like these, people can actually have good outcomes in their lives – and hope for their future.
At 17, just hours after a high school dance in December of 2006, Javier Arango was shot in the spine when another group fired a rain of bullets into the car he was sitting in with friends in East Oakland, leaving him permanently paralyzed. Having emigrated from a small town outside of Medellín, Colombia, he thought life would be safer in the U.S., but instead found himself caught in Oakland’s cycles of violence.
“When I was shot, the only people who came to my bedside were my stepmom and stepsister, the OPD investigator trying to find out why I was shot, and then a case manager from Youth Alive, named Rafael Vazquez,” Javier recalls. Because he was now in a wheelchair, Youth Alive helped him return to high school and graduate, covering transportation services so he could attend therapy 2-3 times a week. His counselor would pick him up, wait for him, and drive him home to keep him safe.
At the time, Javier only had asylum status. His case manager Rafael took him to the U.S. Embassy in San Francisco to begin the process for proper documentation. “He helped me, and he helped my mother to help me. Now my mother is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and so am I.” Rafael also worked to keep Javier away from retaliation, enrolling him in programs like the now-defunct Youth Radio, where he learned music engineering, and finding activities to keep him off the streets.
When Javier was transferred from Highland Hospital in Oakland to San Jose for physical and occupational therapy, his counselor continued visiting with him regularly. “All my family was back in Colombia. My life coach became like family. I didn’t have a lot of people, and my friends couldn’t get to San Jose.”
After receiving services from Youth Alive, Javier worked with Catholic Charities of the East Bay for ten years, learning restorative justice practices, mentorship, and peace circles, and was mentored by Ricardo Peña. When that work ended, he rested for a year before deciding to find work again. “I thought about the people who first helped me. I thought – okay, first it was Youth ALIVE.” One day, he decided to visit when he saw Executive Director Dr. Joseph Griffin with his office window open and shared his story and desire to work with youth. When a position opened, Joe invited him for an interview.
Today, Javier is a Life Coach with Youth Alive, working at his alma mater, Castlemont High School, mentoring students with compassion and wisdom rooted in lived experience. He also coaches the junior varsity boys’ soccer team, taking them to Oakland Roots games to build confidence, connection, and joy.
Earlier this year, he coordinated an entire back-to-school assembly with our Teens on Target team, school-based Violence Interrupters, and Turf Inc. An avid supporter of Turf Inc, led by his best friend Johnny Lopez, Javier is always showing up for the community – supporting events, organizing positive activities, and being a steady role model.
“With the youth I mentor now, it’s the joy of knowing you’re making a different impact on their lives. Everything isn’t just about bad outcomes – there are people out there who care, who help you steer your life in a different way. The streets steered me into being someone unproductive to society, so. But to know I’ve changed my life, and to help others change theirs the way people helped me – it gives me so much passion and love for this work. Every day, I show up excited to help young men succeed, so they don’t end up locked up or dead in the streets."