Nearly 50 former inmates graduated yesterday from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s “Emerging Leaders Academy,” which gives ex-cons help with life skills, career development, entrepreneurship and job placement.
Carlos Duarte said he used to try to fit in by being involved with a bad crowd.
“Now I do feel like I’m part something. Now I feel significant to myself,” Duarte said to applause from his classmates at a graduation ceremony in Culver City.
Dr. Richard Weintraub of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the program produces real
“These people are living proof of that,” he said.
Participants in the ceremony included Assistant Sheriff Richard Barrantes, Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell, the Rev. Michael Bernard Beck with the Agape International Spiritual Center and La Puente City Councilman David Argudo.
