I've worked as a documentary photographer, videographer and writer for more than 20 years. While visiting Los Angeles in 1993, I met gang members who had come to the US as refugees fleeing the same wars I had covered as a photojournalist in Central America during the 1980s. These were young people who had come as my own immigrant family had escaping poverty and conflict, hoping for a better life. What had gone wrong for these kids? Why did so many feel they were "destined to die young?" Why were their American Dreams failing so miserably? The idea for this website came about as a way of exploring those questions. I wanted to open a window onto the lives of young people I'd met who had been abandoned by most of the adults around them. I've visited many social programs in the United States and Latin America that are trying to help young people overcome stigmatized identity and the trauma of witnessing human rights abuses or other kinds of violence. I work as a journalist publishing my photographs in magazines and newspapers. I do slideshows and lecture about my work. I have won awards for my photographs. But the numbers of kids at risk and dying continues to grow. Over the decade of the 90s the increased deportations of young people resulting from changing US immigration and criminal justice policies, spread US gangs throughout Central America. This website opens with some stories that show both the consequences of social neglect and the possibilities for making social change. My aim is to inspire young people and others who read these stories to take action. The resources listed here are a starting point. You can find help. You can find out how you can help. These problems affect our communities throughout the Americas. As my stories show, moving to another country is not a solution. There are things we all can do right where we are. Work by Donna DeCesare on the Web in English: http://www.donnadecesare.com http://www.crimesofwar.org/colombia-mag/donna.html http://www.pixelpress.org/travelogue/ http://www.allimage.com/photofund/donna.html http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/news-elsalvador.html In Spanish: http://www.revistanumero.com/34sepa.htm http://www.crimesofwar.org/cultural/spanish/donna.html Interviews with Donna DeCesare in English: http://journalism.utexas.edu/faculty/decesare.html http://www.photoprojects.org/edfxs/proj/itfld/1999/07/itfld_p1.html http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0205/latin_intro.htm http://www.alternativemuseum.org/exh_ontheline/decesare/decesare_1.html Carlos Ivonne Jessica Carlos Edgar