About Us

Sports & Recreation | Non-profit | Community Organization

Watts Community Core was started 4 years ago in response to a growing need for safe activities for youth residing in Nickerson Gardens. Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex in Watts. area of Los Angeles is infamous for gang violence. Youth in the neighborhood needed mentorship, positive role models, a safe space to play.

The goal of the No Contact Boxing program is to not only ensure that participants stay out of trouble in and outside of school and to learn skills that will enable them to excel in the arena and life.

Discipline, dedication, hard work, perseverance, etc. are all skills that youth will develop through the program. Most importantly, they will have mentors and guides to help them avoid or disengage with the gangs in the community. Watts Community Core want to ensure that all the youth in Nickerson Gardens have the opportunity to realize their dreams. To do this, they need programs and opportunity to engage with so that they can stay out of trouble.

Youth in the program will be required to attend school, share their report cards, and inform the coaches of any issues or behavior problems at school. With positive support and coaching in the program, the goal is to see grades improve, behavior infraction reduced, and gang involvement stopped. These goals will be tracked and measured during the course of the program to evaluate the program’s impact.

The Program

This program is the most effective and sustainable solution for the challenges facing youth in Nickerson Gardens because it is started and led by residents from the community who have lived there their entire lives. They seek to pass down the lessons they learned to younger generations and help them avoid some of the mistakes and pitfalls they experienced.