Technology September 2015 Redemption Song FROM PAGE 11


there. He took action and turned his life around. And he doesn’t apologize for his past. He’s become someone people look up to.”


Another admirer of Kim’s accomplishments is Robert


Hernandez, who works with gang members in Los Angeles and is a professor at USC’s School of Social Work. The men were both graduate students at USC when they met, similarly interested in assisting vulnerable youth populations. And when Hernandez was tasked to create an undergraduate course on adolescent gang intervention, he immediately thought of Kim and got him on the phone. “I was like, ‘Would you like to work on this with me?” recalls Hernandez.


“Steve and I thought it was really important that we


humanize [gangs] and not create just some Gangs 101 course, discussing deviant behavior,” he says. “The class is really going beyond the symptoms, the tattoos, getting beneath the surface, and really looking at the root causes of this challenging issue and attempting to look at solutions.”


The fact that Kim has lived the life also lends credibility to


the lectures that he would give. “He’s able to add a whole other dimension to the curriculum that gets to some of the root causes, and by that we’re able to really delve deep and talk about a lot of the variables, such as trauma, grief and loss,” says Hernandez.


“And that’s based on anecdotal cases and scenarios that he would provide and share with the class.”


Hernandez adds, “He represents so much—that change is possible, that transformation is possible.”


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