Rams News | Los Angeles Rams - therams.com

By Wyatt Miller

WATTS, Calif. – Donny Joubert, President of Watts Gang Task Force, was shocked when the Rams presented him with a $5,000 check, made out to his organization.

He accepted the check on a brand-new miniature football field at the Nickerson Gardens Playground in Watts, next to the recreation center where Joubert has served the community for over 35 years. The Rams partnered with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles to donate and install the field, with a giant, cursive "Rams" in the middle, which lies next to basketball courts donated by the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Some of these kids really haven't played on a field like that and to have it here, brought to them in their community, I'm blown away," Joubert said.

Joubert, who grew up in the area, helped create the "One Watts" initiative in 2005, aiming to help prevent gang violence in and around Watts, improve quality of life and help gang members' employment potential. Joubert has worked closely with the outreach workers and ambassadors since then to form relationships with key organizations, like the Rams.

"We've worked here in this rec center over 35 years, trying to provide sports, trying to provide things that these kids don't get," Joubert said. "And to build these relationships with the Rams, the Lakers… I'm just, I don't know what to say, I'm just so excited."

The Watts Gang Task Force served as the lead agency for the "One Watts" initiative when it launched. Since then, they've grown into an organization that protects the entire Watts community.

Two years after that launch, the violent crime in Watts was reduced by 50%, according to the Watts Gang Task Force website.

"This commitment to building relationships between rival gangs, law enforcement and the community has improved to the point where now community leaders have the cell phone numbers of LAPD area captains and leadership, who are responsive 24/7," the site says.

In addition to that, The Community Safety Partnership program was created in tandem with the Advancement Project. It is a reflection of "reciprocal commitment to relationship-building" between the police department, the Housing Authority and the diversity of Watts residents, according to the website.

Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development in Los Angeles, and is home to many of the families who were in attendance at the event. Joubert has spent most of his life serving that community, and said to be recognized by the Rams for his efforts is an incredible feeling, but it all comes back to the kids.

"It just means a lot and to see them kids," Joubert said. "And I seen one of the commercials (the Rams) did: 'who got my back?' And we took that, because we say 'we got your back.'"

At the event, local kids were invited to play on their new field with Rams running back Kyren Williams and safety Quentin Lake. They threw the ball around, ran drills and played games with two of the Rams' biggest stars.

"I think it's important for us, especially as athletes, to be in our community and just kind of show them that, you know, this is potentially their way out," Lake said. "Use 'athlete' as a propellant to move on to bigger and better things."

Joubert was left speechless by the generosity and joy on display on the beautiful new turf surface that was previously filled with dirt and a few patches of grass.

"It's going to be hard getting them off that field, but just looking at them kids and seeing the joy and the happiness in the kids in our community just blows me away," Joubert said.