Big Brother’s Weekly Visit Not Enough To Leave Lasting Positive Impact On Inner City Teen’s Life

Fourteen-year-old Emilio Cortez’s father is in prison, his mother is addicted to drugs, and he lives in a rundown section of Los Angeles several miles from the University of Southern California. When Indiana native Carey Smith signed on to be his Big Brother six months ago, hopes were high—now, with Cortez under suspicion for car theft, gang activity, and recovering from a knife wound to the arm, Smith is beginning to wonder whether the two hours he spent with the kid each week have had much of a lasting impact.

“You know, where I come from,” a dejected Smith says, “everyone took care of each other, we all had yards and safe neighborhoods. When I moved to Hollywood to work in post production, I had no idea LA was such a shithole—it’s like you’re in the slums of Mexico. The Big Brother organization was my chance to give to an underprivileged kid, but now I think he knows more about life than I ever will.”

Smith recounted how on a trip to the zoo Cortez paid little attention to the animals, rather slipping off with some shady characters behind a bathroom. Later at a Dodgers baseball game, the teenager managed to get his hands on two large beers. And finally, when Smith went to pick him up for a day at the Santa Monica Pier, Cortez was waiting for him in a black 2007 BMW.

“He had actually stolen the car that morning to show off to me, he thought I would be proud that he’d do something like that for me, for our special outing. I guess I just couldn’t reach him.”

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