A joint effort of the City of Paramount and the Paramount Unified School District, the ATGM program aims to eliminate the source of future gang membership by teaching children the harmful consequences of this lifestyle, to avoid participation in it, and to choose positive alternatives. This approach is based on the belief that interest in gangs begins at a young age. Begun in 1982, the ATGM program has three components: an elementary school antigang curriculum, an intermediate school follow-up program, and neighborhood meetings. Evaluations are conducted periodically to assess the effectiveness of the program. The elementary school antigang curriculum has two components: one for fifth graders and one for the second grade. In the fifth grade program, a city neighborhood counselor presents a 55-minute lesson once a week for 15 weeks. The second grade component consists of 10 weekly lessons that are 40 minutes long. The intermediate school follow- up program reinforces the values and ideas that children learned at the elementary level as well as reaches those children that have not been exposed to the ATGM program. Taught at the 7th grade level, the follow-up program consists of eight bi-weekly lessons that expand on the topics introduced in the second and fifth grades, such as peer pressure and drug abuse. A major emphasis of the ATGM program is to work closely with parents by encouraging them to attend neighborhood meetings at schools, churches, parks, community centers, and the homes of concerned parents. In Paramount, more than 9,000 children have participated in the program that began in 1982. Additionally, an average of 50 neighborhood meetings have been held each year. Four separate evaluation studies show that the program has been effective in instilling negative attitudes toward gangs and fostering alternatives to gang membership. Program materials provided include illustrations used in the program, curriculum materials, program start-up information, and a slide show narration.