Our Vision & Mission
Founded in 2005 by Gonzalo Rucobo, the Bay Area Peacekeepers is a nonprofit based in Richmond, California. A hub of America’s wartime defense sector and industrial ingenuity, Richmond and California’s East Bay has fallen on hard times as jobs have vanished, confidence has waned, and crime, especially committed by juveniles, has steadily increased.
Our mission at Bay Area Peacekeepers is to begin the rebuilding process at the grassroots level, helping area children cope with all manner of trauma to become who they are meant to be. Throughout history, the most effective reconstruction efforts begin not with bricks and mortar but hearts and minds. Our mission, as we see it, is showing area youths that just because the terrain is treacherous does not mean it is unnavigable. All they need is hope, a workable plan, and some good friends.
Our Staff
Gonzalo Ruboco, Director
Gonzalo grew up in Richmond and was once a gang member himself. But in 1991, his wife and two baby daughters were shot at while she was driving his car. They were not hurt, but the event shook Gonzalo. Soon, he began full time gang intervention work with Familias Unidas and in 2000 Gonzalo moved on to work at Centerforce at San Quentin State Prison with men returning to the greater Bay Area.
In 2005 Gonzalo co-founded Bay Area Peacekeepers designed to touch those individuals that the community and society has given up on.