Saving Their Community

Ed Bradley Reports On Environmental Mission In Washington D.C.

(CBS)  Brenda Richardson, a social worker with the ECC, remembered Monique Johnson, the first corps member who was killed: "She really didn't deserve that." Johnson, from that first group of recruits, was murdered three months after she started.

In 1996, Gerald Hulett was stabbed to death over $10. And a month later, Benny Jones was beaten to death with a lead pipe.

And that was just the beginning. Richardson says that nine members have been killed since the organization first started.

"We had no idea that this kind of thing would happen to us," says Richardson. "We have the wonderful opportunity to educate these kids, to watch them turn into these wonderful human beings. But the one thing we cannot protect them from is their own neighborhoods. They find something here, and then, before they even have a chance to run with it, they get gunned down."

That’s what happened to Diamond Teague, 19, the ECC’s poster boy. He was a high school honors graduate with great expectations. He was shot to death on his front porch.

"He was the only one probably in that entire crew that was squeaky clean. So no one believed it," says Smith.

The morning after his murder, Teague’s death barely rated a mention in the local newspaper.

"We just decided, 'So, OK. Since they don't want to write about it, we're gonna do it,'" says Moore, in a group interview. "We're gonna make sure that he won't be forgotten. Or he'll be brushed under the rug as just another drug dealer or robber killer who paid his dues, got killed.... We didn't want it to end up like that. So, our media arts team took on the task of telling his story."

His story is told in their documentary called "Endangered Species." What's the message they want to get out with this film?

"The message, I believe, is you have no idea what the hell's going on, right here in our nation's capital," says Nixon.

The Earth Conservation Corps knows they can’t change the world. But they feel they can help to change one river, one neighborhood, and a handful of people.

Many of those who complete the program, like Moore, who graduated and got a job, say the ECC changed them.

"I love the fact that I'm a professional woman," says Moore. "I love the fact that I don't have to wait on a welfare check for the first of the month. I like that feeling. I never want to lose that feeling. And being here put me in this place. Before I got here, it was welfare. Now that I'm finished, it's working girl. Yes, thank you. So, I'm very happy."