About this episode
Rudy Corpuz, Jr. has been a fixture in the San Francisco community as the founder of United Playaz. His work focuses on violence prevention and youth mentorship, headquartered in the SoMa District. As the child of Filipino immigrants, Rudy struggled with identity issues and began getting into trouble at an early age. This led him towards selling and eventually using drugs, which landed him in jail. After turning his life around, he got a job doing outreach to Filipino gangs who were involved in riots at Balboa High School. After helping bring Black, Samoans, and Filipinos together at the school, Rudy started United Playaz.--For promo opportunities on the podcast, e-mail info@historyofthebay.com--History of the Bay Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZUM4rCv6xfNbvB4r8TVWU?si=9218659b5f4b43aaOnline Store: https://dregsone.myshopify.com Follow Dregs One:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UNuCcJlRb8ImMc5haZHXF?si=poJT0BYUS-qCfpEzAX7mlAInstagram: https://instagram.com/dregs_oneTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@dregs_oneTwitter: https://twitter.com/dregs_oneFacebook: https://facebook.com/dregsone41500:00 How Dregs met Rudy05:42 Philippines to SF10:52 SoMa & Manilatown18:57 Identity crisis24:26 Crack era31:20 Life in SoMa35:31 Asian gangs40:24 Dope game, jail, addiction52:34 Making a change56:52 Filipino gang prevention1:08:53 United Playaz1:13:22 Working with the youth1:17:24 SoMa today