There is a vacant lot at the corner of Quincy St and Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury, next door to a storefront bearing the name "Gang Peace." The ground is mostly dirt interrupted by patches of grass, but the place is pretty clean. It wasn't always that way.

Rodney Dailey, the founder and executive director of Gang Peace, says that there used to be "bags of trash" all over the lot. The trash represented the "subculture of the community," says Dailey. A subculture which helps to "breed delinquent youth."

Dailey and Gang Peace are trying to clean up.

The Gang Peace office is cramped. Just a small room with a TV and VCR for about 20-30 kids from the neighborhood who are in almost every day. AIDS education posters compete with quotes from Malcolm X on the walls. A flyer for the play "Our Young Black Men Are Dying and Nobody Seems To Care" lies on the table.

For these kids, the office is a place to hang out, a youth center of sorts.

5: 45 rolls around. The guys have beenhangin' out. Chillin'. Watching rap videos.They're waiting for the man, Rodney. Not The Man.But "de man." He's late, and his boys are startingto grumble.

Rodney is coming to lead a men's support group.But these are teenagers, not men. Teenagers whoare arguing about who is going to pay for pizzawhile waiting to talk about AIDS, drugs, andstaying alive.

"Where's Rodney?" they are asking.

"He told us 5:30," one says. They start todrift out the door, disappointed.

Another Gang Peace volunteer, Keith Meredith,31, tries to start the meeting in Rodney'sabsence. No luck.

"Why can't we start without Rodney? What wouldyou guys do without Rodney? What if he died orsomething?" he asks the group, challenging themand expecting a "We don't need Rodney"-typeresponse. But his questions lingered and remainedunanswered.

Then Rodney arrives. As soon as he gets out ofhis grey Gang Peace van, he is surrounded by theboys. He asks who wants to go with him to see aplay at the Strand Theater that weekend.

"Can we get in free? Will Gang Peace pay forour ticket?" is the common refrain.

Dailey is slightly annoyed at their attitude.He complains that they're always asking for thingsto be given to them.

Alternately scolding and cajoling, running theshow, planning activities, Dailey might well bethe father of a large family. Indeed, a surrogatefather is just what he seems to be.