Velasquez grew up in the east San Fernando Valley and attended California State University, Northridge, where he helped set up a landmark gang peace conference that brought 1,500 gang members to campus to sign a peace treaty that lasted 18 months. He worked for ten years as a counselor for Community Youth Gang Services. Involving gang youth in painting murals was an important part of his job, because the relaxed yet structured process helped them communicate with him and with each other.(Robin K. Dunitz, Street Gallery, Guide to over 1000 Los Angeles Murals)
