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El Sol empowers men to become healers, leaders, and builders of generational wealth through art, storytelling, and community development. We cultivate fatherhood, entrepreneurship, and civic leadership rooted in culture and healing, helping men strengthen families, revitalize neighborhoods, and create lasting pathways to prosperity.
We envision a future where men rise as beacons of strength and compassion, grounded in positive masculinity, leading with purpose, and driving the development of thriving, self-sustaining communities. Through creativity, leadership, and collective healing, El Sol shines light on a new generation of fathers, business owners, and community leaders who transform their world from within.
El Sol (“The Sun”) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to Community Violence Intervention (CVI) and men’s wellbeing in. The organization is designed to address persistent community violence by engaging adult and young men at the highest risk of harm, both as victims and as drivers of violence, through culturally grounded, trauma-informed intervention and stabilization strategies.
El Sol will focuses on males ages 12–55 in Southwest Detroit and surrounding communities who are disconnected from stable employment, family systems, and supportive institutions, and who face elevated exposure to violence, incarceration, and untreated trauma. By combining street-based outreach and violence interruption with mental-health support, fatherhood engagement, and pathways to economic opportunity, El Sol will address the root causes of violence rather than its symptoms.
This model is grounded in decades of proven practice and lived experience. El Sol is founded by Alexis "Lex" Zavala, a nationally recognized CVI practitioner whose work has shaped Detroit’s public safety and violence-prevention landscape for more than 20 years. His leadership brings rare credibility, cultural fluency, and operational expertise necessary to reach individuals and networks that traditional systems cannot.
El Sol exists to meet this moment by formalizing proven approaches into a dedicated institution capable of restoring safety, strengthening families, and building long-term community stability.
Alexis “Lex” Zavala is a sixth-generation Detroiter and one of the most experienced Community Violence Intervention and youth development leaders in Southwest Detroit. Raised during the height of Detroit’s drug war and mass incarceration era, Lex carries lived experience, cultural fluency, and longstanding trust with both street networks and institutions. In Lex is equally trusted by residents, street networks, and institutional partners, granting him the unique ability to repair fractured relationships and unite stakeholders around shared safety and healing.
Over 22 years at DHDC, Lex served as Interim Executive Director, COO, Development Director, Program Director, Youth Development Director, and Community Organizer; designing, leading, and training Detroit’s longest-standing CVI strategies. He also developed and led one of Michigan’s largest youth development programs, grounded in gang prevention, STEAM education, and leadership development.
Lex is the creator of signature community innovations including Freedom Ink Tattoo Removal, Inception’s Reset Station, Urban Graphix Printshop, and Fantazma Market & Café, expanding economic opportunity, mental wellness, and safe community space. His impact extends beyond Detroit, providing technical assistance and training to CVI and youth-serving organizations nationally and internationally through the Department of State & Global Ties Detroit. Lex has provided Technical Assistance to NGOs and political leaders from over two dozen countries–including Middle Eastern and African organizations who work with youth at risk of joining terrorist groups.
His leadership is recognized at the state and district level through appointments on the Michigan/MDHHS CVI Advisory Committee and the Detroit Public Schools Community District's Police Department Oversight Committee.
