tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41949465611883084122024-02-20T17:05:27.995-08:00SOSA snapshot of efforts across Chicago to combat the forces negatively impacting young black males.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-11295986874643223762011-04-12T11:00:00.000-07:002011-06-06T17:06:28.388-07:00Saving Our Sons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgJ_QEusSpRfNLyQYPhjRbqaiwZnAc85vD-9yJvMIYRJKVg_BL15xpUyBtObpwc-sLJH6Wcft2hgqJ8XWZsOsYUuTMwpFy2aPw0emaeazvSCtJ68ibE_y9LxT-zUDYZ7NaDMT57Okb7Hr/s1600/6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgJ_QEusSpRfNLyQYPhjRbqaiwZnAc85vD-9yJvMIYRJKVg_BL15xpUyBtObpwc-sLJH6Wcft2hgqJ8XWZsOsYUuTMwpFy2aPw0emaeazvSCtJ68ibE_y9LxT-zUDYZ7NaDMT57Okb7Hr/s320/6.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11.6667px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">T</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">here is a crisis in America. It is a crisis of epic proportions, one that threatens the very existence of a people and that centers around the premature deaths of one group of Americans for whom the statistical data paints a grim portrait: Young black men. </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Among the alarming numbers is a bourgeoning number of homicides, which remains the leading cause of death among young black men ages 15 to 34, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">something the Centers for Disease Control have designated a national epidemic.</span></div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Coupled with figures that show the rate of new HIV cases among black men growing at an alarming and disproportionate rate to men of other races, and a grim picture of other demographics, black males have for decades now maintained the distinction of being dubbed an “endangered species.”</span></div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Indeed young black men today have killed more young black men historically than the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama recorded 3,446 lynchings of blacks from 1882 to 1968—the toll of 86 years. But the toll of blacks murdered in Chicago alone over just 18 years, from 1991 to 2009—most of them young black men by young black men: Nearly 10,000, and counting.</span></span></div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGniH1MPKnZd1CWRSi6dWaHzzf79ySPiQM5EQGLwOJpTrMnKhTYzTuxSSEfJxLtNM-EOcc5r6ukYSR2h6jGLkrpdY4cw4XCYf4U7XSA2nZtoUPyYAZcaZ-jYRgJQX1xcwPInzbdV3HGnVY/s1600/Soslead.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGniH1MPKnZd1CWRSi6dWaHzzf79ySPiQM5EQGLwOJpTrMnKhTYzTuxSSEfJxLtNM-EOcc5r6ukYSR2h6jGLkrpdY4cw4XCYf4U7XSA2nZtoUPyYAZcaZ-jYRgJQX1xcwPInzbdV3HGnVY/s320/Soslead.png" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Also impacting young black men are these cold hard facts: The U.S. Census reports that one in every four of 34.6 million African Americans live below the national poverty level; that more than 40 percent of family households in the African-American community are headed by women; that 7 out of 10 children born to African Americans are born to single mothers; that more than 846,000 black men are in state or federal prisons and jails—representing more than 40 percent of the nation’s prison population and that there are more black men in prison and jail than in college.</span></span></div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Additionally, researchers have identified what they call a </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“schools to prison pipeline” </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">in which they contend you can predict with some degree of statistical certainty by third and fourth grade the number of black and brown boys destined for incarceration.</span></span></div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> This is the portrait of the problem that looms.</span></span></div></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUo71eztaZde-hAQsklXmU8k38PLi3c93vF1bpuaHldFjXDgDV9Gs8jNx5fgAkPAfbETJOwbf1GLMAZELeHHFonF21NjUv-fAe2cgzN8K2VNWFAtf3RNh-wI-zYElSdssymPMg5ChC3C2/s1600/sos5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUo71eztaZde-hAQsklXmU8k38PLi3c93vF1bpuaHldFjXDgDV9Gs8jNx5fgAkPAfbETJOwbf1GLMAZELeHHFonF21NjUv-fAe2cgzN8K2VNWFAtf3RNh-wI-zYElSdssymPMg5ChC3C2/s320/sos5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> But in our project in the convergence newsroom this semester (Spring 2011) we were after the solutions. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In Chicago and across the region, indeed across America, there is a battle to stem this tide and save young black men. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> What we present here is a snapshot of some of those valiant and humane efforts on the front lines and the faces, voices, stories of those involved in saving our sons. </span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Professor John W. Fountain</b></span></span></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-24470914778871847602011-04-11T14:46:00.001-07:002011-05-25T15:48:35.051-07:00Helping boys become men: B.A.M.<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUo71eztaZde-hAQsklXmU8k38PLi3c93vF1bpuaHldFjXDgDV9Gs8jNx5fgAkPAfbETJOwbf1GLMAZELeHHFonF21NjUv-fAe2cgzN8K2VNWFAtf3RNh-wI-zYElSdssymPMg5ChC3C2/s1600/sos5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUo71eztaZde-hAQsklXmU8k38PLi3c93vF1bpuaHldFjXDgDV9Gs8jNx5fgAkPAfbETJOwbf1GLMAZELeHHFonF21NjUv-fAe2cgzN8K2VNWFAtf3RNh-wI-zYElSdssymPMg5ChC3C2/s200/sos5.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Times;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">nside </span></span><span style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Room 404 of Harper High School, wooden rocking chairs are arranged in a circle with black upholstered couches and chairs pushed against the walls. Rocking in the chairs, a group of freshman boys in the school uniform of maroon shirt and kaki pants fidget with the red school lanyards around their necks, tap their toes and glance at each other. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Every Thursday during school, these young men are here for the program known as Becoming a Man. The program is part of Youth Guidance, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to “assists at-risk students in gaining academic, social and emotional skills needed to stay on track in school, graduate and seek further education.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The number of filled chairs fluctuates – usually eight to 15 boys – depending on who came to school that day or got suspended, say the program’s administrators. B.A.M counselor Dajana Naba starts the group off with “check-ins,” going around the circle for each boy to say what made him sad, mad or glad this week. During a recent session, Dajana checks in first, telling the boys he was scared the day before, when he witnessed a man shoot someone in a crowd of people waiting for a bus. Dajana often waits for the bus at that stop. A tall, slim African-American man with close shaved hair and a few gray hairs in his mustache and goatee, Dajana previously worked in psychiatry at a hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A quiet boy named Derek says simply, “Everything’s cool.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Dajana asks each boy a few specific questions as they check in, trying to get them to share in a little more detail and following up with them about their families or school. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“It’s not cool to (be) emotional in the school culture,” Dajana says. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Getting the boys to share takes time, but sometimes they say surprising things. Dajana says one boy named Granville is oppositional but comes every week, and recently opened up about his uncle passing away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The boys interrupt check-ins, pestering Dajana about going to the gym to play basketball. Dajana tries to explain they have other things to do in B.A.M. and can’t go to the gym every day. Still, they persist, hoping there will be enough time for them to play. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The check-in is a regular part of the B.A.M curriculum, which targets male teens in need of mentoring and male role modeling, many of who struggle with issues in behavior, attitude and academic value. A unique program, it works to develop five values: integrity, accountability, self-determination, positive anger expression and visionary goal setting. Recently, Dajana’s group worked on self-determination, building focus and perseverance to get past self-defeating thoughts and other barriers to attain their goals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Tony DiVittorio developed B.A.M. more than 10 years ago to help boys learn to control impulses, channel anger and develop coping skills through group and one-on-one counseling. He says the program has expanded to 40 groups in 17 Chicago schools. The biggest challenge for B.A.M. now, is funding, DiVittorio says. Grants and funding runs out by the end of the year, and DiVittorio has to find more funding to keep the program running. Only one school has the funds set aside for next year, he said.</span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Erik J. Olson, the athletics and activities director at Harper, says research shows special education, mentor programs and athletics all help to raise school attendance rates. At Harper, 99.7 percent of the students are black and less than half of them will graduate high school in five years, according to Chicago Public Schools’ annual scorecard. Olson says the number of students constantly changes as students move or dropout. There were over 800 students at the beginning of the school year and now there are 614, Olson says.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “B.A.M. makes a big impact on the guys,” says Olson who recalls that a high school boy shared that his favorite memory at Harper last year was a B.A.M. youth conference.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> After check-ins, Dajana introduces breathing and mediation exercises, asking the young men to breathe in through their nose and exhale through their mouth. Then he asks them to inhale and hold the breath for 10 seconds. Most of the boys follow the instructions for the breathing exercise, although struggling to keep a straight face. While Dajana counts to 10, a few distracted boys make eye contact, giggling, smiling and letting go of the breath. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Calmly, Dajana continues the exercises and leads them to chant, “I will not waste my brain.” After a few more breathing and positive-thought replacement exercises, he asks them if they feel any different. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “It probably helps with patience,” says a freshman named Quintel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Another says, “I feel like I could do anything.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Through discussions, group exercises, field trips and one-on-one counseling, B.A.M. seeks to develop the kind of character in the boys for them to find stability and strength, even in the midst of turbulent families and violent neighborhoods.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When the bell rings for the next school period to start, the boys trickle into the wide hallway with maroon lockers along the walls. Herded along by the teachers, the boys disappear into a flow of maroon and kaki identically-clad students shuffling to their next classes.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">By Shannon McFarland</span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Links to Related Stories</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/03/22/132461181/getting-to-chicagos-boys-before-gangs-do">Getting to Chicago's Boys Before Gangs Do</a> </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Source: </b>National Public Radio</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.youth-guidance.org/YG/YGMAINS.nsf/ContentDisplay?OpenForm&docid=12479CE960EF3723862574AB0070220E">Clemente H.S. Students Succeed with B.A.M.</a></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-60817274853525533782011-04-11T14:34:00.000-07:002011-05-25T16:24:51.195-07:00His pain, their gain<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvE7aWw98IhIJWQZpi_bf5genPayUIgzs454F79qqk1pbLzZfCKB8JMX-XQsHGyA2Bwf83e_ezxBikVI96xRHjJCx6I_Ok-bnSrEgBvISZ4l8vzqogx0gLSzQWeNuMhrOZoHPBcAaNjdo/s1600/P3211745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvE7aWw98IhIJWQZpi_bf5genPayUIgzs454F79qqk1pbLzZfCKB8JMX-XQsHGyA2Bwf83e_ezxBikVI96xRHjJCx6I_Ok-bnSrEgBvISZ4l8vzqogx0gLSzQWeNuMhrOZoHPBcAaNjdo/s320/P3211745.JPG" width="240" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A</span></b>ccording to Becoming A Man program counselors, one of the final stages of becoming a man is learning how to face and accept criticism from your peers and colleagues. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;">Even though all of the counselors have already become men, they too say they live by the values they teach to at-risk young men throughout Chicago through B.A.M., a mentoring, counseling and anti-violence program created by Anthony DiVittorio.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"><br />
“Working with Tony is really great,” Tim Jackson, a B.A.M. counselor said. “If you get the chance to read the curriculum, you can tell he really poured it out on it.</span></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"></span></span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"><br />
In addition to Jackson, B.A.M. counselors Calvin Ferguson and Jason Story expressed similar sentiments and said they consider DiVittorio to be an older brother more than anything.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"> “When Tony comes to the groups, the guys focus differently,” Ferguson said. “He’s almost like a brother in a sense—he’s the brother who’s been everywhere and now he’s come home to tell the story.” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">Story explained how significant DiVittorio’s involvement with the youth in the program really is, saying that even the most ‘knuckle-head’ of youth pay attention when DiVittorio’s around.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"> “When Tony is around, even they want to know more about him,” Story said. “They renamed him, ‘Tone-Bone,’ and call him ‘Steven Seagal.’”</span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">In 2002, the B.A.M. program was first established through Youth Guidance –a social service agency that provides services to at-risk youth— at Roberto Clemente High School, located in Humboldt Park on the city’s West Side. The program was intended to provide male youths in the process of becoming a man with the guidance to leading a better life.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">According to Youth Guidance, B.A.M. is an evidence-based, group counseling/mentoring, violence prevention and educational enrichment program that is focused on building socio-emotional and behavioral skills among at-risk young male students. B.A.M. is aimed specifically at males because they are more likely than females to be either victims or perpetrators of violent crime, according to officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">For DiVittorio, his rewarded is in knowing that other male youth –that were just like him—are being helped the way that they are through the program.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“I was wounded,” DiVittorio said. “My older brother, when I was 5-years old, taught me how to wrestle, and then I had my father figure. He was the only male that took me under his wing. When I was about 7 years old, that’s when he got into drugs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">DiVittorio explained that because of all the struggles he had to deal with growing up, his desire for fatherhood and mentoring remained constant. It was only until he turned 22 that he finally found what he had desired while growing up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“I got my first martial arts instructor when I was age 22, and he transformed my life,” DiVittorio said. “When he transformed my life, he made me realize what I was missing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Since crossing paths with his martial arts instructor, DiVitorrio’s purpose in life changed for him and began him on the path to helping other males.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Because of the struggles that DiVittorio dealt with growing up, he said he has made B.A.M. focus exactly on the kinds of struggles that potential at-risk males face today.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “We can work with the most troublesome kids,” Jackson said. “You can work with youth outside of your race because they can identify what the program is about.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">However, it’s not just the curriculum that makes B.A.M. successful but it also includes the counselors who administer it, according to DiVittorio. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“It’s true, I’m very passionate about what I do, but there’s also many other people who are very passionate as well,” DiVittorio said. “You just got to find them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">By Craig Cody Coor</span></span></b></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-91018058930017518492011-04-11T14:28:00.001-07:002011-05-27T08:29:12.750-07:00At Christ the King School hard work pays<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L5TdAdbZIDxRS79rDapAOh3HdWMB0eM8IdhXC7E1ejMsk9Bj5ryY6Ch1BfPFOLrTmHoSDEhHeW8bOcz0JbCCR8gYDzUHxjGcF2QgReEyZnUKi-dkWRc9wzEWaceeEfg5zZVG5NQ3vIWH/s1600/christ+the+king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L5TdAdbZIDxRS79rDapAOh3HdWMB0eM8IdhXC7E1ejMsk9Bj5ryY6Ch1BfPFOLrTmHoSDEhHeW8bOcz0JbCCR8gYDzUHxjGcF2QgReEyZnUKi-dkWRc9wzEWaceeEfg5zZVG5NQ3vIWH/s320/christ+the+king.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">n the red and white, state-of-the-art classroom, the students listened carefully as their coach spoke about the upcoming track season. They raised their hands to answer questions about what it takes to be successful in the sport, shouting out “focus,” “motivation,” “building skills” and “having a positive attitude.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Principal Robert Evans, tall and youthful, then took over, explaining that track is his favorite sport.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">“From sixth grade through junior year I was running,” he said. “I went to school debt-free on a track scholarship.”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He then told the students that discipline is extremely important in track and that goals must be set. “You have to figure out where your skills are and hone in,” he said. “Don’t think you’re<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.do" name="_GoBack"></a> good – be good.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> At Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School, all students – not just those in track – learn about commitment. By graduation, the school’s aim is that students will also have learned to be open to growth, intellectually competent, loving, committed to justice and a seasoned, responsible worker. Since 2008, the school has served the Austin neighborhood and surrounding areas—neighborhoods where gang members hang out on the street corners while students inside the school’s brand new walls are given knowledge, faith and hope for the future. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Back in the classroom one recent day, Evans showed a few YouTube videos of record-breaking runners on a large projection screen. He said it is important for everyone to know last year’s results and world records so the students can set goals for themselves. Mentioning the story of The Little Prince, Evans told the students that they must “dream for the endless immensity of the sea.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> A few minutes later, in a large conference room, Evans described the way students receive their real world education. The school uses what is known as the Cristo Rey model, which Evans said incorporates a corporate work study program that helps pay 75 percent of each student’s tuition. In exchange, each student works a job five days a month during school hours. They work in places like banks and law firms, Evans said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“It gives students an opportunity to pay the bills,” he said. Evans also stressed that the number one thing at the school is that students must be employable. “You have to work.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Students assigned to work on any given day arrive at school at 7:30 a.m., and vans and buses take them to work, Evans explained. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“This way, students work nine to five and get to see the day to day of what people do. They work in teams of four at each location and each person works one day out of the week, alternating Mondays.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“They undergo a battery of tests,” he said of the placement of students in an array of jobs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Although this education model pays for 75 percent of tuition, families are still responsible for the remaining amount, which still can be costly. Evans said the school helps students who are underserved and under-resourced, and those who demonstrate need. The school also fundraises to help defray the costs of education, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A quality education is coveted here in a City where the dropout rates in public schools continues to climb and many students, particularly on the West and South sides succumb to life on the streets. Evans says Christ the King is different. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“For a lot of students, I don’t have to keep them motivated. They know what they want and they know what they don’t want. I would say 95 percent of the students are highly motivated,” Evans said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> On that 5 percent who may cause problems for the school, Evans does everything he can to help straighten them out. “I have extremely low tolerance for people who think success is optional,” he said, “My expectation is the moon, nothing less.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> A student named Kendra is one student that Evans says embodies everything good about the school. As a junior and also a member of the school’s first class, she will be in the school’s first graduating class. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I work at the Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest,” Kendra said. Working as a clerk, she files, makes calls and handles other general office tasks. Asked whether she wants to go into banking, she said, “At first I wanted to but not anymore. I want to be a computer engineer. I’m a computer freak.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Even though there are closer schools to her house, Kendra said she comes to Christ the King for a better education. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I didn’t want to go to North Lawndale,” she said, referring to a school in another West Side neighborhood. “This is a different setting.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> A young man named Navar is a second semester freshman and another promising student at Christ the King.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“This school, I like it a lot,” Navar said. “It has a lot of spirit and positive energy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Working at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Navar said he enjoys his work-study, taking inventory. Interested in philanthropy and law, Navar says he hopes he doesn’t have to leave this job next year. Students are not always able to stay in the same work-study. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “I would never go to my neighborhood schools,” he said. “They hardly learn anything and the guys are always messing around in class.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Navar also said there is a lot of gang activity at other schools and he is able to stay away from it at Christ the King.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Nobody here gangbangs,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> At a school in the middle of a bad neighborhood, Christ the King makes an impression on its students and seeks to prepare them for life ahead with discipline and, of course, hard work. As Evans said, “There’s only one gear – go hard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><b>By Kira Stiers</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Related Links:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><a href="http://www.ctkjesuit.org/">Christ the King School</a></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><b><br />
</b></span></div></div><br />
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<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&q=Christ+the+king+school&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Christ+the+king+school&hnear=Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois&ll=41.725206,-87.673645&spn=0.307485,0.411987&z=10&iwloc=A&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-4455135641771490332011-04-11T14:17:00.000-07:002011-05-31T12:22:28.528-07:00A crown jewel and safe-haven for kids<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNGESXFB8tFuWoVdQn804oY2I11PA0e0olvzSwtkn4BPi4RhyphenhyphenxVjuBWg2kww5Apm7MPC1JP6-EnSxHMRwTqKtmnUeQJnh2XgVlYrX7pyIAieuWYGa4ZPSPwClbB-jSYIYnb3Uk2WlQW8y/s1600/336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNGESXFB8tFuWoVdQn804oY2I11PA0e0olvzSwtkn4BPi4RhyphenhyphenxVjuBWg2kww5Apm7MPC1JP6-EnSxHMRwTqKtmnUeQJnh2XgVlYrX7pyIAieuWYGa4ZPSPwClbB-jSYIYnb3Uk2WlQW8y/s200/336.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">T</span></b>he sounds of laughter and playing rang out from a classroom and down a hallway towards the front of the building. At the entrance, a fish-tank hummed loudly while fish swim lazily. Across from the tank, a case proudly displays trophies documenting the achievements of the center. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">At a large circular desk surrounded by pictures of kids, information, and a large piece of white paper covered with children’s handprints, Ms. Campbell, a parent-volunteer, sits, greeting parents and children.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Soon a white van pulls up and more children run screaming and laughing through the front door, calling out greetings to Ms. Campbell, signing in and running to a classroom down the hall. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> It was just another day at the Rebecca K. Crown Youth Center, located in the South Shore neighborhood, at 7601 S. Phillips Ave.. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The Rebecca K. Crown Center is a part of the Chicago Youth Center organization, founded in 1956 by Chicago businessmen Elliott Donnelley and Sidney Epstein, according to CYC’s official website. It was started as a way to give inner-city and impoverished youth an alternative to hanging out on the streets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF5XzVDyQev4n27IEPHCQn9pUssy47rQ-xWph6a5z3EEHMbEo_wskdyk01_KZaSs_air_7vaV_EFFHFgVMKMWUA2bXfz1oyEoiq9eD1633794vwLqedGiyfYvtX7JlV4u4ecPpYi5H54aO/s1600/333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF5XzVDyQev4n27IEPHCQn9pUssy47rQ-xWph6a5z3EEHMbEo_wskdyk01_KZaSs_air_7vaV_EFFHFgVMKMWUA2bXfz1oyEoiq9eD1633794vwLqedGiyfYvtX7JlV4u4ecPpYi5H54aO/s320/333.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The Chicago Youth Center started with the merger of three boys clubs that were on the brink of collapse, according to CYC literature. It was this merger that started the first youth center, which, according to CYC, was the first in the city that also accepted girls into all the programs the CYC offered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> In 1977, the South Shore neighborhood welcomed the CYC with the South Shore Community Center. It was later renamed the Rebecca K. Crown Center in honor of a Crown Family Foundation grant, according to the CYC’s website.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> At the center recently, Michelle Myers, a youth worker, ushered the after-school kids into a classroom for their afternoon snack. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “A program like this makes a world of difference” Myers’ said. “It shows them that somebody cares.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> According to Eddie Wilson, director at Rebecca Crown Center, the after-school program, which gives kids a safe place to do homework and other activities, is one of five programs offered by the Rebecca Crown Center.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The center offers a head start program that is taught by bachelor’s degree-level teachers and gives children ages 3 to 5 the chance to experience a creative curriculum. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">There is also a teen leadership development afterschool program for 13 to 19-year-olds. This program offers teens activities that include tutoring, violence prevention, life skills development and sports.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">And during summer, there is a day camp that offers children, 5 to 12, safe recreational activities during the day in the summer, including arts and crafts and field trips. The Rebecca Crown Center also offers a College and Career Readiness program that helps the kids understand the importance of college to their future success, according to Wilson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Myers said she started working with the Rebecca Crown Center because her daughter was in the head start program. She now works at the center with the afterschool children. She said that places like the Rebecca Crown Center, are very important in inner-city neighborhoods. The center offers kids a social education, each day children from different neighborhood schools come to the afterschool program, allowing the students to make connections they might not have made on their own. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">One recent afternoon, after the children had their snack, they went into the large gymnasium to play together. On one side of gym, a group of boys played a half-court game of basketballs while girls jumped rope. Some of the parent-volunteers and teachers stood around the gym and talked to each other and other students, while other’s played with the students on the court. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">The staff at the center spends a lot of time with the kids and becomes mentors to them. Myer’s said that when she misses a day of work the kids notice and go out of their way to find out why she was not there with them. She said that children here put their trust in the staff because the staff cares about them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “For four hours, the kids know they will get love, food and exercise,” Myers added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> According to Wilson, the Rebecca Crown Center is funded through a mixture of federal, state, and private or corporate donations as well as parent fees. Parents also help the center by volunteering their time and services. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Ms. Campbell has been a part of the center for almost 20 years, her children started at the Rebecca Crown Center in the head-start program. Even after her children left she stayed on as a volunteer at the center because of the impact the center had on children.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGPcmMUM14VKyaafvVEBqFyiHVjkc6LqiMSLaNzckE7izeUgCbd9yt4GzsUvEE1wHa8GYhX7bstr7L9T7MGcBAyQkLUgE0IvtgGQxisLkvvWAanVsqNDOXaXXG7wnF1V2jOUXMGcpoCgt7/s1600/326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGPcmMUM14VKyaafvVEBqFyiHVjkc6LqiMSLaNzckE7izeUgCbd9yt4GzsUvEE1wHa8GYhX7bstr7L9T7MGcBAyQkLUgE0IvtgGQxisLkvvWAanVsqNDOXaXXG7wnF1V2jOUXMGcpoCgt7/s320/326.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “The center makes a big difference on children,” Campbell said as a child ran past her. “They have people other than their parents that love them.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"> Since the center runs programs from head-start to a teen program, many siblings are at the center together, giving them a chance to spend time together instead of doing something on their own at home.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"> “This center is a family affair,” Myer said.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"> As the day went on, it became evident that parents and the community were a prominent part of the Rebecca Crown Center. Posted around the entrance were flyers for upcoming events and a box collecting toy for the center’s ongoing toy drive.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Wilson said that he wants the center to be a beacon of activity and information for the community we serve. <o:p></o:p></span></div> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“I want the center to always be relevant to the community and to do that we must be involved in the community and grow and change as the community grows and changes,” Wilson said.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><b>By Erika Powell</b></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-3574288670387631622011-04-11T14:08:00.000-07:002011-05-27T10:35:57.895-07:00Helping homeless youths: The Night Ministry<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLBiGc96OHAW14uW2g1cKO1A1iDjP-UO1fVHEGaKBTt1imJr84usigG0iTALzHcSnR6XT3TDdAEqdKZdvdMMBRoDVZ7X0NHjnHyJzCxXlL6z3xFtqdRf2a8HFd6wQ1E32YwSF6_q1dk-g/s1600/5d.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguLBiGc96OHAW14uW2g1cKO1A1iDjP-UO1fVHEGaKBTt1imJr84usigG0iTALzHcSnR6XT3TDdAEqdKZdvdMMBRoDVZ7X0NHjnHyJzCxXlL6z3xFtqdRf2a8HFd6wQ1E32YwSF6_q1dk-g/s320/5d.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A</span></b>ccording to the Lakeview Action Coalition, there are approximately 26,000 youths in Illinois that experience homelessness with15,000 youths in Chicago alone. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Youths who have to suffer homelessness have very few options in order to help them get back on their feet, say officials. But several organizations around the city, including the Night Ministry, are working to help them find a way to get back on their feet. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Megan Groves, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">marketing & communications coordinator for The Night Ministry, a Lakeview-based, non-profit organization that helps homeless youths, says the most important thing is to offer help to these kids no matter what situation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We talk to young people and help them out,” Groves said. “We are going out there to help the youth and build relationships with the individuals.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> The Night Ministry, founded in 1976, offers many programs and supplies for the homeless living on the streets of Chicago. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> According to the Night Ministry, one of the largest demographics they help is the African-American community. From July 2009 to June 2010, the agency assisted </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">36,905 African-Americans. Of those, 11,427 were ages of 13 to 34.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> The Night Ministry lists many reasons for homelessness, including lack of employment, domestic violence, problems in school and drugs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “We have that core groups of youths we help more than others,” Groves said. “But there are some we only see once or twice and we still help them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> The Night Ministry offers a number of programs for homeless youths in the city. Two mainstays of their organization are their Youth Outreach program and Youth Housing program.. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “With our youth outreach program we offer meals, supplies and counseling to individuals who want it,” Groves said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Their youth outreach program also has a health outreach bus that makes two stops in Lakeview and one stop in Rogers Park every week. Groves said the van has about four volunteers working with youths either helping packing meals, handing out safe sex or hygiene kits. While the youth outreach team has no physicians on hand, Groves said they can help point these youths in the right direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “The outreach time is going out their bringing help to the youth directly, rather than a social service agency that a young person experiencing (homelessness) has to go to,” Groves said. “We have a set schedule [stops in Lakeview and Rogers Park] every week so the kids know we are there. We build these relationships and refer them to services they need or help them make a plan, pertaining to an individuals need.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.thenightministry.org/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZAeK6vXsunRD6ImKVCsgtTTzPV9Z6FOL-JC4Wc7QKgHJsxQaMoAU_5325WKMzfi6sUu2Inwhbyycevl9-pCjqPDeSAkS6CxmdNSsR7xdY_tZgl3xba8oXZdV8s4jgHADjHAktehlPfvM/s320/NightMinistryBusline+Edited.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Along with their Youth Outreach team that is helping build relationships on the street, the Night Ministry also has several youth housing programs that offer overnight and daytime living arrangements.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Their Open Door Youth Shelter has two core, housing programs, which include their interim housing and transitional living programs. Groves said that the interim housing is a way they can help build relationships with the youths and help them along their way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Their transitional living program, Groves said, offers youths with a longer stay limit. Youths, ages 16-20 can stay at the shelter for as long as two years.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Groves said the Night Ministry opened a new shelter in January of this year, which is open January to May. The shelter, Groves said is the city’s first overnight only youth shelter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “It’s a easy place for youths to come if they need a place to stay,” Groves said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> But Groves said the most important thing is to build trust and relationships with the young people the agency serves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “You to talk to young people and build relationships with them,” Groves said. “Trust builds from there and you can help refer these kids to services they need and with that trust they are more likely to go and receive help.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">By Chris Zois</span></b></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b>Related Links:</b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.thenightministry.org/">The Night Ministry</a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><br />
</b></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-67069760149466989712011-04-11T13:48:00.000-07:002011-05-27T10:59:10.052-07:00Flipping, tumbling toward success: 52 years and counting<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_396205642"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZogfR0ddIJx6LhG9l6Rb5Q5MbQRIhkb3MDSzDAdXyOeIRRsyoYctshoVED1nhOs6-ING7F8QhRWPOBOyvJKooW-5GvZWBTtDxaPb4zNhcQuiNm8jh2aB-0TpkKc8PKNfCACVwqssDSgsv/s320/jessewhitetumblers.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jessewhitetumblingteam.com/">Photo source: www.JesseWhitetumblers.com</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A</span></b> third-grade birthday boy stood on the mat, trembling with excitement and nervousness as six tumblers soared one by one over his Burger King crown. At 14 feet in the air, the Jesse White Tumbling Team defied gravity as 200 elementary school students screamed with delight and awe.<br />
Before the act, Tavais Fletcher picked up a game of basketball with fellow tumblers in his bright red and white sweatshirt that boasts his home city of Chicago. As a veteran tumbler at age 20, Fletcher has seen how the structure of training, tutoring and teamwork impacts children from across the city. The team serves as a juvenile delinquency prevention program to keep kids away from drinking and drugs.<br />
“We don’t let people get off the path. They drop below a C average, we help them during the summer and they get back on in the fall,” says Fletcher. <br />
In the 52 years that the Jesse White Tumbling Team has been performing, a C-average for student tumblers has indeed been mandatory to continue on the team. To keep student-athletes on the right path, report cards are brought in for review and those who do not make the grade must attend the tutoring program provided by the team. <br />
“Put something in between your ears. In life, aim high. The only time you look down is to tie your shoes,” Jesse White himself says. “Be in school, on time, everyday.”<br />
Education, celebrity, camaraderie and paid gigs also help keep tumblers on the path to success, organizers say. The team has traveled abroad, starred in 25 commercials, shared the stage with NFL, NBA and NHL stars and has more than 1,500 shows this year alone. <br />
Recently, White—who is also Illinois’ secretary of state—sent Fletcher to the mat, reminding students not to try at home, a round-off, flip, back summersault as cheers followed. <br />
The next tumbler, Marvin Johnson, snapped his suspenders and topped Fletcher’s act with a straight cartwheel, round-off, flip, back summersault full twist to an eruption of applause and shrieks that bounced off the walls of the small gym. Johnson ran through a pack of first-graders like a celebrity with hi-five’s, smiles and hugs.<br />
Johnson will be enrolling at the University of Illinois in the fall. His tumbling background will follow him through college with a major in sports kinesiology. <br />
“We love this, the kids. I mean, we do everything; churches, weddings, barbeques, any family gathering really,” says Johnson, speaking of where the group performs. <br />
As those in attendance watched Johnson interact with the kids smiles spread across the gym, so infectious that even the two suits at the door couldn’t resist.<br />
“You would think [White] would be the one in the suit,” said one teacher of the security standing at the door. <br />
As secretary of state, White travels in a black SUV with two bodyguards, who wear dashing black suits. But when traveling with any of his six tumbling teams, he travels in the group’s van and wears sweats that match the young tumblers as he also tumbles and tucks.<br />
A former member of the U.S. Army, White coaches all 285 tumblers on six teams with discipline and routine—or “tough love” as he calls it. Before the act, each tumbler has an assigned task, whether it is carrying out the mats or trampoline. The sooner the work is done, the sooner they can play. But the group’s mission is still serious business.<br />
“Not all go to college, but the bulk graduate from high school. We want to keep them out of SWU, Sad Walk University,” says White. “Keep them leafless, smokeless and pipe-less.”<br />
It is White’s belief that education keeps youths off the street and away from gangs. The tumbling team originally began as a positive alternative to housing projects such as Cabrini-Green and Henry Horner communities. The education program of the tumbling team helps give kids an alternative to gangs, drugs, alcohol and smoking.<br />
The tumbling program is split into three parts: the tumbling team, the training program and the scholars program. With over 13,000 student-athletes that have been through the tumbling team, there are 25 currently enrolled in college. The Jesse White Tumbling Team offers $1,000 to $5,000 in college scholarships.<br />
Though the program is designed to keep kids on the right track, some may stray. Both Fletcher and Johnson have seen how living without structure outside of school can affect the rest of their lives. And both remember with regret friends who lost their way and even those who were never on the team—lost to the street, to gangs, crime and prison. <br />
“If you choose that system, that’s your choice,” says Fletcher. We get on the right path here. We have guys who get out and send their kids here.”<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><b>By Casey Nunes</b></div><div style="text-align: right;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><object height="349" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VXY4Yx4hyD0?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VXY4Yx4hyD0?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-58926239005952893552011-04-11T13:43:00.000-07:002011-05-27T11:14:10.038-07:00Providing education in faith key in church’s efforts to save local youths<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzMDGQ4YuCEgNCQD4Td9voIKZb6c_7mj_8eJrN0cgwuzvjASLIYfgHkjS1Spl5h3d0PratLTctycjmszbYLebAKx32mrqvYUkyIB2YX2H0szD3ZfYfeG7I1RyxvJPM3picYRGxYGJmtxQ/s1600/DSCN6908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzMDGQ4YuCEgNCQD4Td9voIKZb6c_7mj_8eJrN0cgwuzvjASLIYfgHkjS1Spl5h3d0PratLTctycjmszbYLebAKx32mrqvYUkyIB2YX2H0szD3ZfYfeG7I1RyxvJPM3picYRGxYGJmtxQ/s200/DSCN6908.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> T</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he two boys run back to their seats with freshly sharpened colored pencils. The young boy wearing glasses holds the dark red pencil on guard from the other in blue who is wielding a fine-pointed gray pencil. The two pause, then, red upon gray, the boys engage as though their pencils are light-sabers and swords and they’ve just returned from the classroom’s electronic pencil sharpener.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The teacher yells from across the room, “Boys, we do not do that here! Would you please cut that out? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Acknowledging the teacher’s demand for only a second, the two give it their all before she wal<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4194946561188308412&postID=5892623900595289355" name="_GoBack"></a>ks over to them. Muttering their final fighting words, they comply and get back to their assignment—the drawing and coloring of their favorite Station of the Cross. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The boys are enrolled in the religious education program of Our Lady of Charity Parish in Cicero. They are just two in a class of 15 for the joint English-speaking first- and second-grade class. Our Lady of Charity partners with Saint Francis of Rome for their religious education program. The program serves an overwhelming majority of Latino students from the predominantly Latino village of Cicero. Classes for the religious education program meet every Saturday from 9 to 11a.m., covering grades Kindergarten to eighth and the parish’s work, according to many here, seeking to make a difference in a community where gangs, crime and violence have an established foothold.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Recently, the first and second grade class was learning about Lent, observed by Catholics as a time of preparation and reflection of the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the wilderness. It’s a time for the penance of sinners and a period of mourning the death of the Christian faith’s central figure, Jesus Christise, “alleluia” is not to be spoken until the celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter Sunday.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Gracie Navejar is coordinator of the religious education program at Our Lady of Charity. She also has been teaching as a catechist for more than 10 years at various parishes in the Chicago land area. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “I think even the kids that are involved in a gang have their faith inside their roots,” Navejar said. “Even in this time I see kids come to church during lent. I see them with their tattoos that say Jesus or have Our Lady of Guadalupe. I see a lot of kids coming to church because down deep they do have their roots in their faith but it’s society that they are governed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> A mother of three girls and one son, Navejar said she made sure that she was actively involved in their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“I’ve sacrificed my time for my kids, but for me it’s an investment of their future.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Over the course of her work with children, Navejar says she has sat down with them one-on-one and is convinced that the parish’s efforts are having an impact. . <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“It’s like they use Jesus when you are in pain and you reach out for the medicine cabinet and the first thing you reach out for is an aspirin,” she said. “They reach out for Jesus automatically.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Furthering the classroom discussion on each Stations of the Cross—a tradition that depicts the final hours of Jesus—the teacher explained what each station means to Jesus and everyday life. The teacher asked her students if there was ever a time in their lives when they wanted to give up. The children, some gazing off to the side or scribbling into their notebooks responded with a faint nod of agreement. The teacher then equated the obstacles of chores and studying with Jesus’ carrying of the cross. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She asked, “What did Jesus do when he fell with the cross for the third time?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a brief moment of silence a girl with straight brunette hair and a T-shirt that reads, “I love Justin Bieber,” replied, “He got up?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Sandra Luz Dominguez, director of the religious education program, says that an education in faith “must start when they are very young,” said “They need Jesus to keep them saved. There is only so much we can do as catechists to help shape their behavior, the rest is in faith.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dominguez is not fluent in English and deals with mostly Spanish classes and masses at Saint Francis of Rome. She travels from Saint Francis of Rome on the north side of Cicero, across town to Our Lady of Charity on a weekly basis. She is director of both parishes religious education program. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “I see children everyday who believe in Christ, said Dominguez. “There isn’t a single one of them who do not want to be saved.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Navejar said it will take small steps to really make a difference with the kids in troubled areas but says it’s a matter of dedication. There is a youth group of 17 teens going to Spain this summer on behalf of Our Lady of Charity Parish. Those teens will be participating in World Youth Day, a Catholic pilgrimage and celebration of our future, according to Navejar who said it is an example of how the church is making a difference one child at a time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Back in the classroom one recent day, the teacher is winding down the lesson with a single question, “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eager hands go up almost simultaneously as they anxiously await for the teacher to call on them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Nathan, a first grader, shouts, “a soldier, I want to be a soldier!” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Other boys in the class throw their hands up. “Me too,” they shout. One young girl says she would like to be an FBI agent. Another boy says he would like to be the president. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “Yeah, I want to be Obama,” agreed a smiling girl to his right. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> A young girl named Carla is wearing glasses and has her hair pulled back in one long ponytail. She raises her hand and says she wants to be Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The teacher thanks Carla as she seems relieved by the appropriate segue to her final point of the day that in keeping with their faith they should all aspire to be like Jesus. </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By Cassandra Clegg</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Related link:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.olc-school.org/mass-times.html">Our Lady of Charity Parish</a></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-39308905855737845512011-04-11T13:34:00.000-07:002011-05-28T11:50:52.757-07:00After-school program keeps kids off the streets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEtbPomuQMpOJ6b0pRnKZQVkSaBOtH9qxh9LK2OVzHJ2dldqsChddzn0BaUZdeCwlwAEC3x4H9gfJaxQTpa_IZusTD8W9yUb9URUcdtrm79d7GjjO_jGb-L9l20jS4wErCMilPIpSlaQNc/s1600/DSCN6969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEtbPomuQMpOJ6b0pRnKZQVkSaBOtH9qxh9LK2OVzHJ2dldqsChddzn0BaUZdeCwlwAEC3x4H9gfJaxQTpa_IZusTD8W9yUb9URUcdtrm79d7GjjO_jGb-L9l20jS4wErCMilPIpSlaQNc/s320/DSCN6969.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">t the West Side’s Grover Cleveland School, a bell rings shrilly in the distance and the hallway is suddenly filled with children. They chat excitedly in English and Spanish, running to greet their friends and also to find older siblings.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Some parents are mixed into the chaos and call out for their children, then wrap them up before stepping through the tall wooden doors into the cold. Seventh and eighth graders fill the stairway, turning on their phones as they wait for the bus.</span>The hallway empties as quickly as it was filled, but that doesn’t mean the school day is over. Now the afterschool program begins.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> At Grover it’s known as After School All Stars, a national afterschool program that is a part of thousands of schools in 13 major U.S. cities. Like Cleveland, more than 240 Chicago Schools participate in ASAS, which includes activities like theater, computer, and art. The programs vary depending on the school, but the mission is the same:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“To provide comprehensive out-of-school time programs that keep children safe and help them to succeed in school and in life.”</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">That program is one of the ways Cleveland aims to help its students and their neighborhoods too often filled with crime and with the kinds of street perils like gangs, drugs and violence. CHOCO (Cleveland Helps Our Community Out), is a program exclusive to Cleveland School, located at 3121 West Byron St. Robert Staszczak, the assistant principal, said that CHOCO does everything from feeding the hungry to beautifying the neighborhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-gIWA7hb2GPPLoUmSQC_9CtE1T85LKdQZZGk_-QSu0VlGOR69Yn04S5zaGthlGJ8Id2cJH9iH-9gpM78L25w9J6Pmy63yNMKcWOG9csd20Mslj-mZ-rxv0xa89NxwVRLnJGmupK9ZD4OP/s1600/DSCN6955.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-gIWA7hb2GPPLoUmSQC_9CtE1T85LKdQZZGk_-QSu0VlGOR69Yn04S5zaGthlGJ8Id2cJH9iH-9gpM78L25w9J6Pmy63yNMKcWOG9csd20Mslj-mZ-rxv0xa89NxwVRLnJGmupK9ZD4OP/s200/DSCN6955.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“A lot of it is more student generated. The couple of ladies that run it, obviously they’ve got a passion for things, but it’s the kids coming up with the ideas of what we can do,” Staszczak said.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">After School All Stars often encourages its students to give back to the community. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We’re getting ready for Chicago Youth Service Day, which is a city-wide event,” said Christine Koh, a spokeswoman for ASAS. “It’s a combination of [the] CPS Service Learning Department, the mayor’s office, [and] the park district, and that’s on April 30, a Saturday.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">CHOCO’s participants’ latest assignment was to find a way to raise money for earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. The students decided to make bracelets to sell during lunchtime.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> As the program convened one recent afternoon, students dropped their book bags and coats into a corner as they made their way into the classroom, sitting at tables or on pillows on the floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Okay, this is what they were working on last week,” Meredith Piec, the teacher, explains to the class. She motions to one of the girls at a nearby table, who goes on to explain the bracelet idea. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4_t_nhfUalmaABa87kw0baL0n85FrW5n7QPd9U3wcaEA-gQu2to5_CACYa_59ABha95WEE1LujLHcqiwNQcJHyA6zTYIJcJ9HtYZ3Uod0PidWmSkIcutaHH1hHJuXhHLSREAtg99nAf5/s1600/DSCN6962.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4_t_nhfUalmaABa87kw0baL0n85FrW5n7QPd9U3wcaEA-gQu2to5_CACYa_59ABha95WEE1LujLHcqiwNQcJHyA6zTYIJcJ9HtYZ3Uod0PidWmSkIcutaHH1hHJuXhHLSREAtg99nAf5/s200/DSCN6962.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“To raise money for Japan!” a girl, of about 10, exclaimed. “We want to be…beneficiaries.” She has some trouble sounding out the word, but Piec praises her for using it, and using it correctly. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We try to have kind of a reflective time,” Piec said. The students participate in RAK, or Random Acts of Kindness, during the week. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“They write down the good things they did and drop them in a box. It’s totally anonymous, and then we share on Thursday,” Piec explained.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Not all of the programs are your everyday extracurricular activities. Cleveland School students can participate in board games with faculty and friends. Staszczak said many of the teachers maintain a presence outside of the school and become like family to the students. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“In walking around the neighborhood or shopping in the neighborhood, obviously we see kids,” Staszczak said. “It allows whatever that relationship [is] to develop or at least [helps the kids] buy into ‘wait, Mr. Staszczak’s just a regular guy.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“There’s actually one kid who thinks I live by him, so he tells all his friends “Mr. Staszcazk lives by me!” and I’m like, “No, I’m just walking past your house to get to the El!” <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LJZt4WNLGPgfM5p6317IHnhT8P91fqTHBYjeL5oS_wE3Puf_u7OQ02pMuBxVlyEW9xRYjOmOPJFA15_u3jKajf9DErK6f9dFmxvHWKCLqrpHp9F_F6jckYPgFfmHraVOfLdatl8Vnfqs/s1600/DSCN6974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_LJZt4WNLGPgfM5p6317IHnhT8P91fqTHBYjeL5oS_wE3Puf_u7OQ02pMuBxVlyEW9xRYjOmOPJFA15_u3jKajf9DErK6f9dFmxvHWKCLqrpHp9F_F6jckYPgFfmHraVOfLdatl8Vnfqs/s200/DSCN6974.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A small boy no older than five walks somberly into Staszcazk’s office. When the principal looks up and asks why he looks upset, the boy only sighs and says, “I don’t want to my grandma’s house, I want to go to my papi’s house.” <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Staszcazk pats him on the shoulder, says a few comforting words, and follows the boy out of the office as his grandmother comes to pick him up. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The students at Cleveland seem to enjoy the time they spend at ASAS. As they eat lunch in the cafeteria between their programs, their smiles fill every corner of the room. A little boy wearing an apron is responsible for helping the older boys clean up the tables. He smiles proudly as he hands them empty plates and cups in an assembly line. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">By Caress Thirus</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Related Links:</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.clevelandschool.org/">Grover Cleveland School</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
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<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&q=grover+cleveland+school+chicago&fb=1&gl=us&hq=grover+cleveland+school&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=0,0,6705940759370821648&ll=41.951421,-87.706168&spn=0.006295,0.006295&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=41.951444,-87.706714&panoid=8_-RhckUy5IH8IieK9jQcA&cbp=12,93.24,,0,0&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-63676395567860444932011-04-11T13:18:00.000-07:002011-05-28T12:14:55.707-07:00Amid debris, violence and blight Breakthrough springs eternal<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFISHWOmIFJFTHNDESmObodBQpqVcpFeX7A17sczUrep-V1IzNeDxiFvmGV4K82e6kfs6jodhYpTMaTbtMtVGL8o6VAMdbqC3qO1-zhnENLPPMbboupzSwVliNiFpOQihmmC2HN6wCEG4/s1600/DSCN6912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFISHWOmIFJFTHNDESmObodBQpqVcpFeX7A17sczUrep-V1IzNeDxiFvmGV4K82e6kfs6jodhYpTMaTbtMtVGL8o6VAMdbqC3qO1-zhnENLPPMbboupzSwVliNiFpOQihmmC2HN6wCEG4/s200/DSCN6912.JPG" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">It's an unseasonal, warm sunny day in East Garfield Park. A handful of boys play basketball at a small court. They laugh, throw the ball back and forth, testing each other’s skills. One child lets out a victory cry as his ball flies over the other kid’s and lands in the hoop. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Down the street is an empty park with playground equipment: monkey bars and climbable obstacles. Not far away, decaying garbage is scattered around a rusty, brown tire. Used cups, cigarettes, plastic containers and papers blow around the field with the wind. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">This is the neighborhood where Breakthrough Urban Ministries is headquartered. Located at 402 N. St. Louis Ave., and run by Arloa Sutter, executive director and founder, Breakthrough was originally established as a shelter for the homeless. In 2005, their services branched out to provide services for women and the youth.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Sutter knows East Garfield Park can be a dangerous neighborhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “A bullet went through my living room window after I moved into the neighborhood,” she said. “They weren’t after me.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">It was simply one of the facts of life in the neighborhood, a reflection of the conditions in her adopted community. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> After Sutter started Breakthrough, she knew she wanted to help reform her neighborhood. So, she initiated youth and family programs to encourage safety. Sutter said she feels passionately about the youth in her community. “They are precious,” she says. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHshpz4QWrqk8lPvYSj5awR1plEAv9yATCJ8J-0zfLkic2wy4YM2KZNiRoKu70KP6cBUvw53epYtHDpZjz2NfZyE1LFbNLySJBEAekcBsOVLLX8O3roOr0hNYxnvEXV9NFYAHNqJN46_F/s1600/Arloa+Sutter+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHshpz4QWrqk8lPvYSj5awR1plEAv9yATCJ8J-0zfLkic2wy4YM2KZNiRoKu70KP6cBUvw53epYtHDpZjz2NfZyE1LFbNLySJBEAekcBsOVLLX8O3roOr0hNYxnvEXV9NFYAHNqJN46_F/s200/Arloa+Sutter+2.jpg" width="165" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> And yet, there is evidence all around of the obstacles faced by many here, even the young. She said some of the kids have “tear-drop shaped tattoos” that mean death. These tattoos also symbolize the violence and brokenness young men and women face in their homes, Sutter said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“These are lost kids,” Sutter said. “Isn’t it tragic?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Breakthrough’s hope is to help them find their way, safely navigating a difficult path, whether it is dilemmas they face in their homes, such as domestic violence or fathers walking out on their families, or the gang-ridden, crime laced streets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“It used to be you smack someone in the face when you disagree with them,” Sutter said. “Now, you pull out your gun and kill them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Sutter said in light of all the violence and tragedy, there is a core value for every individual in her community. She said she wants to help the kids fulfill their ultimate destinies and believes the Breakthrough staff helps children unlock their true potential when they “show them love” and educate them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> The executive director said her destiny is to help the children find theirs, a calling that she believes is not without reward.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “It’s always reciprocal,” Sutter said. “I feel like we get what we give.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Keeping kids away from the violence and the bleak conditions in their community is only step one. To help them succeed, Marcie Curry, director of youth and family services, said Breakthrough has to prepare them for the future. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The goals of our programs are to keep the children safe, to give them hope for their futures so that when the future does get here, they will be able to compete with those kids who didn’t have to grow up like this,” Curry said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Breakthrough also teams with local support groups for kids, such as Ceasefire and Lawndale Community Center. These organizations work to bring together communities and to promote peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Phil Jackson, youth pastor at Lawndale Community Church, said his organization works on solving interpersonal problems between the West Side communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “The kids come together to build a bridge between African American and Latino issues,” said Jackson who contends that uniting these communities helps to prevent conflict, which may lead to violence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Violence historically has led some who grew up in West Side communities, like East Garfield to flee them. But Sutter and Curry as well as other Breakthrough staff choose to live in East Garfield Park, where they say they are quite content.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Breakthrough’s chief operating officer is Bill Curry, who is Marcie Curry’s husband. He sees problems within the neighborhood that he wants to help solve, like cleaning up some areas, including debris-strewn vacant lots, which he says would help to greatly improve living conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Sutter’s plans for improving the area include setting up a new family center, which is currently under development. This center will assist over 1,000 children and will offer athletic programs through its fitness center, a health clinic and an administration center with ample office <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">space for staff. Breakthrough Urban Ministries is also initiating “spiritual growth activities” that help children develop their faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvKC2SBywp_xIhc2dkckUkHD9lUZZcEE0ud1VOcu3-L9VJaSrTce2P5iWISTwfnkItF2oO6q01Dx0bawatO5oPDsh3jaXpLd8eDJ3HtVgIT4oJeVThog61MQJI-al1SEsJQThTnVWmkCS/s1600/DSCN6914.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvKC2SBywp_xIhc2dkckUkHD9lUZZcEE0ud1VOcu3-L9VJaSrTce2P5iWISTwfnkItF2oO6q01Dx0bawatO5oPDsh3jaXpLd8eDJ3HtVgIT4oJeVThog61MQJI-al1SEsJQThTnVWmkCS/s200/DSCN6914.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Breakthrough’s current youth center holds about 300 children. After their afterschool activities, the children may go out back to play in the courtyard, where “Inspiration” is painted on the back wall in big, bold blue letters. Surrounding the courtyard are murals, including one of Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor. Another picture displays baseball icon Hank Aaron in brilliant colors. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Another mural quotes Luke 2:40. It reads: “And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> It is a statement that Sutter and others here embodies the mission of Breakthrough. Still, Marcie Curry said it’s not always a rosy picture at Breakthrough. She knows that some of the children will transgress or become criminals; and that some of them will likely be subjected to acts of violence in the neighborhood. That is just the cold truth. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 21px;">But because of programs like Breakthrough, many around here say, there’s at least hope.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">By Benjamin Scott</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Related Links:</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.breakthrough.org/">Breakthrough Urban Ministries</a></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></b></span></span></span></div></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&q=breakthrough+urban+ministries&fb=1&gl=us&hq=breakthrough+urban+ministries&hnear=Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois&cid=2153890258778681279&ll=41.887455,-87.709866&spn=0.044728,0.072956&z=13&iwloc=A&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&q=breakthrough+urban+ministries&fb=1&gl=us&hq=breakthrough+urban+ministries&hnear=Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois&cid=2153890258778681279&ll=41.887455,-87.709866&spn=0.044728,0.072956&z=13&iwloc=A&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-29737508444425462472011-04-08T14:39:00.000-07:002011-05-27T10:57:00.818-07:00The man behind the mission to help boys become men<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCDT6-LwyXLzPM59M0y0Ic8mAHOYZ47M8MrI3M2GBIii-RZVTD_FhTgJhQbTWtcaK32Ch2L8xNy1NL_aLJ943h8Kn4ZMBrIVqxWrXjpWfwhH6Ex4j3E4N47-MvBKVoHqC0GlizsHv0ZWs/s1600/BAM1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCDT6-LwyXLzPM59M0y0Ic8mAHOYZ47M8MrI3M2GBIii-RZVTD_FhTgJhQbTWtcaK32Ch2L8xNy1NL_aLJ943h8Kn4ZMBrIVqxWrXjpWfwhH6Ex4j3E4N47-MvBKVoHqC0GlizsHv0ZWs/s1600/BAM1.jpg" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A</span></b> chiseled-physique and a firm handshake accompany an infectiously big smile. It seems to befit the passionate demeanor of Anthony DiVittorio. He is a man on a mission. He may stand a few inches short of six feet but is becoming a giant in the minds of many at-risk young Chicago male youths who spend time in the Becoming A Man program started by DiVittorio, who hopes that by making a difference in the life of one young male at a time that he is insuring a brighter future for all Chicagoans.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"> Through its program, which includes mentoring and counseling, BAM’s approach teaches young men five principles above all others: Integrity, Accountability, Self-Determination, Positive Anger Expression and Visionary Goal Setting.<br />
The aim is to help troubled boys by challenging them to become responsible and in-touch young men. And DiVittorio is apparently doing it by the dozens. But for BAM and its founder, it hasn’t always been an easy ride and there are still miles to go.<br />
<br />
</div><b>The Birth of Becoming A Man</b><br />
“The genesis of BAM is simple, yet complicated,” said DiVittorio. <br />
In 1995, DiVittorio’s son was born and so was an epiphany that caused him to question his own manhood. He says he had issues with his father growing up as well as other experiences that molded him into the man he would become. He said he wanted to share those experiences with others. <br />
During graduate school, DiVittorio was introduced to MensWork, a collective of men working to educate, mobilize and organize men to prevent all forms of sexual and domestic violence. The group, DiVittorio said, sought proactively to engage men as allies to work alongside women to eliminate domestic and sexual violence from communities. A conference he attended was a workshop in which experiences and rites of passage were discussed.<br />
“This was music to my ears,” said DiVittorio.<br />
As he progressed in his graduate studies, DiVittorio gained experience in traditional counseling and spent his time asking troubled boys some questions they never heard before: What is love? What is a man? How do we know these things?<br />
Through their responses DiVittorio said he began to see the need for the open discussion of all feelings and an acknowledgement of the inequalities between how societal ideals are formed and the reality in which they exist. He says he began to reform his own ideas, perceptions and misconceptions.<br />
“I didn’t know it at the time, but BAM was starting to form,” DiVittorio said.<br />
Around 2000, DiVittorio graduated and began working as a counselor for Youth Guidance, a not-for-profit that “assists at-risk students in gaining academic, social and emotional skills needed to stay on track in school, graduate and seek further education.” Youth Guidance’s major sources of funding include government contracts, corporations, foundations, individuals, the United Way of Chicago, and special events, according to the Youth Guidance website.<br />
BAM is one of the newer additions to the family of community programs run under Youth Guidance. And its leader has survived the worrisome nights of infancy and has not only learned how to crawl but is now running with close supervision.. BAM is his personal passion and project. He admitted it’s his baby.<br />
BAM has been implemented in 18 Chicago high schools and elementary schools and has been heralded for its use of cognitive behavior therapy to improve students’ ability to manage their anger and emotions and help them learn to avoid violent conflicts.<br />
<br />
<b>Growing Pains</b><br />
Becoming A Man-Sports Edition, a collaboration with World Sports Chicago provided hundreds of adolescent Chicago-area boys with a combination of cognitive behavior therapy and access to non-traditional sports. Although once in 15 schools, the program is in only six due to budget restrictions and grant regulations, according to DiVittorio.<br />
The sports offers students not involved in basketball or track an opportunity to be part of a team and enjoy healthy social interaction in ways that bring the five BAM principles into play.<br />
“At risk kids don’t usually make the traditional sports teams because their grades aren’t good enough,” said DiVittorio. “When we bring in new sports like archery, boxing and judo, everyone is at zero. They all get to learn together.”<br />
DiVittorio said BAM is counting largely on private sponsorship for the coming fiscal year.<br />
<br />
<b>The Future of BAM</b><br />
DiVittorio sees private funding as the key to the future of BAM as well as its expansion outside of the Chicago area.<br />
DiVittorio’s superior at Youth Guidance, Dave Simpson, director of counseling services connects BAM’s current success with its “genuine” nature, like DiVittorio hopes for expansion of the initiative in the future.<br />
Michelle Adler Morrison, chief executive officer of Youth Guidance, describes the non-profit corporation as one offering, “Comprehensive services to at-risk youth for nearly a century.”<br />
“We take pride in over 86 years of committed work in Chicago,” said Morrison. “Today we reach over 14,000 students and families in nearly 70 schools.”<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><b>By Paul Mulvihill</b></div><br />
Related Links:<br />
<a href="http://www.youth-guidance.org/YG/YGMAINS.nsf/ContentDisplay?OpenForm&docid=5AF95908CBA301E1862577A4006C4816">Youth Guidance's B.A.M</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-4947225785207175852011-04-06T10:02:00.000-07:002011-05-31T12:24:58.555-07:00The Providence effect: West Side school saves lives<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpmEXD71SwT9ymhMJpJlMBPXNxPVwIDdODP1WJqvc7xwUjd7HJ1l8dY7kDzC75SrhKYcAOkmlOqwu5Gb05Yxb_TBVFC2WbyRV8UfBeEEXkdHwsSZwWp1k62J911ZYmherClH4I_2XIiG8/s1600/psm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGpmEXD71SwT9ymhMJpJlMBPXNxPVwIDdODP1WJqvc7xwUjd7HJ1l8dY7kDzC75SrhKYcAOkmlOqwu5Gb05Yxb_TBVFC2WbyRV8UfBeEEXkdHwsSZwWp1k62J911ZYmherClH4I_2XIiG8/s320/psm.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> T</span></b>he office was cavernous and dark with couches and chairs spread around the room. Books and papers littered every surface. Shelves on the left wall held more books and dozens of framed pictures were crammed together in every remaining space. In them, Paul J. Adams III is pictured with past students, his children, and Oprah Winfrey. Photos of President Barack Obama were interspersed in between. As the president of Providence St. Mel School, Mr. Adams is a tall, well-dressed, wise-looking man who seems to have been through it all. Indeed Providence St. Mel is a school that has fought through tough times, and won.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“There are thousands and thousands and thousands of schools that only exist in a structure,” Mr. Adams said. “We rock the boat.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Located in the West Side’s Garfield Park, violence and crime lie right outside the doors of this K-12 grade school. But inside the walls of this dedicated and in some ways revolutionary establishment, the students are hard-working, bright-eyed, respectful kids who plan to make something of themselves with the help of the noble educators that surround them.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> “We work for them,” Mr. Adams said. “It’s a push-up theory.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Adams must be on the right track, judging from the school’s success over the past two decades. In that time, the school has held onto a 100 percent college acceptance rate to four-year colleges and universities.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is a standard Adams and the school’s administration urges every student at Providence St. Mel to aspire to.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Situated in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, a place where crime, gangs, violence and drugs claim many young black men and women, Providence St. Mel seems to be an oasis in the midst of what some say is a barren land. Education is the golden carrot that it presents to young men and women seeking a way up from poverty a way to escape becoming a statistic. By all accounts, it is a school that works, the kind that offers hope and a lifeline, even for those growing up in some of the city’s most hopeless neighborhoods.</div></div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> To discover Providence St. Mel’s secret to success, one need only visit the school. It quickly becomes clear that for all involved here, there is no secret, only hard work and expectation.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Adams said to motivate students they must set the bar high and challenge them daily.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Challenging the students with work is not the only way the school achieves excellence. Both Adams and the thin, blond principal, Jeanette DiBella, describe the teachers as a cut above the rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“We hire people who are smarter than we are,” DiBella said.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“You can’t work here unless you buy into the philosophy,” Adams added.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Inside classrooms, students barely glance up from their work, despite the presence of a visitor, as they take ACT prep tests, math quizzes and read assigned books. In another class, third graders make shadow puppets in art class while upstairs a few students receive extra help in biology. Every teacher keeps order as they immerse the students in information and knowledge.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“Teaching is one of the most honorary jobs in the world,” Adams said. “I take it as a personal responsibility.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> That sense of responsibility does not just lie with the educators but also students, said DiBella.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The school is private so there are substantial tuition costs, but DiBella said this is essential for the students. No one goes to Providence St. Mel for free.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“Everyone will pay something,” she said. “You have to invest something in your future.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The students are indeed aware of the costs of tuition.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“I almost started crying when I thought I had to leave,” said bright-eyed, eighth-grader Jessica Bailey, 13. “My mom couldn’t afford it anymore but then I got a scholarship,” she said, smiling. Jessica said she loves the school like it is home.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Paying tuition is one of the things that helps students remain motivated. The continued need for finances keeps the school’s administrators motivated to seek funds—a minimum of $3.5 million annually.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“We look for investors, and they look for a return on their investment,” Mr. Adams said. The students are the return, he said, and when they are well educated, they ensure a better future.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Junior Latrionna Moore, 16, is one of those students.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In the hallway outside her classroom recently, she said, “I want to be a doctor, maybe own my own hospital; be an entrepreneur.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">After school, she tutors, plays softball, and participates in the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering program, which helps students excel at math and science. After school programs are encouraged at Providence St. Mel so that students can continue to learn outside the classroom and stay off the streets.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Providence St. Mel is primarily African American, but DiBella said they are segregated mostly by their location. Being one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Chicago, Garfield Park lies in one of the city’s historically most deadly police districts, and students are forced to make tough choices every day.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Asked what he says to kids who get mixed up with gangs, drugs and crime, Adams said he tells them, “Don’t. If you do, you’re gone.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The school has a no-tolerance policy.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> “You make a choice,” Adams said. “You can’t mix them.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Besides the school’s policies on violence and drugs, it also has a plan to help students who are suffering academically. When a student’s GPA falls below a 2.0, they enter the after-school intervention program and receive tutoring to help them get back on track, DiBella said.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“We work with them as much as we can,” DiBella said.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Failing grades are always addressed but students who excel are given equal attention.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> “It’s a challenge for me,” said Shang Sharpe, a 17-year-old junior. “At my other school I was always the first one done, then I would just sit and talk. Now I go to a higher level.”</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">While Sharpe is an example of a student who learned to succeed, not all students take to the school right away.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> In the fourth floor hallway, freshman Arshad Williams said the school is “pretty good” and he likes Providence St. Mel better than his last school.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“The workload is... a lot,” he said, adding that he has an interest in Journalism and may join the school paper next year.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Adams said the importance of the school is not only to educate young people, but to make them realize “they need to reach back and lift up,” adding that he sits on the shoulders of the people and teachers of his past. Adams hopes that some of his students will come back home to help revitalize the neighborhood with their knowledge and abilities.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“You are not going to know where you’re going unless you know where you came from,” he said.</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Adams is certain that his students are the key to a better future, and that their success at Providence St. Mel is only the beginning. Stating the school’s mantra, DiBella said, “You can, you must, and you will succeed.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><b>By Kira Stiers</b></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-3197260367854769342011-04-06T09:21:00.001-07:002011-05-28T14:18:12.455-07:00Program swaps jail time for community service; Aims to set juveniles on right path<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuFlkCUNnWbFRdpYAjLNFEUE6ODs1chjNn_GdVWwqwLJkODmC9CcstmMzix-Rw61HoOKJBb8vaX1DTCQoexcId6-coqzJXghcWQU3MBL7cCgNSlwmUBxGgNyZkDJegaheuhA29JElQNUD/s1600/DSCF0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuFlkCUNnWbFRdpYAjLNFEUE6ODs1chjNn_GdVWwqwLJkODmC9CcstmMzix-Rw61HoOKJBb8vaX1DTCQoexcId6-coqzJXghcWQU3MBL7cCgNSlwmUBxGgNyZkDJegaheuhA29JElQNUD/s320/DSCF0019.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">At 7:20 a.m., on a cold Sunday in March, the court is closed and the sidewalk outside deserted. Inside the main doors of the Cook County Juvenile Center, nine teenagers quietly wait in the entrance area in front of the security post, one pacing while the others sit on raised vents against the glass walls. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A few are Hispanic, but most have varying shades of light or dark brown skin. The only other person in sight is an officer perched up in the large round information desk past the gates and metal detectors.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Slumped against the window with his hood covering his face, Anthony and the other young men sentenced to community service wait for the probation officer to arrive. Anthony (whose full name is being withheld because he is a minor) is missing church and music classes to be here.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Judges have the option of sentencing nonviolent minors to work in the Sheriff's Work Alternative Program for the same number of days they would have in detention. One high school senior, Tyrone vaguely admits he made “mistakes.” Another young man speaks loudly and self-assured, saying he’s there because of money.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Sell a bag of weed, a bag of dope,” he says. “It’s all about money.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A quiet high school sophomore says he’s there for fighting in school – sentenced for strong-arm and battery.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Anthony says he was in his West Side neighborhood walking on the same side of the street as some other young men when the police stopped and picked them all up.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “That made it seem like I was with them,” he says.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The minimum sentence for S.W.A.P. is five days and the maximum is 30 days. During the school year, those who serve out their time here only come on weekends. The young men each know how many days of S.W.A.P. they have left.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Tyrone says he has two days left.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“When I’m done, I’m putting a restraining order on myself against this place,” he jokes, talking about how he hopes to never see the center again.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7pkbChuoU6IH5KNZDMuNp_bZj8NO_k4igqYeR_-XBXLdxXgi23u-CUaeaZWqwpfKHu4wnvMzQsdEPapJs9XzUNn4s-u9ebk0BSg52erBz4jPJQpc_qCzw-M-B3NYmNyEKArm9bhp9KS9/s1600/DSCF0038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7pkbChuoU6IH5KNZDMuNp_bZj8NO_k4igqYeR_-XBXLdxXgi23u-CUaeaZWqwpfKHu4wnvMzQsdEPapJs9XzUNn4s-u9ebk0BSg52erBz4jPJQpc_qCzw-M-B3NYmNyEKArm9bhp9KS9/s320/DSCF0038.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">On a weekday morning, the sidewalk opposite the Cook County Juvenile Center on Hamilton Street is crowded with people waiting for the bus. Inside people wait on faded pink padded benches and in the parole offices.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Down the hall, parents stand outside courtrooms with young or teenage children, waiting for their turn to see the judge for child custody, protection or delinquency cases. Most of the young men wear hoodies and sneakers, but one or two wear a suit a size or so too big.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Upstairs, detainees wait for their time in the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center to be over. Fifteen years ago, the detention center held almost 850 minors, according to the Correctional Association of New York. Since then, alternatives to detention like S.W.A.P. as well as changes to sentences for minor infractions reduced the average detention population to less than 450.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">When Officer Chris Murray arrives at the juvenile detention center on Hamilton Street, he instructs them to line up in front of the metal detector and put anything in their pockets in the plastic trays. A stocky African-American man who is a Cook County deputy sheriff </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">has a sharp tone that reflects his military background.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">When a boy has a small bottle of cologne, Murray tells him, “Take it home or throw it away.” The young man starts to protest, but Murray repeats the mandate twice then decides for him. He’s going home and coming back for S.W.A.P. next week, the cologne thrown in the trash. Murray later explained that the boy also had a cigarette lighter in his shoe.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">He tells the young men to take out earrings, keep hats off and pants up, then takes attendance. Two of the boys aren’t on the attendance list. The computer system in the office is down and Murray can’t check their cases. Murray says they have to call their probation officers and come back next week.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Call home and stay out of trouble,” Murray says as he sends the two teens home.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In 2010, 456 minors were sentenced to S.W.A.P with 67 percent of them completing their required days, according to S.W.A.P. If participants miss community service days, they get thrown out of the program, or tho</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">se boys whose service hours are close to being fulfilled, could be sent back to a judge for a review date. “The judge will send them back to S.W.A.P., or lock them up,” Murray says, adding that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">he tries to talk to the boys and “get a feel for who’s who.” He remembers one day, when he took aside a young man who frequently started riots to ask him why he was fighting. The boy started crying.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“They don’t have the guidance,” Murray says. “There are too many missing fathers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">On that recent day that Murray led the program, three of six young men in attendance said they know their father. Only the quiet sophomore said he lives with his father.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oGgao7qOOPxizn8lMHqGYMIAB8A6rhsGlXf9idc5lmDD5BTCXgUHfVsh9oUIxmYmBrPLJe1m2XY50nGB4FLTisnKmIsABM0aVwYDu8nCpp-8XftD6gfEkaNHaWMg7_AZbDVoXqN02JGU/s1600/DSCF0031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oGgao7qOOPxizn8lMHqGYMIAB8A6rhsGlXf9idc5lmDD5BTCXgUHfVsh9oUIxmYmBrPLJe1m2XY50nGB4FLTisnKmIsABM0aVwYDu8nCpp-8XftD6gfEkaNHaWMg7_AZbDVoXqN02JGU/s320/DSCF0031.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Anthony, the young man who says he was picked up by police while walking on the same side of the street as a group of young men, said he lived in three different shelters with his mother and siblings before their first apartment. He guesses he was 8 or 9 years old then. Now, he lives with his aunt, he says, and his eight siblings are all separated, some living with their aunt, grandmother or mother. He is the second oldest; his sister was born when his mother was 15.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“My mama wants us back but she needs to get more responsible. She drinks too much,” he says. “My dad is at 26th and California.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Donning neon yellow vests and latex gloves, the young men pick up trash outside the juvenile center, empty garbage cans, sweep and mop the entrance area and hallway. Later, they will pile into a county van to drive to clean up another site.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> While the young men work, they chat and joke with each other and the officers nearby. Like most young men, their conversations include cars, girls, video games and music. When the subject turns to love, marriage and the military, Murray joins to give advice the way a father might talk to his sons.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The young men turn to ask him questions and listen. “You ever thought of being a motivational speaker?” Tyrone asks.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZSC2myBwUCg9i0DwsWh4AmrKADmuS15Zpd_kC70XI3bdRvZRsBm3nsu6uwmui7Oh0Iv3IAjLNnV0AuaW9TQ8GMq9VIv-rKKSq9iJRLshG_B-Q3FiETPD_43B2aH5sA6chcWI-MOUorQu/s1600/DSCF00352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZSC2myBwUCg9i0DwsWh4AmrKADmuS15Zpd_kC70XI3bdRvZRsBm3nsu6uwmui7Oh0Iv3IAjLNnV0AuaW9TQ8GMq9VIv-rKKSq9iJRLshG_B-Q3FiETPD_43B2aH5sA6chcWI-MOUorQu/s320/DSCF00352.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Seniors, Tyrone and Anthony talk about college. Anthony says he learned to play piano using the tutorials on his aunt’s keyboard and wants to go to school to for music or music business.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“I don’t want a job, I want a career,” he says. He doesn’t want to go to a community college and has thought about going to Columbia College Chicago. He’s worried that he doesn’t know much about music theory.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">They try not to look at the clock, avoiding counting the minutes until 2 p.m. when S.W.A.P. ends. Tyrone groans and covers his ears when someone says it’s 10:39 a.m.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">They still have hours to wait.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">By Shannon McFarland</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b>Related links:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><a href="http://www.cookcountysheriff.org/faq/faq_swap.html">Cook County S.W.A.P. </a></b></span></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-64455960209854819152011-04-06T09:17:00.000-07:002011-05-28T13:14:52.448-07:00In effort to save our sons shines a Breakthrough<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5nL1DuhLT5dY1M2P3J4SjE1ymLn8EfVnXp7Mpi8XeGrYvicVuh7pOHywHUsJeJUg-s3r2yf7uLKjo7wpOIuJASUibzBXIxMRHyYx3w5DIPWYPpnxpxaNVUi6aOZR99UareLMh3Y2WCcO/s1600/Sos6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5nL1DuhLT5dY1M2P3J4SjE1ymLn8EfVnXp7Mpi8XeGrYvicVuh7pOHywHUsJeJUg-s3r2yf7uLKjo7wpOIuJASUibzBXIxMRHyYx3w5DIPWYPpnxpxaNVUi6aOZR99UareLMh3Y2WCcO/s320/Sos6.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">T</span></b>hey lock the doors promptly at 3 p.m. Then the after-school programs begin. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">The meeting room for the children is in an open cafeteria. Inside a ping-pong table supported by some old philosophy books provides afternoon activity. A library cart in the corner is scattered with old novels and phonebooks.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">A quotation from Psalm 46 is taped to the top of the cart. It reads: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help.”</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">That’s the scene at Breakthrough Urban Ministries, where its leaders say their aim is to bring the children of Garfield Park together and keep them safe. The center is located at 3330 W. Carroll Ave. in Chicago.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">On a recent afternoon, Children ran around the room shouting, laughing and socializing with their peers and with their youth leaders. They formed a circle in the center of the room and started to chant Breakthrough’s creed.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“Today I will do my best to be my best…I will admit mistakes. I will create peace in all I do. We will love one another because God loves us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Marcie Curry, director of youth and family services at Breakthrough Urban Ministries, has a background in education. She began her career teaching high school English in Ohio. So when she gained her leadership position at Breakthrough in 2001, she initially felt overwhelmed. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Curry helped to launch the youth and family programs at Breakthrough with founder Arloa Sutter about 10 years ago. </span> </div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5S8L0OxfcD1qx-6FLeH1Xsb6vP8ONLhCm-rwSb8w9IzeZyObsP0Ze94rrgWLMr9qw5QizHk3yOvW5NmNbCI99xNtokrUtL7uDMyEHvQ8fFSbkGv3Hd6HVBpOAkGBrXtFb3aOJAwOfbWC/s1600/DSCN6908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5S8L0OxfcD1qx-6FLeH1Xsb6vP8ONLhCm-rwSb8w9IzeZyObsP0Ze94rrgWLMr9qw5QizHk3yOvW5NmNbCI99xNtokrUtL7uDMyEHvQ8fFSbkGv3Hd6HVBpOAkGBrXtFb3aOJAwOfbWC/s200/DSCN6908.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Breakthrough’s youth programs seek to serve people who live in the 32-square blocks surrounding East Garfield Park on the city’s West Side. It is a neighborhood that many here say has been torn apart by the Black Souls and other violent street gangs. Their impact is far reaching.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">For here, Curry and others say, children are corrupted by the gangs, often misled and manipulated. It is not uncommon for young people to be attacked in front of their homes, at parks, in public places that are generally safe in more privileged neighborhoods. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">According to Curry, one of Breakthrough’s primary goals is to unite the community. She said a lot of residents feel isolated from resources as well as other people. Some are forced to seek the safety of their homes to avoid the violence in their neighborhood. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">During a typical afternoon at Breakthrough’s afterschool program, youth leaders guide the children to separate tables and rooms, where they break out into reading sessions. Others children go to the computer lab upstairs to use the reading software and prepare for examinations. Some students have to leave early and put on their jackets but continue to play.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Upstairs, past the computer lab is an open room with long tables set up for testing. Some older students, mostly from middle school, work diligently on homework and exams. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Curry’s office is in the back of the room. It’s cream-colored. A finished wooden table has been freshly cleaned and a paper towel lays bunched up in the center. Books are stacked neatly on shelves. A poster with a red background bears photo cutouts of Breakthrough’s first graduating class. Curry said most of the original class has not yet found success.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“Almost every girl in the photo got pregnant. A lot of them went to their freshman year of college and couldn’t handle it,” Curry said. “A couple of the guys got locked up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">But not every member of the first class was present for the photo collage. Curry spoke highly of a young woman whose name is London Johnson. She was a star member of her graduating class. Johnson and Curry still communicate from time to time.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“She was this amazing little girl. She started playing the trumpet. She got into Vandercook School of Music,” Curry said. London “is four years away from graduating from college. She is a huge part of my life and a huge success.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Curry said she thinks young boys have it much harder than the girls. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“The boys struggle so much more because their very lives are in danger. The choices that they make are so life and death.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The youth director pointed to one of the young men in the photo collage. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">She says the pictured young man was in the fourth grade when he started coming to Breakthrough and that he was a great student. Now, he is in the Black Souls, she says. He got shot at a couple weeks ago when he was patrolling his turf. Another young man in that same class, she says, is in a similar situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“These men say, ‘I’ve rejected the message of Breakthrough when I was a kid, and now I’m realizing that I’ve gotten myself into this situation.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">In fact, she says that one of the aforementioned young men met with her recently. He told her, “’I’ve got a baby on the way and I really need to change my life.’” Kiwanis is working on making the change back to a more positive lifestyle, Curry added<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">By providing continued support, youth ministers like Curry say they are able to make positive breakthroughs in the lives of young men like Kiwanis. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Reading fundamental to building lifelong learners<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Gynger Garcia, a reading specialist at Breakthrough, is enthusiastic about her job. She teaches reading and grammar skills to the kids at Breakthrough.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXqlinqHoznCvCfrSEjGEQ_bYl0xhnSWnRHaZrAHATEjRXMBL6IpBvjwYHmHtsv0owAcwgJ3fq0YC1Ed7_djsapEG0UtB29VGiZN3gJ6qIJ-cFWaKsDBXZ7hlKgs_4ars7zSu-IGtEwl-q/s1600/DSCN6912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXqlinqHoznCvCfrSEjGEQ_bYl0xhnSWnRHaZrAHATEjRXMBL6IpBvjwYHmHtsv0owAcwgJ3fq0YC1Ed7_djsapEG0UtB29VGiZN3gJ6qIJ-cFWaKsDBXZ7hlKgs_4ars7zSu-IGtEwl-q/s200/DSCN6912.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “One of our goals is that the children become lifelong readers—that it be something they enjoy doing, something they are passionate about,” Garcia said. “ That they become happy, confident readers.” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">Garcia said the program focuses on more than just education.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;"> “We want them to be pro-social people in their community, to be able to act appropriately and show different types of life skills, to be an honest person and show compassion,” Garcia said. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">She added, for example, “If your friend falls next to you, help them up. Don’t laugh at them.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">The kids at Breakthrough are eager to share their experiences. Devin Hall, 12, loves to play basketball. His favorite NBA teams are The Bulls, The Spurs and The Celtics. Derrick Rose is his role model.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Hall attends Catalyst Charter School, Howland Campus. He comes to the youth program a little bit later than the other kids because he has to commute via the CTA bus. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “I like coming here because, sometimes, I come home from school and I have nothing to do,” Hall said. “I just sit there and watch TV. But when I come to<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Breakthrough, I’ve got lots of stuff to do. I do my homework, I get on the computer. We do activities.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Jaylah Smith, 6, comes to Breakthrough with her two older sisters. Garcia said that Jaylah, a short girl with ponytails, is relatively new to the program. And like many of the children here, she faces her own challenges. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “I’ve got three sisters. One of them is dead. She was fourteen,” Jaylah said in a somber tone. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Jaylah likes to play with some of the other children, especially with her best friend Maurice. On a recent afternoon, she talked about some of her favorite activities. She loves to sing. Her favorite song to perform is “Never Say Never” by Justin Bieber. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Children like Hall and Smith are the life and soul of Breakthrough’s afterschool programs. Not all of them make it, folks around here say. It is a fact that has become all too clear to those working here to make a difference. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> But with the continuing support, encouragement and education Breakthrough provides, Garcia and others here hope to leave the lives of these young men and women forever changed.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">By Benjamin Scott</span></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Related links:</span></b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://breakthrough.org/">Breakthrough Urban Ministries</a></span></span></span></div></div><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-78488082056580733002011-04-05T12:45:00.000-07:002011-05-31T12:26:14.305-07:00Curing the “cradle to prison” pipeline<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMWrfFphI_jOuDlrENs_qlk-ND5ExO-ZaVoyKBYFm1AHqkWpwWyjPb8tPCENX7ED7RIaSWM5_4pp68kpC5TlhjWFmovWyANwFdBDytFhiQziHe7_xAz-OnOXOo3fTSlxnw8VHpuGMCUi-/s1600/roosevelt-university.ashx.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMWrfFphI_jOuDlrENs_qlk-ND5ExO-ZaVoyKBYFm1AHqkWpwWyjPb8tPCENX7ED7RIaSWM5_4pp68kpC5TlhjWFmovWyANwFdBDytFhiQziHe7_xAz-OnOXOo3fTSlxnw8VHpuGMCUi-/s1600/roosevelt-university.ashx.png" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">Nancy Michaels dedicated the last year to save children from being incarcerated instead of being educated. The Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation, which Michaels helps oversee, is a two-in-one program at Roosevelt University that hopes to provide programming for Social Justice awareness and collaboration and transformation service learning implemented throughout Roosevelt. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">Key issues of the mission include education, poverty, violence, activism and policy change.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“We are striving to be the community catalyst in education,” said Michaels the assistant director of the Mansfield Institute. “The outreach for the summit, work is spread out, and very broad.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Heather Dalmage, the director of the Mansfield Institute, sent Michaels to a conference spotlighting a woman incarceration campaign. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“After the campaign it was clear that this is what we need to be working on,” said Michaels. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">The Cradle to College Pipeline Summit was a two-day experience held in fall 2010. Community organizations gathered at Roosevelt in hopes of dismantling what has widely become known as the “Prison Pipeline”. More than 420 people, students, faculty and youth from across the city, attended the event.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">On the conference’s second day, youths led panels, to discuss issues that mattered the most to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7pkbChuoU6IH5KNZDMuNp_bZj8NO_k4igqYeR_-XBXLdxXgi23u-CUaeaZWqwpfKHu4wnvMzQsdEPapJs9XzUNn4s-u9ebk0BSg52erBz4jPJQpc_qCzw-M-B3NYmNyEKArm9bhp9KS9/s1600/DSCF0038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN7pkbChuoU6IH5KNZDMuNp_bZj8NO_k4igqYeR_-XBXLdxXgi23u-CUaeaZWqwpfKHu4wnvMzQsdEPapJs9XzUNn4s-u9ebk0BSg52erBz4jPJQpc_qCzw-M-B3NYmNyEKArm9bhp9KS9/s200/DSCF0038.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“Youth were essential in this process,” said Michaels, “They’re the experts, they’re living it.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">The Pipeline advisory board, made up of 22 faculty and administrators, brainstormed topics for sessions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“This is a chance to highlight organizations doing incredible work, and make them experts,” said Michaels. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “The main objective is to build an action plan that switches the current trajectory of a system that funnels poor and minority youth from the cradle to prison, to a trajectory that prepares children for college and a successful adulthood,” said Dalmage. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">But their work after the summit is not done.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“Our true goals are those that will happen well after the summit,” said Dalmage, “Our goal is to keep social justice as the central theme of University,” said Dalmage. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“It costs the state of Illinois $83,000 a year to incarcerate a child, but it costs only 10 percent of that to educate a student. One issue kids brought up was how school is starting to have a similar environment to that of prison.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“Things happen in school that lead to success rather than prison,” said Nona Burney one of the moderators of the summit and an associate professor of secondary education at Roosevelt,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“We need our children to set goals towards success. They need to move along without being interrupted by the negative.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> By Stephanie Corcilius</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></span></span><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Related Links:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.roosevelt.edu/MISJT.aspx">Mansfield Institute</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<object height="349" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6W0WdwKVsS4?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6W0WdwKVsS4?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-79212065358502381022011-04-05T12:38:00.000-07:002011-05-28T12:58:24.530-07:00South Shore Team: The drill of life<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfn6BRzLkXLfP4jLuqF8c4y4a4RoOgqk4qWOv_7cSO2oHKeOGK3wnHLCLINhJfWY3O11xdmZ8ogBI79m058GToQgvr2P1XXtpLKGjqvvFT7OT1L5a1eRioHiKURU_LS7-s9pavhIZBFuN/s1600/prog_01lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJfn6BRzLkXLfP4jLuqF8c4y4a4RoOgqk4qWOv_7cSO2oHKeOGK3wnHLCLINhJfWY3O11xdmZ8ogBI79m058GToQgvr2P1XXtpLKGjqvvFT7OT1L5a1eRioHiKURU_LS7-s9pavhIZBFuN/s320/prog_01lg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12.5px;">Photo source: www.southshoredrillteam.org</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;"><b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A</span></b>t the Rebecca Crown center, a small gym on the city’s South Side, 10 inner-city youths busily prepare for something big. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">On a recent afternoon, the team entered together, laughing and horsing around, asking each about each other’s day, and texting friends on their cell phones. But at the sound of “Aten-Hut,” everyone suddenly got serious. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;">Kevin Ray, the team unit leader, told everyone to get changed at the center, located at 7601 S. Phillips. An intense practice session was about to begin. The small unit of the South Shore Drill Team was preparing for an upcoming competition. In fact, they were putting the finishing touches on a routine they would perform at the Color Guard Regionals competition in Indianapolis, just days away.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Founded in 1980 by former Chicago Public School teacher Arthur Robertson, the South Shore Drill Team was started as a way to keep at-risk inner city youths off the streets and out of trouble, particularly in neighborhoods where crime and violence affect the lives of young people on a daily basis.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The program gives teens the opportunity to do something fun and creative while staying out of trouble, according to the group’s published material.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Eric Thomas has been with the South Shore Drill Team for nine years. While making sure the team was getting ready for practice, he talked about the South Shore Drill Team. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“The team made a big difference in my life, it really kept me out of trouble and I would recommend it to younger students. It keeps them busy in a good way,” said Thomas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> According to the group’s published material, most of the teens in the program come from areas where the high school drop-out rate is 55 percent or higher. The South Shore Drill Team sees 99.5 percent of its members graduate with their classes and most of them going on to college, according to the team’s official website.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> In addition to teaching teens dance and rifle twirling, the drill team also offers programs to help teens in the program succeed educationally. Started by a school teacher, the group remains focused on education. The program offers educational support to all members of the team with tutoring and computer labs for homework.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15.8333px;"> The team, begun more than three decades ago with four members, now has 350 young men and women between the ages of 8 and 21, according its fact sheet. Every year, they perform in more than 130 parades and live events.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Parents also play a large role in the South Shore Drill Team’s success, not only by encouraging their children to stay on the team, but as a part of the Parent Booster Club. The Parent Booster Club consists of parents and volunteers that assist the team with costume production and make-up for shows. They also chaperone trips and provide food and water for team members and staff during trips and performances.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The program offers financial assistance to team members from under-privileged families, by providing bus cards, food, clothing and other necessities. This is made possible by company sponsorship and private donations combined with revenue from parade performance fees, their annual holiday and spring shows and the parent fundraising.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> For members of the drill team, training for the real world does not stop with education. Older members of the team have the opportunity to train younger students and help them prepare for competition and performances. By doing so, they can learn leadership skills and discipline while also giving them the chance to earn a small stipend for their work. At least that’s the aim, according to those who run the drill team.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Eric Thomas says he can attest to how the team can help young people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">“I have been inspired to work with kids because of the Drill Team,” Thomas said recently while making sure his team was getting ready for practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> At that recent practice, the team worked on the end of their routine, which includes different groups performing simultaneously then coming together as one, tossing rifles in the air, dancing, flag twirling and saber tossing, all at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> The team members all had to work together to make the elements come together for the show. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEz8s2gywQ6MvzSMDYBrf5noeamtha1CivdscKkGwhPzG25UNXnlRWPhIQoS4oAWdcKu1WHG-DBEcvQeFH1zcHQTS9alAGOPcSoeepZURWVQ5bw288w-mWa8JNcxBreLupZpuyW6EkhA8c/s1600/South+shore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEz8s2gywQ6MvzSMDYBrf5noeamtha1CivdscKkGwhPzG25UNXnlRWPhIQoS4oAWdcKu1WHG-DBEcvQeFH1zcHQTS9alAGOPcSoeepZURWVQ5bw288w-mWa8JNcxBreLupZpuyW6EkhA8c/s320/South+shore.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo source: www.southshoredrillteam.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> Stella Natufe, an alumnus of the drill team, has been with the team since she was 13 and has stayed on as a girls’ coach. As she watched the drill team perform the routine, she encouraged them to do their best. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “You all have to learn to give 100 percent from the time you get on the floor until the time you leave,” Natufe said, speaking before the team started their routine again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> After a particularly difficult run of the routine, the team members became frustrated. With every run of the routine, they seemed distracted and began to perform the routine worse than when practice first started. Ray could tell that the team was tired and frustrated. He called them to attention. Suddenly everyone in the gym froze and everything went silent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> After a minute, he gave the team a pep talk, telling them they have to believe in themselves and work together to make their routine perfect. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “You all have come a long way, I know you want to do it,” Ray said, “Determination means a lot.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> As the practice went on, the team seemed to become more and more confident. And as practice came to a close, Ray and other team leaders let them know they had confidence in the team, giving one the one last bit of advice that applied to the competition and also to their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"> “If we focus on one thing, all of us coming together, we can make it,” Ray said, “you can make it.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">By Erika Powell</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Related Links:</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.southshoredrillteam.org/about.html">South Shore Drill Team</a></span></span></span><br />
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</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><object height="349" style="clear: left; float: left;" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GRyQ87B3iCk?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GRyQ87B3iCk?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-54146891653854233972011-04-05T12:35:00.000-07:002011-05-28T13:24:38.601-07:00Local agency seeks to pave road to a better way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUBKeA41rSd_9V6RgBStCTUSquWHHLNu8CLa7afPKm-KbngZ7niUO0x7ZBDUys63B_BNMkdYgjvnzwLRgXcRsCgPw5GTK9L5Gc_eZXl1KLl-VBAIEImVGiycrLfo3MVMzphcyCiqUstEv/s1600/Alex+Roseborough+%2528Zois%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUBKeA41rSd_9V6RgBStCTUSquWHHLNu8CLa7afPKm-KbngZ7niUO0x7ZBDUys63B_BNMkdYgjvnzwLRgXcRsCgPw5GTK9L5Gc_eZXl1KLl-VBAIEImVGiycrLfo3MVMzphcyCiqUstEv/s1600/Alex+Roseborough+%2528Zois%2529.jpg" /></a></div><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px;"><b> </b></span></span>Alexander Roseborough, </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">president and founder of<i> </i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Fathers, Families In Transition, says that having a father in a young man’s life is key for young African-Americans to stay out of prison and have a positive, non-violent role in their community. </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">Roseborough knows what it's like to grow up without a father. Raised on the city's South Side, as a young African American male he fell victim to some of the same vices that have made so many like him a somber statistic tale of life in America's mean streets. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Roseborough says he was not very close with his own father.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “We had some positive times together, don’t get me wrong, but the fact that he was an absentee father did not help me,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">But today he is clean and sober and himself a married father. He is also founder of a local group whose aim is to save other young men and women just like him and to keep them from the same traps that ensnared him and countless others</span><i><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> At Roseborough’s office, located in Loop, he said the most important thing he can do for the young men his organization seeks to serve is stress the importance of having a family. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “The family structure has to be saved,” Roseborough said. “The community in which these men live in has generally not had strong family bonds. Having a father present and also have a strong family bond can make sure these men stay on the right path.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Founded in June 2000, Fathers, Families in Transition is a not-for profit organization that helps families</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> by providing “lifestyle coaching, spiritual encouragement, mentoring, fatherhood and parenting education, referrals and other life enhancing support seminars to custodial, non-custodial fathers, youth, women, family members, and others in matters relating to strengthening families and individuals.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> One of Roseborough’s responsibilities with the organization is to counsel young men on ways they can get a job and help their families.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Roseborough said they have helped more than 150 young men since 2009. Roseborough added that </span>their goal is to cover a five-year period, where Fathers, Families in Transition hopes to serve over 2,000 fathers in that time period.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">He added that the need for education and promotion of family values and ideals is particularly need for those in their targeted group because hip-hop culture promotes ideals that are detrimental to the community. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The subculture of that community today that idolizes the hip-hop culture is different day by day,” Roseborough said. “They have seen a lifestyle of cars, women, jewelry and tend to strive for that. At Fathers, Families in Transition, we try to show them a wider scope of what they can accomplish.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Roseborough added that </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“most of the families and communities I deal with tend not to see the big picture. Most of these men do not have jobs, and in the short term it’s okay for a little bit, but it hurts the community overall.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Facing the problem, Roseborough’s agency offers one-on-one counseling sessions, adding that he believes that giving each young man specific attention just may help make all the difference..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Roseborough and his group are not alone in providing help for these young men.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> Another organization trying to help the community is the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, or IFI. Lois Rakov, a member of the group’s board of advisors, says the number-one thing most of the young men they serve want is to meet their fathers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “No matter what the situation is, the key thing these kids want is to meet their fathers,” Rakov said. “There are facts to show that not having a father figure in someone’s life greatly affects them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">According to the Center for Disease Control, 85 percent of all children that exhibit behavioral disorder come from fatherless homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Rakov added that the likelihood of a person to be involved with substance abuse or to serve time in prison is also connected to fatherless homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“At IFI, we have started to see a trend where more problems occur to people who do not have fathers,” Rakov said. A study by Rainbows for all God’s Children, a grief support group for children, found that 75 percent of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We at IFI are trying to help combat this problem,” Rakov said. “There is evidence out there showing a father can directly affect the direction of these kids.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> In addition to helping young males, Roseborough has also been</span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;">a correctional officer, juvenile court liaison, substance abuse counselor and employment specialist.</span><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Roseborough said that if young men can be exposed to the bigger picture and the world of possibilities beyond their own worlds often filled with crime, poverty and too often hopelessness, the consequences of prison time and drug addiction among African-American males would not be as prevalent.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> “With our organization we want to show them what life can be,” Roseborough said. “Show them the importance of parenting and being successful in their community.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">By Chris Zois</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Related Links:</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.fathersfamiliesintransition.org/">Fathers, Families in Transition</a></span></span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-59169640399308705952011-04-01T15:46:00.000-07:002014-02-24T15:18:06.453-08:00SOS Podcast-Stephanie Corcilius<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-17456026332274133332011-04-01T15:34:00.000-07:002014-02-24T15:16:30.059-08:00SOS Podcast-Cassandra Clegg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4194946561188308412.post-13541455255198620202011-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:002014-02-24T15:22:52.652-08:00SOS Podcast-Caress Thirus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIy3tpWaNk6jQ-wNwZRBV6e9QOw0jCCSYscs0kf4rQ7n98DuBZMevE7QhbXa_LuTKhvluIuq-XmE_Vzhns8zq311-wZutI7sHA3UgodqsgjI970BXII_yQlsBdjh8CMRpZh4czM33z1pp/s1600/P4111899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIy3tpWaNk6jQ-wNwZRBV6e9QOw0jCCSYscs0kf4rQ7n98DuBZMevE7QhbXa_LuTKhvluIuq-XmE_Vzhns8zq311-wZutI7sHA3UgodqsgjI970BXII_yQlsBdjh8CMRpZh4czM33z1pp/s320/P4111899.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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