This is a Bright Spot Report with some dark spots. Please treat them as seeds. Under the dirt, in a dark lonely place, there are seeds buried in bleakness. They will grow. Ideas will grow. Perseverance and commitment are the sun and rain that nourish the unseen seeds of potential in children.
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Some children grow
like trees.
Some children fall
like leaves.
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As a Youth Director in a violent and
impoverished city, I've noticed a few things. Chief among them is the
segregation of fairness and opportunity.
The privileged "halo children" who always seem to get good grades
effortlessly appear as tomorrow's sunrise in the eyes of society. Scores of
children are labeled as "future failures" and become poster children
for a disease called "recidivism. The value of many children has been
taken from them and stashed away out of sight. Children are living behind
barbed wire halos, encased in a crypt of concrete adorned with steel bars.
I watch teenagers go to jail in large numbers. Many are sentenced by men and women wearing robes of haughtiness, lacking compassion. They don't have a clue what it's like to struggle through school, poverty or violence. The few who have had a glimpse of struggle seemed to have lost their compassion via an inflated life status. They act as if punishment instead of education is a deterrent to a life of crime. The rate of recidivism would suggest otherwise. Many young people sit behind bars for years while their cases are continually adjourned or postponed. They languish in a hopeless neighborhood of cells filled with hopeless neighbors. Public Defenders rarely visit or return phone calls. Their client is just another number in a jumpsuit.
I listen to people complain about the cost of educating a child when the cost of incarceration is more than double the cost of education. Money is not really the issue, there is plenty of it. The flow of money is in the direction of the power brokers who want to make more money, whatever the cost.
The answer is in the compassionate expenditure of money. Children are devalued by the focus of society. If we spend most of our funds on intervention instead of prevention, does that reflect compassion? Money should flow where your heart is. Where is your heart?
The goal of Youth With A Purpose Inc. and Mentor Force is to identify a Mentor for every child in the Buffalo Schools. We are partners with Teachers and Parents. Through a united front and a repetitive message, all children will have a Mentor. We will operate an after school/community outreach program with athletic and education facilities. We will Mentor students in the classroom. We will Mentor students after school. We will teach people how to be Mentors and Coaches.
Every child is gifted and valuable.
Every child deserves the right to go to college.
Every child is capable of becoming a disciplined employee.
Every child is entrepreneurial and motivated.
Thanks for your time.
Go do something nice for somebody.
JLYASDW
I watch teenagers go to jail in large numbers. Many are sentenced by men and women wearing robes of haughtiness, lacking compassion. They don't have a clue what it's like to struggle through school, poverty or violence. The few who have had a glimpse of struggle seemed to have lost their compassion via an inflated life status. They act as if punishment instead of education is a deterrent to a life of crime. The rate of recidivism would suggest otherwise. Many young people sit behind bars for years while their cases are continually adjourned or postponed. They languish in a hopeless neighborhood of cells filled with hopeless neighbors. Public Defenders rarely visit or return phone calls. Their client is just another number in a jumpsuit.
I listen to people complain about the cost of educating a child when the cost of incarceration is more than double the cost of education. Money is not really the issue, there is plenty of it. The flow of money is in the direction of the power brokers who want to make more money, whatever the cost.
The answer is in the compassionate expenditure of money. Children are devalued by the focus of society. If we spend most of our funds on intervention instead of prevention, does that reflect compassion? Money should flow where your heart is. Where is your heart?
The goal of Youth With A Purpose Inc. and Mentor Force is to identify a Mentor for every child in the Buffalo Schools. We are partners with Teachers and Parents. Through a united front and a repetitive message, all children will have a Mentor. We will operate an after school/community outreach program with athletic and education facilities. We will Mentor students in the classroom. We will Mentor students after school. We will teach people how to be Mentors and Coaches.
Every child is gifted and valuable.
Every child deserves the right to go to college.
Every child is capable of becoming a disciplined employee.
Every child is entrepreneurial and motivated.
Thanks for your time.
Go do something nice for somebody.
JLYASDW
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