{"id":2,"date":"2015-10-27T14:57:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T18:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/stateofbaltimore\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2015-11-12T13:38:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T18:38:25","slug":"women-step-up-to-help-at-risk-kids","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/projects.nyujournalism.org\/stateofbaltimore\/women-step-up-to-help-at-risk-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Women step up to help at risk kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Karis Rogerson<\/p>\n

November 9, 2015<\/p>\n

Ericka Alston interrupted herself in the middle of a sentence and yelled out a name. A boy with long dirty-blond hair, one of the teenagers piling out of the nondescript white van, turned around. His face split into a grin at the sight of Alston.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss Ericka!\u201d he yelled, loping toward her. The two met in a big bear hug, laughing. It had been a long time since he had been at the drug rehab facility, and as much as Alston wished he weren\u2019t back, she was glad he was getting help.<\/p>\n

Soon he ran back to join his peers, but the smile lingered on Alston\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s the Director of Youth Services, Violence Prevention and Community Outreach for Maryland Community Health Initiatives, Inc. Penn North Community Resource Center<\/a>. Her title is a mouthful, but the day-to-day means she is responsible for everyone ages 5-26 who walks through the doors of the facility, and she cares deeply about impacting each life.<\/p>\n

All across the city of Baltimore, women are stepping up and assuming leadership roles in the effort to better the community. In some instances, they lead by necessity, because there are few if any men willing to lead. But mostly, they lead because they, like Alston, want to improve lives.<\/p>\n

For children age 5-17, Alston created the Penn North Kids Safe Zone, which is run by Tonette Mcfadden, program coordinator, and Essence Smith, recreation assistant. The three women oversee about 50-60 children every weekday afternoon from 2-8 p.m. as well as Saturdays from 12-6 p.m.<\/p>\n

The Safe Zone is located in Sandtown-Winchester, Freddie Gray\u2019s neighborhood, and Alston said the riots brought to light the sad situation of most kids in the area. They had nowhere to play, she said, other than the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overwhelming response when people were speaking on camera was the children in this neighborhood didn\u2019t have a recreation center, they didn\u2019t have after-school programs, there weren\u2019t any extracurricular activities for the kids,\u201d she said. \u201cKids literally played in the middle of the street. There was nothing for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crime statistics in Sandtown-Winchester are above the national average in every category. The murder risk, for example, is nearly double<\/a> the national average. Nearly every aspect of life \u2014 from poverty to unemployment, from life expectancy to teen birth rates \u2014 is worse than the national average<\/a> and Baltimore city\u2019s average<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Safe Zone is not just a recreation center for children, though. It also furthers the mission of Penn North Community Resource Center, which is a substance abuse facility that houses 200 adults between the ages of 18-81.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re a substance abuse center, it was important to me that whatever we do [with the kids] prevents them from getting here,\u201d Alston said. \u201cWe take a harm reduction approach, so it\u2019s violence prevention, anti-bullying, substance abuse prevention, overdose prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of these things are important, she said, because children are the front line in the fight against drug and alcohol addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as the media would like to think that police and ambulance are first responders, these children are the ones,\u201d Alston said. \u201cIf their parents are using drugs, and they\u2019re using drugs in the bathroom, someone overdoses, these children need to know what to do. So it\u2019s having real conversations with children about how to stay alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Alston, the #BlackLivesMatter movement is about more than just making sure black children survive. It\u2019s about making sure they have decent quality of life. In fact, there\u2019s a mantra they teach the children: \u201cI am great, I am amazing, no one can stop my greatness because my life matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alston\u2019s heart obviously hurt for the children \u00a0who didn’t think their lives matter.<\/p>\n

She said the children see the movement and think, \u201cI don\u2019t matter enough that my mom will stop using drugs, I don\u2019t matter enough that I live with my grandma and my other six or seven cousins and no one has time for me, I don\u2019t matter enough that my dad is in jail and when he does get out of jail he does something else and goes back to jail. So it\u2019s really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women running the Kids Safe Zone are trying to change that perception. The zone itself is a vacant laundromat that has been recreated as a children\u2019s playroom. There are walls with flat-screen TVs, boxes with coloring and reading books and tables to play and color on \u2014 all donated by community members. The walls are papered with encouraging messages, from \u201cTry New Things\u201d to \u201cYour Melanin Filled Skin Is Perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our mini Disneyland,\u201d Mcfadden said of the room. She spoke of the improvements they\u2019ve seen in the children who have been attending the program since they began on June 1, children who were initially very aggressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen the change in them because when they come in here they\u2019re realizing they can just be a child,\u201d Mcfadden said.<\/p>\n

Smith spoke of the familial atmosphere of the Safe Zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids come in and they run to us with huge hugs,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes I feel like they just need a hug.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad to say this, but there\u2019s not a lot of black men mentors,\u201d Mcfadden said. \u201cIt\u2019s really easy to find women to mentor the girls. It\u2019s hard to find black men \u2026 and then the ones that say they will always fall off. The women seem to be more committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candice Blackwell, director of education programs for Civic Works<\/a>, has a similar experience. She works to place tutors and mentors in academic settings, and she has a passion for helping youth find and use their voice to affect change. She has often found that women are forced to take a leadership role.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften when it comes to working with the young people and being involved with education, that is a woman-dominated field,\u201d she said. \u201cIt involves a lot of nurturing and mothering, things of that nature. In that environment, it\u2019s natural, it\u2019s kind of the expectation. I\u2019m looked to, to (take the lead), to play that role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other areas have the opposite problem. Nicole Hanson is the president of the board of Out for Justice<\/a>, an organization that seeks to help citizens with criminal records reenter society. Hanson said she has found that men often take a leadership role in this area and even look down on the women, assuming they cannot face the same struggles and therefore cannot be as helpful.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to kind of put women in the forefront and let people know that women are also affected by the criminal justice system, by dealing with a skewed identity for having a record,\u201d she said. \u201cWomen have to really do a lot more than men do when we are advocating for reform in the criminal justice system. I don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s a balance. Even if you go into the prisons you see there are a lot more men\u2019s programs than women\u2019s programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the women mentioned also lead because they want to. They have a legitimate interest in seeing their city improved.<\/p>\n

Blackwell became involved with Civic Works because she saw firsthand some of the struggles youth face.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging with youth at a certain level and learning about issues that impacted youth in urban communities, minorities and things of that nature \u2014 I saw the plight, the issues, the problems,\u201d she said. \u201cIt became important to me to become a part of the solution as much as I\u2019m able to.\u201d<\/p>\n

And her passion is in letting youth create their own solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the issues that our young people are facing on a daily basis are influenced by the adults in their lives,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t spend a lot of time listening to the young people. There\u2019s a lot of insight there. It\u2019s important to help them be able to see and work through their own solutions. We\u2019re to facilitate, participate, encourage other adults to participate, to take the time out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work can be rewarding as well, Blackwell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re able to see a young person recognize their [potential], or see the world through a different lens than which they had seen it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen the moment comes that you see a little bit of growth, that\u2019s rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanson\u2019s participation in Out for Justice comes from an even more personal place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2011, I made a bad choice to be involved with criminal activity, so after that year of me making that mistake I wanted to get back into productive citizenship,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She works with legislation and attempts to change policy, believing that individuals can have an active role in changing the legislative structures that often hold them back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most rewarding thing about my work is when you see a returning citizen begin to participate in the legislative process and realize that they have a stake in the legislative process and learn and realize they can go to their elected official and introduce legislation,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cThat\u2019s rewarding to me, for them to realize that they can walk in the halls of Annapolis and advocate for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the women of Baltimore are trying to change things because this is their city. This is their home. Smith, who grew up in Sandtown-Winchester and is now actively involved in trying to better it, said outsiders need to look a little more closely to see the appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place that if you came here and just looked, you\u2019d have a ton of negative perceptions,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you actually take it all in and get to know somebody, you\u2019ll realize that everyone here is really, really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is what makes it all worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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