WEBVTT
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The gap in between a kid coming out of juvenile detention and getting back in education has always been a thing.
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We have parents calling all the time.
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Well, this school says uh they can come, but they're gonna come two days a week.
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This school says they can't come at all.
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Well, this school still has the record from it's all these barriers, all these things that plays a major part in absenteeism.
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Welcome to Thrivecast, a production of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence.
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My name is Don Hibbert, and I will be your host.
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Our topic today is chronic school absenteeism as it relates to students who have been involved in the juvenile justice system.
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I have with me Tadarius Lowe, youth mentor specialist for Peckham Inc., a nonprofit vocational rehabilitation organization that provides paid job training opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.
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Thank you for joining me today.
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Thank you for having me, Don.
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I wanted to continue a previous conversation we had about absenteeism and focus on the academic barriers that young people face who have been in the juvenile justice system.
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Youth in the juvenile justice system face several academic barriers, including learning gaps, high rates of undiagnosed disabilities, and many of these youth have previously been suspended or expelled, and others have struggled with getting their academic credits transferred from one school to another or re-enrollment in a new or previous school.
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Mr.
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Lowe, in your work with students who have been adjudicated, what have you seen are the primary roadblocks for young people trying to complete their education?
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Well, that's a that's a very good question.
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Um I would say it had to be self-identity, not really knowing um who they are, uh, what they want out of life.
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Um and high expectations from those in the professional field of education.
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Um we have the students, you know, we get them in a classroom or we we have them to show up in a space and we give them these um unclear expectations.
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You sit down, you do the work, and you do these things, but I haven't had the foundation of just being able to follow simple directions.
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That's how I got to the juvenile justice system.
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Um and it it becomes a challenge because the dots in the room, uh, one, they may not understand it of where they're coming from.
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Um, and two, um, our kids are in survival mode.
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That's the pity of it.
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It it almost sounds as if you're speaking directly to that undo undiagnosed disability, maybe a reading delay or um difficulty with math or something.
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So they're not, they don't have the foundational skills, so they don't understand what they're being asked to do, or they can't keep up and they just shut down at a certain point.
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Especially after um having the experience of being uh brought into the justice system.
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Um your freedom is taken away, you're you're following these rules, and you're looked at as less than, and no one even uh dealt with those young behaviors.
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When you were young and you did have the reading and you had the the speech problem, all these things to where you're acting out and it's criminal behavior.
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Um and not and not not getting it sooner than later.
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Because now when you get them on a one-on-one basis or a small group to say, hey, these are the group of kids who's coming through the justice system, let's put them in your mentoring program.
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And you get them and you say, Hey, um, could you read this for me?
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Or hey, can you tell me what this is?
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And they don't know, or they're shy, or they they they seem angry, but it's not anger, it's me hiding what I I don't know.
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And you're like, oh, this is an angry kid.
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No, this is a kid that didn't get the the care, the nurture, or support of whatever this disability may be.
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Um, and that just leads up into absenteism.
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Yes.
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Because you don't want to go to school until yeah, yeah, yeah.
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You don't want to go somewhere where you feel disenfranchised.
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Yes.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Yeah.
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To where we're thinking, oh, they're kids and they're caught up in the gangs and they don't want to do this.
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And it's like, no, there's a deeper issue.
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Um, they're not comfortable with speaking.
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They're not comfortable or confident in doing the work that you're providing or telling you that they struggle.
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Because on the juvenile justice side of things, you're tough.
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You have to show that you can do.
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You got to prove yourself where there's no safe space to land for.
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Yeah.
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Now you've you've been a mentor for a while, and we've had a few conversations about some of the of your mentees.
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Um, I it just struck me that we're talking about students who felt disenfranchised in school.
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But I'm wondering, are there kids that you have run across that maybe are just they aren't so much disenfranchised.
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They're, they are maybe angry.
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And maybe life has thrown them a lot of curved balls.
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And they, you know, school is the least of their worries.
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So we talk about survival mode.
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Um, having these young children from uh, I'll say the youngest I've ever had was a 13-year-old.
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Um, what time are we done?
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What will what do you have to do?
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I have to get my little brother off the bus and my my mom's gonna drop my sister off, and when they get home, I have to provide dinner.
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And then my cousin's gonna come over and I have to help with uh clean up the house and I have to make sure everybody gets sleeping.
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It's like, whoa, you don't get to go home and be a kid?
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You're doing adult things.
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You you're you have to put these things in your schedule that like you should be able to just be youthful.
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And you you use survival mode to almost as a parent, I get up and I have to plan my day, make sure my kids get to school, make sure they eat and they do it.
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You have young children doing it on a daily, they're feeding themselves, they're getting up and they're locking the doors and they're making sure little brother and sister are getting off to and from school, and then you're asking them to go be successful.
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And so it's a lot at that young age.
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Um Are those children more susceptible to the streets and the influences that you've been talking about?
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I've some that has that need to belong somewhere else.
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Because the nurturing care at home isn't there.
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And so when I do come across someone who's showing me love and showing me that I belong to something, right, wrong, or indifferent, um, they do end up in these gangs.
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They do end up in these street communities where they feel a sense of belonging.
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And they go down this path that the reality of them, they don't want to.
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But this is a place where these folks are telling me, I got your back, I'm here for you.
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Call me if you need me, but it's all bad.
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It's all these are things that's gonna lead you incarcerated or or in the grave.
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And it because it becomes a bigger picture.
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You say, Well, this kid is bad.
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No, the kid is not bad.
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This kid has abandonment issues.
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And so when I come across someone that say, I love you, bro, or love you, sis, or we can go get this money.
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Who doesn't want money?
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I want some money, you know?
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Yeah.
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And it's not if it's quick and easy money, I I want to do this thing.
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And so it's school on my mind.
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Would some of that motivation to get the money also be to help maybe help the family that they're already responsible for?
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So glad you brought this up.
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I have so many young um uh children that come through and say, I gotta get this money to take care of my family.
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And you're you're 14, you're that I gotta get this so I can help my mama get a new car.
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I gotta help, and you like, oh, I I get it.
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That is not your responsibility, but I get it.
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And then you have parents who support it.
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So, you know, it's like a tough, it's a toughie, right?
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And it's like, who, how can I give this kid back their voice and their vision to say, you don't have to grow up so fast.
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You can take your time and not letting their identity be attached to them catching whatever charge they caught in the juvenile justice system.
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But that's a that's an issue too, because there's one of me, and I can't root for everybody in every space.
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And so when they come across these adults that are in the juvenile justice system who um, and in my own opinion, are trained to keep them, treat them in a justice way.
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You're you're bad.
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Punitive.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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This is punishment, this is thing.
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And I'm like, I don't care what they charge you with.
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You are valued, you are somebody.
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We can overcome that.
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And then trying to throw the educational piece on there, some of them are so far gone, they don't they don't see that happening because I've been treated as if I don't matter.
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But I see you trying to give me this hope.
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Um, and it it just becomes it's it's rough, it's hard, but it's doable.
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I can imagine why it would be difficult to believe in something that you've never seen before.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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That that is, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And and I'm not, we don't do the parent blame.
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We don't need to do the parent blame because some parents just don't know.
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They cannot give you a few.
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Or they're doing the best they can.
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And their best to them is their best to everybody's life is different.
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And we don't, you gotta go get the parents, you gotta.
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Do I want to provide resources for these parents?
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Absolutely.
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But can I take a parent that has four or five children, one income, and say, hey, I got this resource for her, they're burnt out too.
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Mm-hmm.
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Right.
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They're burnt out too.
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And you talk about absenteeism.
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It all plays the parents burnt out.
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Then you got the young child that's burnt out, but also wants to be belong to something.
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So after I get done feeding little sister, little brother, I want some freedom too.
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So if I get y'all safe in the house, I'm gonna go to the streets with my friends.
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I got friends now.
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And here come the stolen cars, the guns, and all these things.
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And the truth of it is, I want somebody to love me, to see me.
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Right.
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You know, to show me a different way.
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But I it it it the numbers are high with these, with the students that are involved.
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I can only imagine, too, that if you've been given this much responsibility at home, that you feel more grown.
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And when you get out onto the street and you get into these very adult situations, you feel like you can handle it because you are already responsible for so many things.
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I'm a young man, my dad's not around, and you're telling me I'm the man of the house.
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Right.
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I'm the old.
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So what do men do?
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Men go out, provide, and they protect, and they make way, and it's like, but none of that says go get your education.
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Right.
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Exactly.
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None of that says get your education.
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So getting back to that education, so in in your role as a as a mentor through Peckham, I mean, obviously you've you've had some success stories.
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What has worked for some some young people?
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So um under our with my program is Mentor Flynn.
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Um, there's a team of us, uh, we're like 14 and growing now.
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We literally become a safe space for um our youth.
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Um, and it started with those that are just as involved.
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And so um my goal was to pair uh the youth that are just involved, their own um probation or whatnot.
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Um, we will pair them up with a mentor that would uh spend at least an hour a week with them.
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And what this mentor is doing on besides um creating a safe space, you're not mom, you're not dad, you're not P.O.
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You're not none of this.
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You're rooting for this kid and you're doing everything in your power without getting burnt out yourself to say there's a better way, and I'm here for you.
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And I'm going to do my best to prune you to make you into the better virgin than you were yesterday.
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I know you won't change overnight.
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I know, um, and one of the sayings that I have on one of my shirts is planet seeds grow in different seasons.
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We want the kids to get it together right now, and it won't, it's not.
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As long as I'm taking a seed, if you got a seed in the ground, sometimes you got to repot it.
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Sometimes you got to do some things because they will continue to make mistakes.
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And I can't change your at-home environment.
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I can only change when I have you in front of me and what I can say.
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And so we, in that safe space, they built the relationship to where a youth can call and say, hey, this is going on at home and I feel like this.
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Okay, let me walk you through that.
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Let me, let me, let me walk you through it.
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Not that I'm coming to save you.
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I'm not showing up every time to save you to do these things because we get caught up in the family dynamic and all this stuff, but let me walk you through it.
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And our success stories have been that we've been able to walk students through adult situations where they want to, uh where they've they've got to this point to where they want to disrespect mom and they want to walk out and they want to do all these things.
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It's like, hey, take a breather.
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Let's try it a different way.
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And so we get the kids that um we have the relationship equity will, and they reach out to us and they say, Hey, I remember the last time we talked, you said do A, B, C.
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I'm not doing C.
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B sounds okay, but tell me about A again.
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Let's try that.
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They try it and they do it and say, okay, cool.
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And we're able to not only cheer for them, but reward them.
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I'm able to take them out.
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I'm able to call them, I'm able to go see and say, I appreciate you doing that.
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Because truth is you didn't know.
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And two, you didn't have to do.
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I'm a volunteer.
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I'm just here for you.
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Um, but also wanting to change the mindset of parents.
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Yes.
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I can tell this kid that they're amazing all day.
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But if they come back in a house and you tell them they have to throw it on the street or what they, or remind them of their past, we're going back to step one.
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And so um, a part of that success story, we've had some parents that's had a mind shift to say, you know what, I don't know what to do with this young man.
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I don't know what to do with this young lady.
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Can you help me?
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And allowed us to come in and um give wisdom and out to we're not always right because you know your child more than we do.
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Right.
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But it's like you talk about planting the seed, but you're also planting it with the parent.
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Absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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It goes both ways because you want to make one beautiful family, is what you want, what you want to.
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Um and and we always, we are always gonna push education.
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And with education, um, you got career and college readiness, but we say awareness.
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I want you aware.
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Because a lot of our kids, they see things on TV, real estate, they see flipping houses, they see all these things.
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And college may not be for them.
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And that's okay.
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It's it's fine.
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We got a lot, you know, gotta go to college.
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It's like, no, we're gonna talk about trades, we can talk about all these things.
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We're never pushing them away from that.
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And even so, if we can help them, that barrier of transportation, barrier of clothing, if we can help in any way, um, we do.
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Well, and most of your students are high school age.
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They are nice.
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So getting the the high school diploma or a GED is the first order of business, really.
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The one thing that now that is loud.
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At least get your high school diploma.
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At least get that one step out of the way.
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And um currently I'm at Beecher High Learning Academy, where we have about 20, 20 to 25 students, and um we're able to walk alongside them.
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And it's in our tournament school, and we're able to walk alongside them with their different life struggles.
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But for the one thing that we're able to support them is get them across the stage.
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Hey, let me get you across the stage.
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And even when you have those moments where you feel like life is a little tough and you feel like you're doing those adult things, let us help you with them.
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Um, and that that um I'm gonna switch of subject.
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Uh, I think we talk about mental health.
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That's one of our barriers.
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We I'm not trained for mental, but I know it when I see it.
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Um, we have a lot of children, a lot of our youth that they have some mental issues, and you can tell.
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Well, some of them have had some pretty serious trauma.
00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:26.879
Yes.
00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:31.600
Yes, yes, and and when they share it, you almost don't know what to do with it.
00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:36.799
You don't know what to do with it, and it's like, and get the kid has to go home.
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:37.840
The kid has to go home.
00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.120
You have to send them to the send them back into that environment.
00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:42.960
And it's like, what can I do?
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:43.840
What can I say?
00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:44.960
How can I help?
00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:58.399
And when it comes to the mental thing, because I work with students with IEPs and 504s and all the, you know, um, it's like, where is the the full support for them?
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:02.559
Because I some of my students are in cle in classrooms with substitutes.
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:03.519
Yes.
00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.119
So there's that coalition.
00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:10.880
You know, so if and and then they bump heads with the sub who don't know them, who hasn't built a relationship.
00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:11.440
And guess what?
00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:12.559
I'm not coming to school.
00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.119
As long as you're sub and I'm not coming to school.
00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:21.759
Um, and as long as nobody hears me, uh, I'm I don't want to be in this space.
00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:30.960
And so just trying to encourage a kid to get into school, encourage a kid to see beyond whatever the court says.
00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:34.799
I don't, I, I don't, I never, my kid, my intakes.
00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.400
I don't care what you did yesterday, I don't care what's on this paper that they sent to me.
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:39.920
How are we moving forward?
00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:41.599
How are we gonna get you to school?
00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.039
How are we gonna get you that first job?
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:48.720
How are we gonna get you to being able to present yourself better than what they're they're saying?
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:57.519
So um the the mental part of it can be challenging because um I do have resources.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.839
Those resources you have to waste sometimes.
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:00.240
Yeah.
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:01.519
You have to waste sometimes.
00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.440
But the thing of um using our resources, we're walking it through.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:06.480
We're walking it through.
00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:15.359
I had a kid um had shared that they were having um flashbacks of their trauma.
00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:15.839
Yes.
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:17.680
And they were having suicidal thoughts.
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:25.839
And I was able to reach out to our local um mental health uh organization around here, and uh they said, well, it'll be about two months.
00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:26.799
Oh my gosh.
00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.400
Two months for a kid, I'm telling you.
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.720
And um, and and and and it I was upset, I was angry.
00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:35.519
I'm like, what?
00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.240
Because I want to help this kid as much as I can.
00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.119
Um, but still can, you know, you don't stop there.
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:41.920
I don't stop.
00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.440
So continue to reach out.
00:18:43.519 --> 00:19:03.200
Um, I did find um a person uh from an organization here in Flint was able to come over and present to the whole class and then take this kid as a one-on-one case um to talk about suicide prevention and getting this kid um uh getting the parent involved to seeing what resources we can have as far as from the mental standpoint.
00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:05.200
And now that that was two months ago.
00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:16.400
This kid is thriving in in such a way, what just showing up so beautiful and it's like a release of like, thank you, you know, because sometimes as adult, we think it's just all about put that up, put this out, do that, do it.
00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:17.119
No, no, no, no.
00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.000
I gotta walk with you different than I walk with the other kid.
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:20.319
Right.
00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.799
I gotta get you a resource, you know, different than that.
00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.960
And kids, they know your heart.
00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:26.720
They know your heart.
00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:33.440
And and I think if we get more true hearts in the classroom, that can change the numbers of absenteeums.
00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.839
Yes, it's it's that's that's a whole nother conversation.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:38.799
Yes.
00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.000
Yes, it's definitely another conversation.
00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:50.480
Um you know, you've you in our original uh panel discussion about absenteeism, you brought LaDarius with you.
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:51.279
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:52.960
And I'm assum your favorite.
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:55.279
Yeah, right.
00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:58.720
Um, but he seems to be thriving.
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:04.000
So LaDarius is my first, um, my first mentee.
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:10.960
Um when I came on the pick him a year and a half ago, um, it was funny that his name is LaDarius, and I'm T Darius.
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:11.359
Yes.
00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:20.160
And I never recall going in, um, I I always recall going to the classroom, and the Darius like threw a ball across the room, and I politely, I said, Hey, uh, you know, get that ball.
00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:22.559
And he said, I'm I'm not doing anything.
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:29.759
And uh, this is me putting my I'm the new guy and uh what I've learned in life and why do I really want to work with these kids?
00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:32.799
And I said, Well, could you please pick that up for me?
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.279
And he says, Oh, that was nice of you.
00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.519
He goes pick the ball up and get him.
00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:44.160
And we've been on a journey together for a year and a half.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:51.119
And the Darius story is very unique because he's a kid that can turn a stop sign green.
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:55.440
And so when he would do things, he will call me and tell me.
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.319
The Darius will call me and say, Hey, Mr.
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:03.920
T, because you always want to be in a no, I'm letting you know I've done A, B, C, D.
00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.880
And I'll be back at June out detention on Monday.
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:07.759
I'm saying that.
00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.279
And I'll never forget I was in a car with my wife, and she said, Why is he so calm?
00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.119
I said, Because I'm calm on him.
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:15.279
Normally, why did you do that?
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:16.559
Use your number.
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.920
The relationship equity and the respect is that he called me to let me know.
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:27.279
And his case is different because Ladarius ended up going to rehab.
00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:31.119
We were Louis ended up taking him to rehab.
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:32.640
His rehab is like six hours away.
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.559
We drove him three hours away.
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.200
This is a kid that continues to lean into you as long as you lean into him.
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.480
Well aware that he cannot change his environment.
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:48.720
Well aware that the people that truly love him is gonna continue to, you know, love on him.
00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:57.680
And I believe me keeping my word and not being another felon in his life, showing up when he did get locked up.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.359
He got locked up twice within that time.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.480
Every time I was back there in that detention center in the CM.
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.799
And it wasn't, why did you do what you do?
00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.079
What's next?
00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.119
What do you what's like what's next?
00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:11.920
And so um Ladarius is he's working.
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.039
Um he's attending um a local school here.
00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.240
Um, and hopefully he'd be graduating uh real soon.
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:29.920
Um it'd be probably this year or next year, but he allowed um me to want to be a safe space for him, but he knew his own potential.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.400
I just had to pour some more into it.
00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:39.759
And it's not to say that LaDarius won't do something tomorrow, but from a mentor standpoint for me, I'll still show up.
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:43.920
Well, when he was with us and talking, he talked about being on the football team.
00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:44.319
Yes.
00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:46.799
And getting involved in something that matters to you.
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:47.279
Yes.
00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:55.519
And he also said something about when you're so close to the goal, and he was speaking of high school graduation, he said, Why would I quit now?
00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:56.720
I'm almost there.
00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:04.319
And I thought that was very good forward thinking for a young person because a lot of times they live so much in the moment.
00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:07.440
Yes, they can't project themselves into the future.
00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:08.400
I don't know.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:09.279
I don't see it.
00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:10.079
I don't hear it.
00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:10.400
Yes.
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.079
And if I can't imagine it.
00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:23.759
You know, and even in those mess-ups, if I'm going in as the adult and convicting you every time of you doing something bad instead of pushing you forward, you won't get to the language of say, why would I, why would I stop now?
00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.480
Because he's done some things that make you say, like, seriously?
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.960
We just had this conversation, you know?
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:34.160
But he can he can to see him continue to get up and go at it again, continue to go.
00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:36.880
You gotta continue to root for that child.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.119
Even if we're talking about getting to school.
00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:39.599
Right.
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:42.160
If I get you there on Monday, I'm cheering for you on Monday.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:43.759
You miss Tuesday, okay, we're going back Wednesday.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:44.000
Yeah.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.200
It's not like here we go again.
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:46.480
No, we're not going backpedal.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:47.839
We're gonna move forward.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:53.119
And being okay with adjusting the way that you do things, every child is different.
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:54.720
Every single one is different.
00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:58.960
Adjusting the way that you do things and meeting them literally where they are.
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.880
Because you talk about the trauma.
00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:01.920
It comes up.
00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:02.880
It comes up.
00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.759
And they have their moments, just like as adults, we have our moments.
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:12.799
Meeting a kid where they are, whether on probation or the valedictory in the school, meet a kid where they are.
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:14.559
And it makes all the difference.
00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:16.480
It literally makes all the difference.
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:18.799
It's a heavy lift you do.
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.200
It it is, but it's rewarding.
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:31.279
And the reward is not the paycheck, not um the amazing company, not the amazing co-workers.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.559
It's the kids that allow you to come in their space.
00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:35.759
That's the award.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.839
When you get a kid that says, okay, I'm rocking with you, you cool.
00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:40.559
Come on.
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.680
And they see you and they speak to you and they they're glad to see you.
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:45.920
Or you don't show up and they call you.
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:52.720
You're like, okay, well, maybe, you know, you you got kids that give you pushback, but the reward is them allowing you in their space.
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:59.680
I I do recall just when we were growing up, you said, you respect the dots, and you, you see, dogs, you you respect them.
00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:03.519
You literally have to earn the right to be in this kid's space.
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:04.160
It's different.
00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:05.759
It's it's a different time.
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:09.759
And it does um, it gets it gets challenging.
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.440
Um, and it it gets heavy, and you, and when your heart is in it, you get hurt.
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:13.839
No way.
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:15.279
You you get hurt.
00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.559
Um, but it but it's worth it.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.160
It's worth every minute of it.
00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:39.440
And it's there's not a there's not a kid that I wouldn't mentor, there's not a kid that I wouldn't show love to, but um, I I do my best to find balance and making sure their voice is louder than mine, because a kid voice can can can reach more students than you because they're they're they're own leaders in their own community.
00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:40.160
Exactly.
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:44.880
Oh, here and they they listen to each other at a certain age.
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:50.240
At that age, it's their it the peer group becomes more important than the family.
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.640
They do, and that's how um we're talking about the voices and and peers.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:02.559
Um, we talk about gang violence and all this, these uh little little clicks and stuff that has gotten violent, that has gotten it's gotten bad.
00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:06.480
And I always say these are just little people that need a hug.
00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.720
These are little people, oh, the mask in the hood, they need a hug.
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:12.720
Will you be the one to hug them today?
00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:15.519
Will you be the one to walk up there and ask them how they're doing?
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:18.880
And it's like, no, because I'm I'm scared of them.
00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:21.839
Ah, that's that's what the truth of it is, they're scared of you.
00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:29.680
They're scared of you, and they didn't they're they're scared as a different type of scare because they're carrying a gun and they're putting on a mask and they're putting on a hood.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.559
And these are just that they're they're innocent.
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:35.599
They are innocent.
00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:40.160
Yeah, they committed these crimes, but if we go back to where they came from, how they they weren't born criminals.
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:40.559
No.
00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:43.119
They didn't come in the world knowing how to steal a car.
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:49.279
They didn't, you know, and I just um always encouraged, like, these are humans.
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.319
These are humans, these are babies, these are human.
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:53.359
Yeah, you know.
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.480
Um my mom taught kindergarten for 35 years.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:58.799
I have this interesting perspective.
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:09.279
Sometimes when I see someone, maybe a person who's experiencing uh homelessness or someone on the street who's obviously in distress of some kind.
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:13.759
I always think in my head, I wonder what they looked like in my mother's kindergarten class.
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.039
Because I remember just those happy, bright little faces.
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.039
And she taught in Flint forever.
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.200
So, you know, she was up at at Cook School.
00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:21.920
Yes, yes.
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.200
At uh Cody and at at uh Doyle Ryder.
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:31.519
So I mean, you know, you you see these happy little smiling faces at the age of five and born sponges.
00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:37.839
They were born sponges, and whatever you allow to soak in their mind, their brain, and all these things, it'll show.
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:38.880
It'll come out.
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:47.359
And if you as the sponge holder don't find a different way to rinse it out or to polish it or to do what it's like or a better thing to pour in.
00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:48.160
Something.
00:27:48.640 --> 00:28:04.240
If you don't find something different, um, you will will come up with these youth that that are struggling in such ways to where um we put a label on them and we lose them to the streets and they have no voice and the numbers of the detention center go up.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:06.480
And now we're talking about it's crowded.
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:08.559
How well how it's crowded?
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.759
It's not here.
00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:18.799
I don't deal with adults in the jail, but when we're talking about youth, is there someone that can go walk alongside this kid and rehabilitate them?
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:19.519
Yes.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:20.240
You know?
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:26.720
And so uh yeah, they they are um the precious, and that's what my passion is when it comes to it.
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:32.640
And always, but still just always pushing that first line that we just get you across the stage.
00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:43.759
Well, we were talking earlier about a young person that you've been working with who is he's it's not working out to go to one of the alternative high schools.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:48.799
And so, you know, that's one of the big issues is finding a place to get them back into school.
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:58.160
I I can only imagine that if you are part of the juvenile justice system, they're not going to release you on a very convenient day when the new semester starts.
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:05.920
So you're gonna come out on a day when maybe you're weeks or months behind everyone else in your grade.
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.880
And and how how big of an issue is that?
00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:12.960
I mean, are there alternative schools that can help these young people?
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:20.160
Or so we um this is what I love about Peck'em, um being a second chance, a youth resource.
00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:29.039
Um at one time we had a place to where they would come to us and we had partnered with the local school here to do credit recovery.
00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:36.400
Um they would they would come in and they would do the educational piece in the morning, and then the second part of it, they would do um Peck'em.
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:49.759
Um and we'll do um job resumes, OSHA certification, uh, surf safe, we'll do community give backs, we'll do talent tours, and then you have mentor flint where your mentor will come in, we'll spend time with you.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.960
Um the challenge was when they left us, you were only with us.
00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:57.839
Um at the end, you'll get a six to eight-week work experience.
00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:05.119
The challenge when they left us was getting them back into normal schools because you had the barrier, you had the record.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:07.279
And a lot of schools didn't accept that.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:14.480
But then when you go to um alternative schools, there's rules, regulations, and time, so on and so forth.
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:22.000
And the it will be either the alternative school is full already, or they don't start until the following year.
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:29.759
And so you got a kid out here for these three, four, five months, they were with Peckham and they had some structure.
00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:34.480
You get a kid that's in that waiting period and they're waiting and they're waiting.
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:38.720
The, the, the, the, the mind is the devil's playground.
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:39.200
Right.
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.839
What can I do while I'm waiting?
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.759
They're back into the norm because they don't have us every day.
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:50.400
They're back into um feeling like they don't have nothing to do with the boredom.
00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:56.240
And so in this particular kid, the boredom is I'm going to order a 30-round drum.
00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:58.079
Why what are we what are we doing?
00:30:58.240 --> 00:30:59.920
What why why is that the thing?
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.160
Because I don't have consistency.
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:02.799
Right.
00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:08.640
And so there are some schools that can um and that that will take them.
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:11.440
And then there's some that you just have to be online.
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.119
How can I do online when I barely have a place to stay?
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:16.000
Right.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:20.000
When I barely have a place to stay, where homeless is possibly an option.
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:23.599
Where I'm living in a house of family and there's 10 of us.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:26.640
You think I'm gonna sit at a laptop and do some work.
00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:32.480
And so that's where we're able to provide a space at times to where they can come over and do work.
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:42.319
But the the gap in between a kid coming out of juvenile detention and getting back in education has always been a thing.
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:43.680
We have parents calling all the time.
00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:47.519
Well, this school says uh they can come, but they don't come two days a week.
00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:49.039
This school says they can't come at all.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:58.400
Well, this school still has the record from it's all these barriers, all these things that plays a major part in absenteeism.
00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:02.480
Um because I do do schools believe in second chances?
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:08.160
I I'm guessing not, because you you once you've done that, it's on your record, you know?
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:08.559
Right.
00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:10.559
Um, and every case is different.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:14.400
I'm not, you know, some kids, it goes beyond just behavior.
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:18.160
It's mental, it's trauma, it's you you need some one-on-one.
00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:20.960
You need to be at home on a laptop if you can.
00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:29.200
But there's some that if you really did a deep dive and you really talked to this child, you rethink that disciplinary action.
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:34.799
How can you still let them thrive with making this bad decision?
00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:37.920
And um, that's not always an option for a lot.
00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:39.279
That's you know, not an option.
00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:48.240
And um, and that's another thing we love about Peckham having that second chance to have my voice be heard again and you show me something different than RareBear running off of my record.
00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:48.960
Right.
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:49.839
Yeah.
00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:52.880
It's a complicated issue.
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:55.039
It is.
00:32:55.119 --> 00:33:09.839
It's very complicated, but it's doable with enough, um, with enough like-minded people um that could come to the table and create a space, create um rules and regulations that do give those that deserve it a second chance.
00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:18.559
Um and and I get uh we gotta face consequences, but when you're talking about the juvenile detention center, um, that is a consequence.
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:29.920
Um but the what's being taught in the juvenile detention center, I've always had this is my own personal opinion about um even taking a kid and putting them in a detention center.
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:31.599
You can teach life skills.
00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:35.599
You can make them feel as if, hey, this, you show this detention?
00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:38.400
I feel like these people are empowering me.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:41.359
But we all know that ain't the rules of how that goes.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:43.519
Um, but just think of if we did.
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:57.920
What if we took these youth and I and gave them mental health resources inside of here um and and gave them life skills and taught them about um hope and how they can overcome and that your story it's is not over.
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:07.759
Yeah, there's so many programs in prisons now for training leader dogs, growing, you know, cooking, growing vegetables, the art.
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:15.920
So that was the mindset of Peckham, is that they get out of there, they come up front to us, we let them the freedom of thrive, right?
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:18.880
Um, and I I will, you know, what if we did that?
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:22.159
And because there's programs in the jail, they they learn about financial literacy.
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:22.320
Yeah.
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:23.920
I know that because my pastor teaches it.
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:27.760
So um why can we, you know, do the same thing for our young babies?
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:28.079
Yeah.
00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:32.239
And and uh if we do, you know, it's because you can't just start at the dog, you gotta go back.
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:39.360
And that's why um I I that's another uh thing that just I believe is an amazing idea.
00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:40.000
You got them.
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:41.840
You okay, you got the Kitanawa.
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:45.920
Okay, we lock them in a cell and they they mine is going elsewhere.
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:46.880
And and you then you send them.
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:50.559
And they're beating a lot of other people who are may or may not be great influences.
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:52.639
Same old, same old, right?
00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:55.280
And then you send them back out and wonder why they're coming right back in.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:56.400
Nothing changes.
00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:57.360
You just lock me up.
00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.000
You put me on punishment for a month, two months, however long.
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:01.760
But what did you teach me while I was in there?
00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:03.360
What did you, what did I get from that?
00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.320
Did you did you water me or did you dim my light?
00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:07.760
No, you dimmed my light.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:09.599
I learned how to endure.
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:12.000
And that's why I'm going to the street and I'm angry, right?
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:14.400
I'm upset and my wall is up.
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:27.440
Um, and so just, you know, it all plays a part when it comes to trying to um give our kids education, give them the support um needed in all areas, and letting them recover from their mistakes.
00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:32.079
Um because once you do catch a charge, you feel like that's my label.
00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:33.039
You gave me a label.
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:33.440
Yeah.
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:34.880
I'm a thief.
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.000
I'm a scammer.
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:38.480
What do I look like sitting in a classroom then?
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:39.920
Yeah.
00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:43.519
Well, my c you know, what would what I don't I don't belong there.
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:45.599
And so now I'm going back to what I know.
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:52.400
And so um being able to provide a space for them and so that these these absentee numbers could change.
00:35:52.559 --> 00:36:06.079
Um, from the you know, juvenile detention center, juvenile justice system side of things, um it's unique, but um every kid has um they deserve to thrive.
00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:06.719
Every kid.
00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:17.440
Uh, you know, every every kid, and it don't matter the story, the charge, uh, the trauma, or um the diagnosis, they still deserve to thrive.
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:20.719
How do um young people get connected with Peckham?
00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:30.000
Um, so with Peckham, um, with Mentor Flint, uh, we are located on Ballinger Highway, um, 1309 North Ballinger Highway.
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.079
Um, or they can go to our website, Peckham.
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:34.639
Um they have a way of doing inquiries.
00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.840
Um I'm in the community a lot.
00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:41.760
We uh my mentor, our mentor flint program is growing.
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:44.960
Uh the plan is to start um going into middle school.
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:48.000
Uh when I first came on, it was high school age kids.
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:54.639
Um just taking a step back and seeing how we can um support them before they get to kind of making these decisions.
00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.280
Um and so it's things are growing.
00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:02.559
Um, but to you can contact us through our website, um, or you can even reach out to me.
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:05.119
Uh I'm on Facebook, today is low.
00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.000
So um you will find me.
00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:16.400
Um but we are always in a community, we're always looking to partner to build relationships, to be a support for our youth, um, even our young adults.
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:19.280
We have programs for 18 to 24 year olds as well.
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:21.840
Um, that's been in the juvenile justice system.
00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:25.119
We are literally a second chance, no barrier organization.
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.760
Well, you talked about planting seeds.
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:31.440
So, and and you've also said that you've only been with Peckham a year and a half.
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:36.400
So it will be interesting in the next five or six years to see where some of your seeds bloom.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:37.280
Absolutely.
00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:37.920
Absolutely.
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:51.920
And I I always crack the joke on myself, maybe one day when I'm on my yacht, uh, 30 years from now, I'll look up and I'll see Lodarius or I'll see, you know, any of my other students and I'll say, I'll be okay with knowing that my planted seed has grown.
00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:53.119
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:54.719
Definitely, most definitely.
00:37:55.119 --> 00:38:07.440
Well, I want to thank Tadarius Lowe for being part of this incredibly important conversation about school absenteeism and the impacts of the juvenile justice system on student success.
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:14.079
You have been listening to Thrivecast, the podcast program of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence.
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.679
The gap in between a kid coming out of juvenile detention and getting back in education has always been a thing.
00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:09.039
We have parents calling all the time.
00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.880
Well, this school says uh they can come, but they're gonna come two days a week.
00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:14.480
This school says they can't come at all.
00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:24.000
Well, this school still has the record from it's all these barriers, all these things that plays a major part in absenteeism.
00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:34.079
Welcome to Thrivecast, a production of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence.
00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:36.960
My name is Don Hibbert, and I will be your host.
00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:45.200
Our topic today is chronic school absenteeism as it relates to students who have been involved in the juvenile justice system.
00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:59.600
I have with me Tadarius Lowe, youth mentor specialist for Peckham Inc., a nonprofit vocational rehabilitation organization that provides paid job training opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment.
00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:02.560
Thank you for joining me today.
00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:03.920
Thank you for having me, Don.
00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:14.640
I wanted to continue a previous conversation we had about absenteeism and focus on the academic barriers that young people face who have been in the juvenile justice system.
00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:35.359
Youth in the juvenile justice system face several academic barriers, including learning gaps, high rates of undiagnosed disabilities, and many of these youth have previously been suspended or expelled, and others have struggled with getting their academic credits transferred from one school to another or re-enrollment in a new or previous school.
00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:35.920
Mr.
00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:45.760
Lowe, in your work with students who have been adjudicated, what have you seen are the primary roadblocks for young people trying to complete their education?
00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.439
Well, that's a that's a very good question.
00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:58.959
Um I would say it had to be self-identity, not really knowing um who they are, uh, what they want out of life.
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:06.319
Um and high expectations from those in the professional field of education.
00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:16.719
Um we have the students, you know, we get them in a classroom or we we have them to show up in a space and we give them these um unclear expectations.
00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:24.240
You sit down, you do the work, and you do these things, but I haven't had the foundation of just being able to follow simple directions.
00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:27.520
That's how I got to the juvenile justice system.
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:36.479
Um and it it becomes a challenge because the dots in the room, uh, one, they may not understand it of where they're coming from.
00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:40.639
Um, and two, um, our kids are in survival mode.
00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:44.080
That's the pity of it.
00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:54.080
It it almost sounds as if you're speaking directly to that undo undiagnosed disability, maybe a reading delay or um difficulty with math or something.
00:02:54.159 --> 00:03:03.439
So they're not, they don't have the foundational skills, so they don't understand what they're being asked to do, or they can't keep up and they just shut down at a certain point.
00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:11.759
Especially after um having the experience of being uh brought into the justice system.
00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:23.919
Um your freedom is taken away, you're you're following these rules, and you're looked at as less than, and no one even uh dealt with those young behaviors.
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:33.039
When you were young and you did have the reading and you had the the speech problem, all these things to where you're acting out and it's criminal behavior.
00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:37.759
Um and not and not not getting it sooner than later.
00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:46.000
Because now when you get them on a one-on-one basis or a small group to say, hey, these are the group of kids who's coming through the justice system, let's put them in your mentoring program.
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.919
And you get them and you say, Hey, um, could you read this for me?
00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.680
Or hey, can you tell me what this is?
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:59.680
And they don't know, or they're shy, or they they they seem angry, but it's not anger, it's me hiding what I I don't know.
00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:01.439
And you're like, oh, this is an angry kid.
00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:09.759
No, this is a kid that didn't get the the care, the nurture, or support of whatever this disability may be.
00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:14.240
Um, and that just leads up into absenteism.
00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:15.439
Yes.
00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.240
Because you don't want to go to school until yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.120
You don't want to go somewhere where you feel disenfranchised.
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:21.600
Yes.
00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:22.639
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:23.040
Yeah.
00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:29.279
To where we're thinking, oh, they're kids and they're caught up in the gangs and they don't want to do this.
00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.920
And it's like, no, there's a deeper issue.
00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.959
Um, they're not comfortable with speaking.
00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.879
They're not comfortable or confident in doing the work that you're providing or telling you that they struggle.
00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:46.560
Because on the juvenile justice side of things, you're tough.
00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:47.920
You have to show that you can do.
00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:51.759
You got to prove yourself where there's no safe space to land for.
00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:52.639
Yeah.
00:04:52.959 --> 00:05:00.560
Now you've you've been a mentor for a while, and we've had a few conversations about some of the of your mentees.
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:07.279
Um, I it just struck me that we're talking about students who felt disenfranchised in school.
00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:16.480
But I'm wondering, are there kids that you have run across that maybe are just they aren't so much disenfranchised.
00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.480
They're, they are maybe angry.
00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.600
And maybe life has thrown them a lot of curved balls.
00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.120
And they, you know, school is the least of their worries.
00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:27.519
So we talk about survival mode.
00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:33.519
Um, having these young children from uh, I'll say the youngest I've ever had was a 13-year-old.
00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.560
Um, what time are we done?
00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:38.959
What will what do you have to do?
00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:46.399
I have to get my little brother off the bus and my my mom's gonna drop my sister off, and when they get home, I have to provide dinner.
00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:52.879
And then my cousin's gonna come over and I have to help with uh clean up the house and I have to make sure everybody gets sleeping.
00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.240
It's like, whoa, you don't get to go home and be a kid?
00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:58.399
You're doing adult things.
00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:07.279
You you're you have to put these things in your schedule that like you should be able to just be youthful.
00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:14.639
And you you use survival mode to almost as a parent, I get up and I have to plan my day, make sure my kids get to school, make sure they eat and they do it.
00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:27.360
You have young children doing it on a daily, they're feeding themselves, they're getting up and they're locking the doors and they're making sure little brother and sister are getting off to and from school, and then you're asking them to go be successful.
00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.879
And so it's a lot at that young age.
00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:38.240
Um Are those children more susceptible to the streets and the influences that you've been talking about?
00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.240
I've some that has that need to belong somewhere else.
00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.519
Because the nurturing care at home isn't there.
00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:56.720
And so when I do come across someone who's showing me love and showing me that I belong to something, right, wrong, or indifferent, um, they do end up in these gangs.
00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:01.279
They do end up in these street communities where they feel a sense of belonging.
00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:05.920
And they go down this path that the reality of them, they don't want to.
00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:10.879
But this is a place where these folks are telling me, I got your back, I'm here for you.
00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:13.199
Call me if you need me, but it's all bad.
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.920
It's all these are things that's gonna lead you incarcerated or or in the grave.
00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:22.079
And it because it becomes a bigger picture.
00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:23.680
You say, Well, this kid is bad.
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:24.720
No, the kid is not bad.
00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.800
This kid has abandonment issues.
00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:32.399
And so when I come across someone that say, I love you, bro, or love you, sis, or we can go get this money.
00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:33.839
Who doesn't want money?
00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:35.040
I want some money, you know?
00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:35.279
Yeah.
00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:39.600
And it's not if it's quick and easy money, I I want to do this thing.
00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:42.000
And so it's school on my mind.
00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:48.160
Would some of that motivation to get the money also be to help maybe help the family that they're already responsible for?
00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:50.399
So glad you brought this up.
00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:56.399
I have so many young um uh children that come through and say, I gotta get this money to take care of my family.
00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:00.959
And you're you're 14, you're that I gotta get this so I can help my mama get a new car.
00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:03.519
I gotta help, and you like, oh, I I get it.
00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.000
That is not your responsibility, but I get it.
00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:09.040
And then you have parents who support it.
00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.439
So, you know, it's like a tough, it's a toughie, right?
00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:22.000
And it's like, who, how can I give this kid back their voice and their vision to say, you don't have to grow up so fast.
00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:30.399
You can take your time and not letting their identity be attached to them catching whatever charge they caught in the juvenile justice system.
00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:37.440
But that's a that's an issue too, because there's one of me, and I can't root for everybody in every space.
00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:48.399
And so when they come across these adults that are in the juvenile justice system who um, and in my own opinion, are trained to keep them, treat them in a justice way.
00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:49.039
You're you're bad.
00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:49.919
Punitive.
00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:50.720
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:51.919
This is punishment, this is thing.
00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:55.840
And I'm like, I don't care what they charge you with.
00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:57.600
You are valued, you are somebody.
00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:58.879
We can overcome that.
00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:09.279
And then trying to throw the educational piece on there, some of them are so far gone, they don't they don't see that happening because I've been treated as if I don't matter.
00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:11.440
But I see you trying to give me this hope.
00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:16.080
Um, and it it just becomes it's it's rough, it's hard, but it's doable.
00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:21.120
I can imagine why it would be difficult to believe in something that you've never seen before.
00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:22.000
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.159
That that is, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:29.039
And and I'm not, we don't do the parent blame.
00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.559
We don't need to do the parent blame because some parents just don't know.
00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:33.759
They cannot give you a few.
00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:35.600
Or they're doing the best they can.
00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:40.080
And their best to them is their best to everybody's life is different.
00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:41.919
And we don't, you gotta go get the parents, you gotta.
00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.399
Do I want to provide resources for these parents?
00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:47.360
Absolutely.
00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:55.200
But can I take a parent that has four or five children, one income, and say, hey, I got this resource for her, they're burnt out too.
00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:55.759
Mm-hmm.
00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:56.240
Right.
00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:57.519
They're burnt out too.
00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:00.960
And you talk about absenteeism.
00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.200
It all plays the parents burnt out.
00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:07.279
Then you got the young child that's burnt out, but also wants to be belong to something.
00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.600
So after I get done feeding little sister, little brother, I want some freedom too.
00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:15.279
So if I get y'all safe in the house, I'm gonna go to the streets with my friends.
00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:16.320
I got friends now.
00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:20.639
And here come the stolen cars, the guns, and all these things.
00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:26.399
And the truth of it is, I want somebody to love me, to see me.
00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:26.879
Right.
00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:29.600
You know, to show me a different way.
00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:36.639
But I it it it the numbers are high with these, with the students that are involved.
00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:43.279
I can only imagine, too, that if you've been given this much responsibility at home, that you feel more grown.
00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:53.600
And when you get out onto the street and you get into these very adult situations, you feel like you can handle it because you are already responsible for so many things.
00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:57.120
I'm a young man, my dad's not around, and you're telling me I'm the man of the house.
00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:57.600
Right.
00:10:57.840 --> 00:10:58.480
I'm the old.
00:10:58.639 --> 00:10:59.519
So what do men do?
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:05.759
Men go out, provide, and they protect, and they make way, and it's like, but none of that says go get your education.
00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:06.240
Right.
00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:07.120
Exactly.
00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:08.879
None of that says get your education.
00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:17.600
So getting back to that education, so in in your role as a as a mentor through Peckham, I mean, obviously you've you've had some success stories.
00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:20.960
What has worked for some some young people?
00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:24.799
So um under our with my program is Mentor Flynn.
00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.480
Um, there's a team of us, uh, we're like 14 and growing now.
00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:32.559
We literally become a safe space for um our youth.
00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:35.679
Um, and it started with those that are just as involved.
00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:42.399
And so um my goal was to pair uh the youth that are just involved, their own um probation or whatnot.
00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:47.679
Um, we will pair them up with a mentor that would uh spend at least an hour a week with them.
00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:53.519
And what this mentor is doing on besides um creating a safe space, you're not mom, you're not dad, you're not P.O.
00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:54.559
You're not none of this.
00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:03.360
You're rooting for this kid and you're doing everything in your power without getting burnt out yourself to say there's a better way, and I'm here for you.
00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:10.639
And I'm going to do my best to prune you to make you into the better virgin than you were yesterday.
00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:12.559
I know you won't change overnight.
00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:18.879
I know, um, and one of the sayings that I have on one of my shirts is planet seeds grow in different seasons.
00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.399
We want the kids to get it together right now, and it won't, it's not.
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:26.399
As long as I'm taking a seed, if you got a seed in the ground, sometimes you got to repot it.
00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:30.080
Sometimes you got to do some things because they will continue to make mistakes.
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:32.799
And I can't change your at-home environment.
00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:36.320
I can only change when I have you in front of me and what I can say.
00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:45.360
And so we, in that safe space, they built the relationship to where a youth can call and say, hey, this is going on at home and I feel like this.
00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:46.799
Okay, let me walk you through that.
00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:48.799
Let me, let me, let me walk you through it.
00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:50.080
Not that I'm coming to save you.
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:57.600
I'm not showing up every time to save you to do these things because we get caught up in the family dynamic and all this stuff, but let me walk you through it.
00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:11.279
And our success stories have been that we've been able to walk students through adult situations where they want to, uh where they've they've got to this point to where they want to disrespect mom and they want to walk out and they want to do all these things.
00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.200
It's like, hey, take a breather.
00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:14.720
Let's try it a different way.
00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:24.559
And so we get the kids that um we have the relationship equity will, and they reach out to us and they say, Hey, I remember the last time we talked, you said do A, B, C.
00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:26.159
I'm not doing C.
00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:29.360
B sounds okay, but tell me about A again.
00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:30.399
Let's try that.
00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:32.799
They try it and they do it and say, okay, cool.
00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:36.960
And we're able to not only cheer for them, but reward them.
00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.080
I'm able to take them out.
00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:42.399
I'm able to call them, I'm able to go see and say, I appreciate you doing that.
00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:44.480
Because truth is you didn't know.
00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:45.759
And two, you didn't have to do.
00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:46.799
I'm a volunteer.
00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:48.159
I'm just here for you.
00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:54.080
Um, but also wanting to change the mindset of parents.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:55.039
Yes.
00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:57.919
I can tell this kid that they're amazing all day.
00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:05.039
But if they come back in a house and you tell them they have to throw it on the street or what they, or remind them of their past, we're going back to step one.
00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:14.639
And so um, a part of that success story, we've had some parents that's had a mind shift to say, you know what, I don't know what to do with this young man.
00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:16.559
I don't know what to do with this young lady.
00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:17.840
Can you help me?
00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:25.840
And allowed us to come in and um give wisdom and out to we're not always right because you know your child more than we do.
00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:26.559
Right.
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:30.720
But it's like you talk about planting the seed, but you're also planting it with the parent.
00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:31.440
Absolutely.
00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:32.080
Absolutely.
00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:37.919
It goes both ways because you want to make one beautiful family, is what you want, what you want to.
00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:41.679
Um and and we always, we are always gonna push education.
00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:48.159
And with education, um, you got career and college readiness, but we say awareness.
00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:49.440
I want you aware.
00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:54.960
Because a lot of our kids, they see things on TV, real estate, they see flipping houses, they see all these things.
00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:57.840
And college may not be for them.
00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:58.879
And that's okay.
00:14:58.960 --> 00:14:59.600
It's it's fine.
00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.200
We got a lot, you know, gotta go to college.
00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.919
It's like, no, we're gonna talk about trades, we can talk about all these things.
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:05.519
We're never pushing them away from that.
00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:15.600
And even so, if we can help them, that barrier of transportation, barrier of clothing, if we can help in any way, um, we do.
00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.320
Well, and most of your students are high school age.
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:19.600
They are nice.
00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:25.840
So getting the the high school diploma or a GED is the first order of business, really.
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:29.200
The one thing that now that is loud.
00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:31.759
At least get your high school diploma.
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.399
At least get that one step out of the way.
00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:42.480
And um currently I'm at Beecher High Learning Academy, where we have about 20, 20 to 25 students, and um we're able to walk alongside them.
00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:48.720
And it's in our tournament school, and we're able to walk alongside them with their different life struggles.
00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:53.600
But for the one thing that we're able to support them is get them across the stage.
00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:56.320
Hey, let me get you across the stage.
00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:04.080
And even when you have those moments where you feel like life is a little tough and you feel like you're doing those adult things, let us help you with them.
00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:08.080
Um, and that that um I'm gonna switch of subject.
00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.000
Uh, I think we talk about mental health.
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.000
That's one of our barriers.
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:18.080
We I'm not trained for mental, but I know it when I see it.
00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:23.360
Um, we have a lot of children, a lot of our youth that they have some mental issues, and you can tell.
00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.320
Well, some of them have had some pretty serious trauma.
00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:26.879
Yes.
00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:31.600
Yes, yes, and and when they share it, you almost don't know what to do with it.
00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:36.799
You don't know what to do with it, and it's like, and get the kid has to go home.
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:37.840
The kid has to go home.
00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.120
You have to send them to the send them back into that environment.
00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:42.960
And it's like, what can I do?
00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:43.840
What can I say?
00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:44.960
How can I help?
00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:58.399
And when it comes to the mental thing, because I work with students with IEPs and 504s and all the, you know, um, it's like, where is the the full support for them?
00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:02.559
Because I some of my students are in cle in classrooms with substitutes.
00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:03.519
Yes.
00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.119
So there's that coalition.
00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:10.880
You know, so if and and then they bump heads with the sub who don't know them, who hasn't built a relationship.
00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:11.440
And guess what?
00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:12.559
I'm not coming to school.
00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.119
As long as you're sub and I'm not coming to school.
00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:21.759
Um, and as long as nobody hears me, uh, I'm I don't want to be in this space.
00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:30.960
And so just trying to encourage a kid to get into school, encourage a kid to see beyond whatever the court says.
00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:34.799
I don't, I, I don't, I never, my kid, my intakes.
00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.400
I don't care what you did yesterday, I don't care what's on this paper that they sent to me.
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:39.920
How are we moving forward?
00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:41.599
How are we gonna get you to school?
00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.039
How are we gonna get you that first job?
00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:48.720
How are we gonna get you to being able to present yourself better than what they're they're saying?
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:57.519
So um the the mental part of it can be challenging because um I do have resources.
00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.839
Those resources you have to waste sometimes.
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:00.240
Yeah.
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:01.519
You have to waste sometimes.
00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:05.440
But the thing of um using our resources, we're walking it through.
00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:06.480
We're walking it through.
00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:15.359
I had a kid um had shared that they were having um flashbacks of their trauma.
00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:15.839
Yes.
00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:17.680
And they were having suicidal thoughts.
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:25.839
And I was able to reach out to our local um mental health uh organization around here, and uh they said, well, it'll be about two months.
00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:26.799
Oh my gosh.
00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.400
Two months for a kid, I'm telling you.
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.720
And um, and and and and it I was upset, I was angry.
00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:35.519
I'm like, what?
00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.240
Because I want to help this kid as much as I can.
00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.119
Um, but still can, you know, you don't stop there.
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:41.920
I don't stop.
00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:43.440
So continue to reach out.
00:18:43.519 --> 00:19:03.200
Um, I did find um a person uh from an organization here in Flint was able to come over and present to the whole class and then take this kid as a one-on-one case um to talk about suicide prevention and getting this kid um uh getting the parent involved to seeing what resources we can have as far as from the mental standpoint.
00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:05.200
And now that that was two months ago.
00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:16.400
This kid is thriving in in such a way, what just showing up so beautiful and it's like a release of like, thank you, you know, because sometimes as adult, we think it's just all about put that up, put this out, do that, do it.
00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:17.119
No, no, no, no.
00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:20.000
I gotta walk with you different than I walk with the other kid.
00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:20.319
Right.
00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.799
I gotta get you a resource, you know, different than that.
00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.960
And kids, they know your heart.
00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:26.720
They know your heart.
00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:33.440
And and I think if we get more true hearts in the classroom, that can change the numbers of absenteeums.
00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.839
Yes, it's it's that's that's a whole nother conversation.
00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:38.799
Yes.
00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:42.000
Yes, it's definitely another conversation.
00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:50.480
Um you know, you've you in our original uh panel discussion about absenteeism, you brought LaDarius with you.
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:51.279
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:52.960
And I'm assum your favorite.
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:55.279
Yeah, right.
00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:58.720
Um, but he seems to be thriving.
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:04.000
So LaDarius is my first, um, my first mentee.
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:10.960
Um when I came on the pick him a year and a half ago, um, it was funny that his name is LaDarius, and I'm T Darius.
00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:11.359
Yes.
00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:20.160
And I never recall going in, um, I I always recall going to the classroom, and the Darius like threw a ball across the room, and I politely, I said, Hey, uh, you know, get that ball.
00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:22.559
And he said, I'm I'm not doing anything.
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:29.759
And uh, this is me putting my I'm the new guy and uh what I've learned in life and why do I really want to work with these kids?
00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:32.799
And I said, Well, could you please pick that up for me?
00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.279
And he says, Oh, that was nice of you.
00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.519
He goes pick the ball up and get him.
00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:44.160
And we've been on a journey together for a year and a half.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:51.119
And the Darius story is very unique because he's a kid that can turn a stop sign green.
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:55.440
And so when he would do things, he will call me and tell me.
00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:58.319
The Darius will call me and say, Hey, Mr.
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:03.920
T, because you always want to be in a no, I'm letting you know I've done A, B, C, D.
00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.880
And I'll be back at June out detention on Monday.
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:07.759
I'm saying that.
00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.279
And I'll never forget I was in a car with my wife, and she said, Why is he so calm?
00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.119
I said, Because I'm calm on him.
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:15.279
Normally, why did you do that?
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:16.559
Use your number.
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.920
The relationship equity and the respect is that he called me to let me know.
00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:27.279
And his case is different because Ladarius ended up going to rehab.
00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:31.119
We were Louis ended up taking him to rehab.
00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:32.640
His rehab is like six hours away.
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.559
We drove him three hours away.
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.200
This is a kid that continues to lean into you as long as you lean into him.
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.480
Well aware that he cannot change his environment.
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:48.720
Well aware that the people that truly love him is gonna continue to, you know, love on him.
00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:57.680
And I believe me keeping my word and not being another felon in his life, showing up when he did get locked up.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.359
He got locked up twice within that time.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.480
Every time I was back there in that detention center in the CM.
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.799
And it wasn't, why did you do what you do?
00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.079
What's next?
00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.119
What do you what's like what's next?
00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:11.920
And so um Ladarius is he's working.
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.039
Um he's attending um a local school here.
00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.240
Um, and hopefully he'd be graduating uh real soon.
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:29.920
Um it'd be probably this year or next year, but he allowed um me to want to be a safe space for him, but he knew his own potential.
00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.400
I just had to pour some more into it.
00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:39.759
And it's not to say that LaDarius won't do something tomorrow, but from a mentor standpoint for me, I'll still show up.
00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:43.920
Well, when he was with us and talking, he talked about being on the football team.
00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:44.319
Yes.
00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:46.799
And getting involved in something that matters to you.
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:47.279
Yes.
00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:55.519
And he also said something about when you're so close to the goal, and he was speaking of high school graduation, he said, Why would I quit now?
00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:56.720
I'm almost there.
00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:04.319
And I thought that was very good forward thinking for a young person because a lot of times they live so much in the moment.
00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:07.440
Yes, they can't project themselves into the future.
00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:08.400
I don't know.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:09.279
I don't see it.
00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:10.079
I don't hear it.
00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:10.400
Yes.
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.079
And if I can't imagine it.
00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:23.759
You know, and even in those mess-ups, if I'm going in as the adult and convicting you every time of you doing something bad instead of pushing you forward, you won't get to the language of say, why would I, why would I stop now?
00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.480
Because he's done some things that make you say, like, seriously?
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.960
We just had this conversation, you know?
00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:34.160
But he can he can to see him continue to get up and go at it again, continue to go.
00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:36.880
You gotta continue to root for that child.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.119
Even if we're talking about getting to school.
00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:39.599
Right.
00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:42.160
If I get you there on Monday, I'm cheering for you on Monday.
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:43.759
You miss Tuesday, okay, we're going back Wednesday.
00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:44.000
Yeah.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.200
It's not like here we go again.
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:46.480
No, we're not going backpedal.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:47.839
We're gonna move forward.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:53.119
And being okay with adjusting the way that you do things, every child is different.
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:54.720
Every single one is different.
00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:58.960
Adjusting the way that you do things and meeting them literally where they are.
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.880
Because you talk about the trauma.
00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:01.920
It comes up.
00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:02.880
It comes up.
00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.759
And they have their moments, just like as adults, we have our moments.
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:12.799
Meeting a kid where they are, whether on probation or the valedictory in the school, meet a kid where they are.
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:14.559
And it makes all the difference.
00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:16.480
It literally makes all the difference.
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:18.799
It's a heavy lift you do.
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.200
It it is, but it's rewarding.
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:31.279
And the reward is not the paycheck, not um the amazing company, not the amazing co-workers.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:34.559
It's the kids that allow you to come in their space.
00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:35.759
That's the award.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.839
When you get a kid that says, okay, I'm rocking with you, you cool.
00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:40.559
Come on.
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.680
And they see you and they speak to you and they they're glad to see you.
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:45.920
Or you don't show up and they call you.
00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:52.720
You're like, okay, well, maybe, you know, you you got kids that give you pushback, but the reward is them allowing you in their space.
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:59.680
I I do recall just when we were growing up, you said, you respect the dots, and you, you see, dogs, you you respect them.
00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:03.519
You literally have to earn the right to be in this kid's space.
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:04.160
It's different.
00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:05.759
It's it's a different time.
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:09.759
And it does um, it gets it gets challenging.
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.440
Um, and it it gets heavy, and you, and when your heart is in it, you get hurt.
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:13.839
No way.
00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:15.279
You you get hurt.
00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.559
Um, but it but it's worth it.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:20.160
It's worth every minute of it.
00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:39.440
And it's there's not a there's not a kid that I wouldn't mentor, there's not a kid that I wouldn't show love to, but um, I I do my best to find balance and making sure their voice is louder than mine, because a kid voice can can can reach more students than you because they're they're they're own leaders in their own community.
00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:40.160
Exactly.
00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:44.880
Oh, here and they they listen to each other at a certain age.
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:50.240
At that age, it's their it the peer group becomes more important than the family.
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.640
They do, and that's how um we're talking about the voices and and peers.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:02.559
Um, we talk about gang violence and all this, these uh little little clicks and stuff that has gotten violent, that has gotten it's gotten bad.
00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:06.480
And I always say these are just little people that need a hug.
00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.720
These are little people, oh, the mask in the hood, they need a hug.
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:12.720
Will you be the one to hug them today?
00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:15.519
Will you be the one to walk up there and ask them how they're doing?
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:18.880
And it's like, no, because I'm I'm scared of them.
00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:21.839
Ah, that's that's what the truth of it is, they're scared of you.
00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:29.680
They're scared of you, and they didn't they're they're scared as a different type of scare because they're carrying a gun and they're putting on a mask and they're putting on a hood.
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.559
And these are just that they're they're innocent.
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:35.599
They are innocent.
00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:40.160
Yeah, they committed these crimes, but if we go back to where they came from, how they they weren't born criminals.
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:40.559
No.
00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:43.119
They didn't come in the world knowing how to steal a car.
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:49.279
They didn't, you know, and I just um always encouraged, like, these are humans.
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.319
These are humans, these are babies, these are human.
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:53.359
Yeah, you know.
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.480
Um my mom taught kindergarten for 35 years.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:58.799
I have this interesting perspective.
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:09.279
Sometimes when I see someone, maybe a person who's experiencing uh homelessness or someone on the street who's obviously in distress of some kind.
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:13.759
I always think in my head, I wonder what they looked like in my mother's kindergarten class.
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.039
Because I remember just those happy, bright little faces.
00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.039
And she taught in Flint forever.
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.200
So, you know, she was up at at Cook School.
00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:21.920
Yes, yes.
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.200
At uh Cody and at at uh Doyle Ryder.
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:31.519
So I mean, you know, you you see these happy little smiling faces at the age of five and born sponges.
00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:37.839
They were born sponges, and whatever you allow to soak in their mind, their brain, and all these things, it'll show.
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:38.880
It'll come out.
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:47.359
And if you as the sponge holder don't find a different way to rinse it out or to polish it or to do what it's like or a better thing to pour in.
00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:48.160
Something.
00:27:48.640 --> 00:28:04.240
If you don't find something different, um, you will will come up with these youth that that are struggling in such ways to where um we put a label on them and we lose them to the streets and they have no voice and the numbers of the detention center go up.
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:06.480
And now we're talking about it's crowded.
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:08.559
How well how it's crowded?
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.759
It's not here.
00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:18.799
I don't deal with adults in the jail, but when we're talking about youth, is there someone that can go walk alongside this kid and rehabilitate them?
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:19.519
Yes.
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:20.240
You know?
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:26.720
And so uh yeah, they they are um the precious, and that's what my passion is when it comes to it.
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:32.640
And always, but still just always pushing that first line that we just get you across the stage.
00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:43.759
Well, we were talking earlier about a young person that you've been working with who is he's it's not working out to go to one of the alternative high schools.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:48.799
And so, you know, that's one of the big issues is finding a place to get them back into school.
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:58.160
I I can only imagine that if you are part of the juvenile justice system, they're not going to release you on a very convenient day when the new semester starts.
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:05.920
So you're gonna come out on a day when maybe you're weeks or months behind everyone else in your grade.
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.880
And and how how big of an issue is that?
00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:12.960
I mean, are there alternative schools that can help these young people?
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:20.160
Or so we um this is what I love about Peck'em, um being a second chance, a youth resource.
00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:29.039
Um at one time we had a place to where they would come to us and we had partnered with the local school here to do credit recovery.
00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:36.400
Um they would they would come in and they would do the educational piece in the morning, and then the second part of it, they would do um Peck'em.
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:49.759
Um and we'll do um job resumes, OSHA certification, uh, surf safe, we'll do community give backs, we'll do talent tours, and then you have mentor flint where your mentor will come in, we'll spend time with you.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.960
Um the challenge was when they left us, you were only with us.
00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:57.839
Um at the end, you'll get a six to eight-week work experience.
00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:05.119
The challenge when they left us was getting them back into normal schools because you had the barrier, you had the record.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:07.279
And a lot of schools didn't accept that.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:14.480
But then when you go to um alternative schools, there's rules, regulations, and time, so on and so forth.
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:22.000
And the it will be either the alternative school is full already, or they don't start until the following year.
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:29.759
And so you got a kid out here for these three, four, five months, they were with Peckham and they had some structure.
00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:34.480
You get a kid that's in that waiting period and they're waiting and they're waiting.
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:38.720
The, the, the, the, the mind is the devil's playground.
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:39.200
Right.
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.839
What can I do while I'm waiting?
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.759
They're back into the norm because they don't have us every day.
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:50.400
They're back into um feeling like they don't have nothing to do with the boredom.
00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:56.240
And so in this particular kid, the boredom is I'm going to order a 30-round drum.
00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:58.079
Why what are we what are we doing?
00:30:58.240 --> 00:30:59.920
What why why is that the thing?
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.160
Because I don't have consistency.
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:02.799
Right.
00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:08.640
And so there are some schools that can um and that that will take them.
00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:11.440
And then there's some that you just have to be online.
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.119
How can I do online when I barely have a place to stay?
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:16.000
Right.
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:20.000
When I barely have a place to stay, where homeless is possibly an option.
00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:23.599
Where I'm living in a house of family and there's 10 of us.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:26.640
You think I'm gonna sit at a laptop and do some work.
00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:32.480
And so that's where we're able to provide a space at times to where they can come over and do work.
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:42.319
But the the gap in between a kid coming out of juvenile detention and getting back in education has always been a thing.
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:43.680
We have parents calling all the time.
00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:47.519
Well, this school says uh they can come, but they don't come two days a week.
00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:49.039
This school says they can't come at all.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:58.400
Well, this school still has the record from it's all these barriers, all these things that plays a major part in absenteeism.
00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:02.480
Um because I do do schools believe in second chances?
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:08.160
I I'm guessing not, because you you once you've done that, it's on your record, you know?
00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:08.559
Right.
00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:10.559
Um, and every case is different.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:14.400
I'm not, you know, some kids, it goes beyond just behavior.
00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:18.160
It's mental, it's trauma, it's you you need some one-on-one.
00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:20.960
You need to be at home on a laptop if you can.
00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:29.200
But there's some that if you really did a deep dive and you really talked to this child, you rethink that disciplinary action.
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:34.799
How can you still let them thrive with making this bad decision?
00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:37.920
And um, that's not always an option for a lot.
00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:39.279
That's you know, not an option.
00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:48.240
And um, and that's another thing we love about Peckham having that second chance to have my voice be heard again and you show me something different than RareBear running off of my record.
00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:48.960
Right.
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:49.839
Yeah.
00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:52.880
It's a complicated issue.
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:55.039
It is.
00:32:55.119 --> 00:33:09.839
It's very complicated, but it's doable with enough, um, with enough like-minded people um that could come to the table and create a space, create um rules and regulations that do give those that deserve it a second chance.
00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:18.559
Um and and I get uh we gotta face consequences, but when you're talking about the juvenile detention center, um, that is a consequence.
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:29.920
Um but the what's being taught in the juvenile detention center, I've always had this is my own personal opinion about um even taking a kid and putting them in a detention center.
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:31.599
You can teach life skills.
00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:35.599
You can make them feel as if, hey, this, you show this detention?
00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:38.400
I feel like these people are empowering me.
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:41.359
But we all know that ain't the rules of how that goes.
00:33:41.519 --> 00:33:43.519
Um, but just think of if we did.
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:57.920
What if we took these youth and I and gave them mental health resources inside of here um and and gave them life skills and taught them about um hope and how they can overcome and that your story it's is not over.
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:07.759
Yeah, there's so many programs in prisons now for training leader dogs, growing, you know, cooking, growing vegetables, the art.
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:15.920
So that was the mindset of Peckham, is that they get out of there, they come up front to us, we let them the freedom of thrive, right?
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:18.880
Um, and I I will, you know, what if we did that?
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:22.159
And because there's programs in the jail, they they learn about financial literacy.
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:22.320
Yeah.
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:23.920
I know that because my pastor teaches it.
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:27.760
So um why can we, you know, do the same thing for our young babies?
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:28.079
Yeah.
00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:32.239
And and uh if we do, you know, it's because you can't just start at the dog, you gotta go back.
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:39.360
And that's why um I I that's another uh thing that just I believe is an amazing idea.
00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:40.000
You got them.
00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:41.840
You okay, you got the Kitanawa.
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:45.920
Okay, we lock them in a cell and they they mine is going elsewhere.
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:46.880
And and you then you send them.
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:50.559
And they're beating a lot of other people who are may or may not be great influences.
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:52.639
Same old, same old, right?
00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:55.280
And then you send them back out and wonder why they're coming right back in.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:56.400
Nothing changes.
00:34:56.559 --> 00:34:57.360
You just lock me up.
00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.000
You put me on punishment for a month, two months, however long.
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:01.760
But what did you teach me while I was in there?
00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:03.360
What did you, what did I get from that?
00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.320
Did you did you water me or did you dim my light?
00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:07.760
No, you dimmed my light.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:09.599
I learned how to endure.
00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:12.000
And that's why I'm going to the street and I'm angry, right?
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:14.400
I'm upset and my wall is up.
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:27.440
Um, and so just, you know, it all plays a part when it comes to trying to um give our kids education, give them the support um needed in all areas, and letting them recover from their mistakes.
00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:32.079
Um because once you do catch a charge, you feel like that's my label.
00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:33.039
You gave me a label.
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:33.440
Yeah.
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:34.880
I'm a thief.
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:36.000
I'm a scammer.
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:38.480
What do I look like sitting in a classroom then?
00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:39.920
Yeah.
00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:43.519
Well, my c you know, what would what I don't I don't belong there.
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:45.599
And so now I'm going back to what I know.
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:52.400
And so um being able to provide a space for them and so that these these absentee numbers could change.
00:35:52.559 --> 00:36:06.079
Um, from the you know, juvenile detention center, juvenile justice system side of things, um it's unique, but um every kid has um they deserve to thrive.
00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:06.719
Every kid.
00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:17.440
Uh, you know, every every kid, and it don't matter the story, the charge, uh, the trauma, or um the diagnosis, they still deserve to thrive.
00:36:17.760 --> 00:36:20.719
How do um young people get connected with Peckham?
00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:30.000
Um, so with Peckham, um, with Mentor Flint, uh, we are located on Ballinger Highway, um, 1309 North Ballinger Highway.
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.079
Um, or they can go to our website, Peckham.
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:34.639
Um they have a way of doing inquiries.
00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.840
Um I'm in the community a lot.
00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:41.760
We uh my mentor, our mentor flint program is growing.
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:44.960
Uh the plan is to start um going into middle school.
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:48.000
Uh when I first came on, it was high school age kids.
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:54.639
Um just taking a step back and seeing how we can um support them before they get to kind of making these decisions.
00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.280
Um and so it's things are growing.
00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:02.559
Um, but to you can contact us through our website, um, or you can even reach out to me.
00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:05.119
Uh I'm on Facebook, today is low.
00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.000
So um you will find me.
00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:16.400
Um but we are always in a community, we're always looking to partner to build relationships, to be a support for our youth, um, even our young adults.
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:19.280
We have programs for 18 to 24 year olds as well.
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:21.840
Um, that's been in the juvenile justice system.
00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:25.119
We are literally a second chance, no barrier organization.
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:27.760
Well, you talked about planting seeds.
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:31.440
So, and and you've also said that you've only been with Peckham a year and a half.
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:36.400
So it will be interesting in the next five or six years to see where some of your seeds bloom.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:37.280
Absolutely.
00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:37.920
Absolutely.
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:51.920
And I I always crack the joke on myself, maybe one day when I'm on my yacht, uh, 30 years from now, I'll look up and I'll see Lodarius or I'll see, you know, any of my other students and I'll say, I'll be okay with knowing that my planted seed has grown.
00:37:52.079 --> 00:37:53.119
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:54.719
Definitely, most definitely.
00:37:55.119 --> 00:38:07.440
Well, I want to thank Tadarius Lowe for being part of this incredibly important conversation about school absenteeism and the impacts of the juvenile justice system on student success.
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:14.079
You have been listening to Thrivecast, the podcast program of the Flint Center for Educational Excellence.
