4 Troubled Teens Blog

Nine teenagers from the Rock Hill, South Carolina, area spent the last month learning how to box. The training camp kept them out of trouble, taught them discipline, and gave them an outlet for their frustrations. All nine want to continue in the program, but funding has become an issue.

"To continue training with the Rock Hill Boxing Club, the nine boys will need a one-year membership to USA Boxing, a national association for the sport," the Rock Hill Herald has reported. "And the fee to become a member will go up next year from $32 to $45. "

An after-school program in the area has agreed to pay the $45 fee in December for two students to continue to box, and will help provide equipment and related supplies. And a local Rock Hill man has agreed to sponsor five of the remaining seven students, but the last two teen still need sponsors, the Herald reported.

Reverend Seth Crosby, who mentors all nine of the young boxers, is asking the community to support the teenagers and help keep the program going.

Labels: sports, mentoring, boxing

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The Maaco repair shop in Clarksville, Tennessee, fills up with teenagers every Saturday morning -- but they're not showing up just to hang out and look at cars. According to an Associated Press article by Tavia Green, the young people are participating in Project 59, an initiative aimed at giving troubled teens a chance to get their lives back on track.

Project 59 is an initiative through Operation Turnaround, a Clarksville Police Department program that gives teens who have been in trouble with the law a chance to get their lives back on track. Through mentorship from officers and volunteers, students learn trades and are better equipped to make good choices.

Maaco owner Mitch Rollins explained: "This is a car that nobody wanted. It was shunned, put away from society, and nobody wants to look at it. That's the way (these children) feel when they are incarcerated. They lose their self-respect and self-esteem. We show them how to rebuild that through the car."

Sgt. John Hunt, a director and mentor with Operation Turnaround, said the project will give the participants training they can use to better their future. Communication skills, a sense of responsibility, commitment, team-building and problem-solving skills, along with discipline, can all be accomplished if the teens take the project seriously, he said.

When the teens have finished restoring the 1959 Pontiac Catalina, the vehicle will be auctioned off to raise funds to help further the program, Green reported. Rollins told the AP that he hopes the car will sell for about $40,000.

Labels: prevention, troubled_teenagers, mentoring

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A new program in Birmingham, England, is taking direct aim at the roots of gang activity. Called "Building Lives: Intensive Intervention Project" (BLIIP), the effort will provide mentoring and support services to vulnerable young people ages 10 to 19.

With a strong focus on achievement, the programmes will ensure young people are equipped with life skills and tools to become more independent and show them how they can regain control over their lives. Source: 24dash (UK)

The project will provide accredited personal development programs and creative activities. Young people will be involved with the program for six to 18 months, depending on the level of support they need. The Birmingham project is the latest in a long line of efforts in the UK and the United States to provide mentoring services for troubled teens.

Labels: mentoring, gangs

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Officer Al Cruz spent 20 years as an Army Ranger. In 2003, he joined the police force, and last summer he started a soccer league, aimed at reaching out to at-risk youth. Every Monday evening he can be seen in a Springfield, Virginia gym, trying to hold his own against a group of middle school students.

After the match, he assembles the players on the bleachers. Each opportunity to connect may be his last ... He starts talking about drugs and gangs. Most of these boys aren't into drugs gangs, but a few are on the edge. (Source: The Washington Post)

Cruz worries that, as winter gives way to spring, Monday night soccer will lose its appeal and the kids will be back on the streets. The first day of summer soccer arrives, with torrential rain and gusty winds. But 40 kids show up anyway. Forty kids in the rain, Cruz calculates, means 200 kids on a sunny day. Two hundred kids staying out of trouble and learning to be part of a team.

Officer Cruz's effort is the latest in a long line of mentoring programs that have been established to provide guidance, direction, and motivation for troubled or at-risk adolescents and teenagers.

Labels: sports, mentoring, teenagers, adolescent

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This week, the New York state Senate will present Penny Jennings with the 2008 New York State Woman of Distinction award. The award was created in 1998 to honor New York women whose personal achievements and/or acts of service were an example to others.

"Jennings, a single mom for many years, started A.C.T. Inc. - Adults Caring for Teens - in 2006 to provide mentoring to youth who had had a brush with the law, were in troubled at school or were at loose ends and needed a mentor and a role model."

A.C.T. currently provides mentoring to 26 boys and girls, and beginning July 1 it will provide services to 15 additional students. Jennings earned a master's degree in social policy, and is now pursuing a doctorate in law and policy. Source: The Journal News

Find parenting tips and advice for parenting teenagers at ByParents-forParents.com.

Labels: parental_involvement, mentoring, delinquents

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Two decades ago, Frederica Wilson established the organization that would become 5000 Role Models of Excellence, a mentorship program for at-risk youth in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Legislation has recently been introduced that would expand this program, as well as other programs like it.

"Advocates for the dropout intervention strategies say they envision Role Models someday taking root in every county, and possibly every school, in the state. The idea is to match at-risk minority youth with successful black men in school-based programs. The goal is to reduce the number of African-American youths who drop out of school and enter prison."

If passed, the legislation would create a state-sanctioned method of funneling both private and public money into Role Models and other similar programs. Source: Miami-Dade Sun-Sentinel

Labels: mentoring, influences, role_models

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Mentoring has always been considered a face-to-face activity, but one program has allowed mentors to increase their level of involvement through a unique cyber-program.

"By setting up an online system, the men can check in with the students more frequently than they would be able to if they had to rely on face-to-face meetings..."

Mentors and youth still meet face-to-face, but not as often. The new program is also enabling the young participants to learn computer programs like PowerPoint and improve their resume writing skills. Read more at AZStarNet.com.

Private college prep boarding schools offer smaller class sizes and more personal attention. Find a school at BoardingSchoolsInfo.com.

Labels: mentoring, role_models, skills

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Denise Brown is the executive director of the nonprofit program designed for girls ages 16 and older who are either failing school or have dropped out. Called "Intense Mentoring", the program pairs young women with mentors who help them improve their academic performance.

"The girls are required to re-enroll in school. Mentors stay in touch with them through weekly phone calls, e-mail or instant messages... The mentors and students meet twice a month to hear speakers discuss domestic violence, birth control, crime prevention and other topics."

One student, Chanise Turner, had a miscarriage at 17 and felt she had nothing to live for. Brown connected her to mentor Marie Kalis and Turner is now enrolled in an alternative high school and plans to attend law school after she graduates.

Boarding schools for girls can also offer ways for troubled girls to get back on track emotionally and academically.

Labels: schools, mentoring, girls

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Fourteen years ago, as school principal Frederica Wilson was driving to school, she was shocked to find herself hoping that one her more disruptive students would be absent that day. The thought caused her to start asking questions, and eventually asking for help. Her initial effort has become the 5000 Role Models of Excellence and has helped more than 15,000 troubled young men.

"The program is funded by the [Miami] school system and by private and corporate sponsors. Its components are many: workshops; scholarships; a basketball tournament; peer, group and one-on-one mentoring; and field trips, including to those opposite poles of black male potential; colleges and penitentiaries."

Kionne McGhee participated in the program. While in school he was suspended 47 times and was labeled emotionally handicapped. Today, he's an assistant state attorney.

Parents, teachers, and other role models can find help and information about adolescent drug treatment at Adolescent-Susbstance-Abuse.com.

Labels: mentoring, influences, role_models

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In Leesburg, Florida and the surrounding communities, a movement has started to make mentors available to some of the more vulnerable teens in the area. Inspiration for the mentoring program came after three young men were arrested for shooting at police deputies outside the 22nd National Conference on Preventing Crime in the Black Community.

"At breakfast this week in Leesburg, [Pernell] Mitchell encouraged potential mentors not to let their pasts hinder them from helping children. Some group members have overcome criminal histories and turned their lives around for the better."

The Leesburg mentoring chapter is part of a nationwide organization called 100 Black Men of America, which was founded in 1963 to make positive changes in the community. The national group has, to date, mentored over 100,000 young people.

Labels: mentoring, criminals, hope

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Recently, at the National Lieutenant Governors Association's annual conference, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder presented a resolution suggesting that states use the Missouri Model as a guide for state-wide mentoring programs.

''A wonderful seed planted right here in Missouri is now to bear fruit all across America. See what happens when we all work together, reaching across party lines to do what is good and right for the people,' Kinder said."

The Missouri Model consists of three parts; a program for children of incarcerated parents, a mentor initiative for state employees, and a partnership between the Department of Corrections and mentoring programs. Read more at News-Leader.com.

If your teen isn't getting the guidance he or she needs, you may want to consider boarding schools. TeenBoardingSchools.com lists schools to help teens with emotional and behavioral issues.

Labels: mentoring, education, influences

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Only 20 percent of teenagers have meaningful relationships with coaches, mentors or adults other than their parents, according to a survey from the Search Institute.

Researchers surveyed 1,860 people ages 15 years old from area of Twin Cities, Minnesota. Although 50% could identify one or more adult who "understands me," most of their relationships with these adults were not meaningful.

"Caring adults beyond the immediate family really do matter for a variety of outcomes that Americans care about, including school success," said Peter Benson, president and chief executive officer of the Search Institute, a policy center for child and family development. He said that teenagers show more academic achievement and hope for their futures when they have positive adult role models in their lives.
 

Labels: mentoring, influences

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 2 Comments

Cape Coral, Florida has a unique approach to dealing with young people who break the law. If convicted of a crime, the youth get probation and other punishments, but they also get regular visits from a member of the J-CRIME unit: Juvenile Crime Reduction Initiative through Mentoring Monitoring and Enforcement.

“J-CRIME is composed of a group of 12 officers that conduct checks on juveniles to make sure they’re following the terms of their probation… Sergeant Joseph Zalenski of the Cape Coral Police Department explained, ‘The officer isn’t just there to enforce the law, they’re trying to become a role model.’” [Source: WZVN (FL)]

Youth crime has decreased since the start of the program, and law enforcement officials hope the trend will continue.

Labels: mentoring, criminals

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