Days 8-10

It's been a busy few days hence the lack of blogging.  Monday started off with a visit to the offices of the National League of Cities where Leon Andrews gave us an outline of the work of the Institute for Youth, Education & Families in supporting mayors & municipal governments across America to think strategically about how they can ensure all children and young people achieve to their full potential and in doing so, promote healthy communities.  It was a fascinating presentation and although there are quite a lot of differences between the way in which local government operates in the States and back at home, there were transferable lessons and parallels, particularly in terms of how children and young people need to be involved in decision-making.

We had a 2-hour window as some appointments were swapped around so I had a quick look in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian which has an impressive range of top quality exhibitions including one on the civil rights movement commemorating 50 years since the ‘March on Washington’ for jobs and freedom.  It’s an amazing museum and I would love to explore it further.

In the afternoon we met with a number of folks from the East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership which had been started by Commissioner Chuck Ramsay (whom we met in Philly last week) when he was Police Chief in DC in partnership with local pastors.   This is a faith-based initiative that seeks to reduce violence and works through a variety of initiatives including a transitional housing programme, mentoring, gender specific conferences for young people and initiatives such as ‘40 Days of Increased Peace,’ a summer diversionary project for young people. 

Rev Donald Isaacs from ERCPCP with Paul

Lastly on Monday’s schedule we spent some time at the Metropolitan PD – Washington’s police department headquarters where we were allowed to sit in on a crime briefing in their Operations Room, and then we met one of their Community Outreach Specialists who filled us in on some work the PD is developing to engage with young people in tough communities through sport activities as part of a crime prevention strategy.


On Tuesday morning we headed to the offices of the Open Society Foundation and had a fascinating discussion with staff and colleagues from a variety of associated organisations who are working on a range youth justice issues.  Much of their work is around legal advocacy and policy development/ change from prevention work, improving the justice system when young people are in the system and then work on re-entry and what happens when young people come out of the justice system.  We heard some frightening statistics – 65% of young people who are suspended or expelled from high school end up involved in the justice system; 70% of young people in the justice system don’t make it back into school/education when they exit the system; $6 billion is spent in the US on incarcerating young people.  (Some further information here. We left thankful for our own juvenile justice system, whilst it’s not perfect, we don’t face the same battles as in the US, but we were impressed by the dedication and perseverance of the folks we met working to change legislation.

Next we drove out to Anacostia to Covenant House, a national organisation that focuses on meeting the needs of homeless young people.  The Executive Director was very informative and we were impressed by the strong value base of the organisation with guiding principles that include immediacy, sanctuary, communication, choice & structure.  One of the things that stood out for me which had also been reinforced on some of the other visits, was the commitment to young people in the 18-25 age bracket and a recognition that support is vital at this stage of young adulthood.

Mural in the offices of LAYC

LAYC's mission statement

Our last visit of the day was to the Latin American Youth Centre which was a really colourful place as there is a lot of emphasis on artwork as a developmental intervention.  In the basement there is a recreational space for young people – pool table, table football etc – which is the first point of contact for many of the young people who in engage in LAYC programmes.  We were impressed in particular by the mentoring scheme run by LAYC and we had the opportunity to hear first-hand from both young people and their mentors (promontores) about the impact of the mentoring support on their lives.  The organisation has been running for 45 years and in that time has established a very comprehensive range of programmes for young people in the local community including social services, health promotion, housing, sexual health clinic, drug prevention, LGBT project, workforce development. 


On Tuesday evening we got our glad rags on and went to a St Patrick’s Day reception hosted by the Irish Embassy where Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave an address.  It was a fun evening with a chance to meet the great and the good as well as re-connect with US Consul General at Belfast, Greg Burton, and board members from the funder of the study visit, the International Fund for Ireland.

Looking smart for the Irish Embassy reception

Wednesday was our final ‘work’ day and we had an early start with our bus pick-up at 7.30am for the Northern Ireland Bureau St Patrick’s Day breakfast.  Both First and Deputy First Ministers, Peter Robinson & Martin McGuiness were there to speak and promote the good stuff that is coming out of Northern Ireland in 2013 including the World Police & Fire Games and Derry/Londonderry City of Culture.  Again the great and the good were all there, and it was nice to be able to re-connect with some new friends including Selvon from Lifepieces to Masterpieces.

Following the breakfast we took a tour at the Capitol which is a truly impressive building with stunning artwork and statues throughout.

After a quick stop at the hotel to change (us ladies were hugely relieved to get out of our heels) and grab lunch, we had our final visit to the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative in Anacostia, east of the river.  Again this was an organisation that has a wide range of programmes which when they started out 17 years ago set out to provide community-based child welfare services, but now they have a much broader focus as they recognise that in order to see improvement in child welfare they have to deal with systemic issues such as poverty and education etc.  One of the things that stood out about this organisation was the fact that they have a Quality Assurance team comprising 10% of their staff to ensure that they are achieving the outcomes they set out to achieve and that they have the right infrastructure and support in place for case-workers to be effective.  They also run a fatherhood programme with a weekly parent support group; they have a mini-grants programme so that smaller organisations in the area can access funding for projects; they run a 'Safe Summer Programme' where they hire 48 young people and employ them for 30 hours a week at $10 an hour to be community organisers working to bring positive change in their local community.  We were very impressed by FSFSC’s work and the obvious dedication of their staff team.

And now we’re about to leave DC and begin our journey home.  I have mixed emotions – it’s been an amazing trip, I'm very grateful for this opportunity to see and learn so much, there’s been great synergy amongst the group and of course the craic has been 90.  But I think we are all at the point where we’re ready for home, it’s been a full-on yet hugely enjoyable experience.  We’re planning to meet up as a group in a few weeks once we’ve had some time to process all that we’ve seen and heard, then we can begin to look at how we apply some of our learning.  There are many things about Northern Ireland that I’m thankful for as we don’t face some of the systemic issues such as poverty to the same extent as the US.  However I think it’s fair to say that having done this trip we are all the more committed to the work that we do, the communities and young people that we work with, and we want to do it better ensuring that there are positive and lasting outcomes for young people across Northern Ireland.

Day 5 - Friday 15th March

Friday started off with a visit to the offices of the Northern Ireland Bureau where we met the First Secretary, Stewart Matthews.  It was interesting to hear about the work of the Bureau in promoting opportunities for trade and investment, and it was fascinating to get an appreciation of the level of access our politicians have at the highest levels of government here.

Tyrone with his Obama puppet

Next we headed across the river and met Tyrone & Rico, co-founders of the Alliance of Concerned Men.  They were larger than life characters and greeted us with warmth and enthusiasm before going on to explain the work they’re doing to invest in at-risk young people.  Back in the ‘90s when the organisation started out there were 500 homicides a year in DC, the figure is down to 88 a year now.  But their latest campaign is to get the figure down to zero – inspiring stuff.  Tyrone explained their approach as the Martin Luther King way of doing things saying that, “we love the hell out of them”.  We got the chance to meet a volunteer and a young person whose life was transformed by the investment of ACM staff & volunteers in his life – all of whom have themselves been incarcerated – and they helped him to make positive choices that steered him away from gangs and violence.

They also showed us a powerful piece of documentary film, Inside Outside, by Gabriela Bulisova:

"The United States, with more than 5.1 million people confined in prisons or jails or under some form of correctional control, has the highest incarceration rate in the world.  The United States also imprisons more of its racial minorities than any other country in the world.  In Washington, DC, the numbers are even higher – three out of every four young black men are expected to serve some time in prison.  This project offers the first-person accounts and insights of formerly incarcerated men on the process of re-entry.  It casts light on their plight in the hope that we will do more to help these men succeed in becoming productive members of society and caring family members."

A couple of miles away our third stop of the day was a Maya Angelou Charter School run by the See Forever Foundation where young adults up to the age of 22 have the opportunity to gain high school qualifications as well as complete workforce training and certification.  We were impressed by the strength of the staff’s commitment to each young person that comes through the door and how they take a holistic approach to supporting the young adults to reach their potential.

Finally we came to Lifepieces to Masterpieces, an arts-based after-school programme aimed at underserved, African American males and we were blown away with the success that they are achieving through their interventions with boys and young men – only 33% of young people in the locality graduate from high school but 100% of LPTM graduates go on to college or post secondary education.  One of the distinctive features of this organisation is the depth of their work and the fact that they provide a system of development for boys and young men from ages 3-25 – in 17 years they have only worked with approximately 1500 young people, just 2% of the target population.  However they can track the progress these young boys and young men have made through their programmes and the quality of engagement and investment in each young person is very high over a long period of time.  Again it was truly inspirational to meet some of the young people as well as volunteers who are themselves alumni.  A key quote that helped me understand the Lifepieces to Masterpieces process was that in describing a young man on the programme, the Executive Director, Mary Brown, said, “what he didn’t have, he found he could create with a pencil and pen.”  Mary herself was an inspiration and a ball of energy, compassion and drive, it’s clear that this is an organisation that believes in the inherent capacity of young people rather than subscribing to a deficit model:

"We all enter life as a blank canvas, With love, creativity, and discipline, each of us can become a masterpiece."

One of the after-schools groups during a session

Many of the finished canvas portraits are bought by various organisations/businesses for display in their offices, which brings in extra income that goes straight back into the work with the young people

One young man's portrait - a masterpiece in the making

This weekend we’ve had free time, so we’ve all done a variety of things – shopping, visiting some of the many monuments & memorials, checking out some of the museums & galleries, & generally chilling out.  Yesterday I went down to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial which is very moving.  I had lunch with friends whom I met through Couchsurfing.com over 6 years ago.  Then in the afternoon I checked out a photographic exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and sampled some organic gelato before wandering back towards the Lincoln Memorial checking out the Washington Monument, WWII memorial and Reflecting Pool along the way.  This morning I spent a glorious hour and a bit in Kramer’s – a famous local bookshop – every book-lover’s idea of heaven – then I went to the Korean War Memorial and the new Martin Luther King memorial before doing a quick stop at the White House (where the fountain was green in honour of St Paddy’s Day).  There is so much to see in this city, I’m just going to have to come back some day!  The AMBIT experience has been amazing so far – lots to take in and process, and this blog simply can’t do it justice but we’ve still got a full programme over the next 3 days so there’s more to come!

Day 3 - Wednesday 13th March

'Trash to Treasure' - a set of drawers made by a student

Well it’s actually Day 4 but I didn’t get the chance to update the blog yesterday so you’re going to get two for the price of one!  Yesterday morning we drove north out of Philly to Bucks County to a project called De La Salle Vocational which works with young adults (all are male) mostly in the 17-19 age bracket who are on probation.   At the school they have the opportunity to get their High School Diploma and in addition they can get training in building maintenance & repair, carpentry, car mechanics and culinary arts.  Every day lunch is prepared by the students – if they don’t get the dinner made then everybody goes hungry!  One specific programme that impressed us is ‘Learn to Earn’ which includes job training skills, hands-on experience and a paid internship.  One of the school’s features is that it operates a rolling admission and is also full-time i.e. there is no summer break.  A recurring phrase from Director Jim Logan was, “we don’t give up on anybody.”  We were given a tour of the school and we got to meet some of the students who expressed pride in things that they had made.  Another telling sign that the school is doing something right is the low staff turnover – some of the teachers have worked there for 25+ years – what a legacy!

One of the workshops at De La Salle

Next we headed back to North East Philly to Logan E3 Centre which is run by Denise Savage who is clearly a very committed, caring and passionate individual.  The centre works with young people (both male & female) who are out of school for whatever reason or are returning from a juvenile placement. The students are supported to complete their High School Diploma or GED and also get job readiness training.  There is a very strong holistic approach at E3 – the staff provide follow-up with each young person over a 12-month period once they leave, there are opportunities to get involved in basketball and they have a very successful team which has brought a sense of community to the school, every year they have a prom – just like other schools, and they also run a food larder for those students who are struggling to make ends meet for basic food items.  The best bit of the day was to meet two of their students, and particularly Sabrina whose story blew us away.  She had been through a rough time – she became a mum at 16, she is dependent upon kidney dialysis 3 times a week, and shortly after her son was born, her own mum died.  Things were really tough for her, but five years on she has come to E3 and is on track with her studies and things are looking up.  She was an absolute delight to meet and a real inspiration – we found her story very moving.  From these encounters it was evident to us that the student-staff relationship is very strong, the students know that the staff are committed to them, care about them and will go the second mile for them.

Sabrina telling her story

The wall of Congratulations - students who have been successful in attaining their GED, this wall is near the entrance to the school and greets students as they come through each morning

Our bus driver, Larry, was very generous and on the way home drove us through a few different parts of the city that we hadn’t yet seen and we also made the all-essential stop at the ‘Rocky steps’ where Darren & BJ had a race to the top whilst the rest of us dandered up somewhat more sedately.

The view from the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art towards Center City along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Day 4

Today has been a little different as we spent a bit of extra time to debrief what we’ve seen so far on the trip and think about lessons we can take back home.  This afternoon we took the train to Washington DC (just a 2-hour journey) and we have been getting settled in to ready ourselves for another full day tomorrow.

Day 2 - Tuesday 12th March

Today we were hosted by Philadelphia Police Department (the 4^th largest PD in the USA) with Officer David Jones of the Community Relations department (not community relations in the NI sense!) co-ordinating our engagements.  The day kicked off with the chance to meet Commissioner Chuck Ramsay and find out about some of the ongoing work to reduce violence in the city.  It’s a stark statistic that in 2012 there were 331 murders in Philly (population 1.5m), with guns involved in 85% of those cases.  We were impressed by Commissioner Ramsay’s commitment to evidence-based policing with policing priorities backed up by solid evaluation.  He also expressed a strong belief in relationship-building between police officers and the communities in which they serve – new recruits spend a year on foot patrol so that they learn to meet people and develop relationships.

Chris with Commissioner Chuck Ramsay

Next we were off to the Philadelphia Mural Arts Programme which runs approximately 46 mural arts projects a year and engages with local communities to create pieces of public art within those communities as well as running a variety of initiatives with at-risk young people and adult offenders.  On our travels across the city already we had spotted many of these murals and they are very striking adding a lot of colour and beauty.

One of the artists at the Mural Arts Programme explaining the process of creating the city's murals

At the Family Court House we gained an insight into the juvenile justice system and met with the Administrative Judge & his team.  The speed with which young people are processed through the system is something that the justice system back at home could learn a lot from, and whilst much of the system in Pennsylvania is very different from Northern Ireland’s approach to juvenile justice it was clear that the Judge is committed to improving outcomes for young people involved in the system.

After lunch we arrived at the Police Academy to meet the head of the Philadelphia Police Explorer Cadet Scheme which is a well established programme that provides training to young people with an interest in a career in law enforcement.  We had the opportunity to speak to some young people currently on the programme and it was fascinating to hear their stories – one young man related how the scheme had offered him the opportunity to make positive choices and turn his back on negative influences in his community.  It’s a very intensive programme – the young people attend every Saturday 9-5pm, but it’s clear that the young people get a lot out of it and gain the opportunity to develop strong leadership skills.

Our group at the Police Academy with the Explore Cadet Scheme Corporal Coyle (far left) & Officer David Jones (6th from left)

Day 1 - Monday 11th March

 

The view from my hotel room yesterday afternoon

We arrived safely to beautiful blue skies in Philadelphia yesterday (yes folks, when there’s no rain/ snow/ cloud, apparently the sky is blue – novel concept eh) and got ourselves settled in eating at a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner.  Today I have thoroughly enjoyed our first proper day of the AMBIT programme with our visits to the Welcoming Center, YES Philly, and Congreso where we also heard about MIMIC.

The Welcoming Centre, based in Philly’s city-centre, does an impressive amount of work with people who are new to the city and surrounding counties, supporting immigrants in their search for employment and equipping them with the right skills (language, soft skills, cultural awareness etc) to succeed in the American workplace as well as providing support with legal services.  In 2012 they helped more than 200 people from over 140 countries gain employment.  We admired the way in which they have become the ‘go-to’ place for new Americans in starting their new life in the States.

At YESPhilly we all got the chance to go into some classes and chat to some of the students about the programme they do there.  Young people who have dropped out of school and don’t have a high school diploma can enrol at YESPhilly to get their ‘GED’ qualification – essential to gain access to employment opportunities.  40% of young people in the Philiadelphia school district don’t graduate from high school and many end up getting involved in gang violence and consequently the criminal justice system.  At YESPhilly, which is located in a fairly tough neighbourhood north of the city-centre, the students do academic work in the morning then media arts sessions in the afternoons where the focus is on telling their stories and finding their voice creatively.  I loved the various pieces of artwork created by students which were on display on the walls.  Our conversations with the young people gave us a sense of what the programme means for them, how it helps them pursue their hopes and aspirations and how they value this alternative approach to education.

North-east of the city centre is the base for Congreso, a multi-service organisation that works with the Latino community on education, social, health and economic projects.  On the drive to their offices it was clear that the area suffers deprivation at a severe level – in the windows of some corner shops there were signs stating, ‘Food stamps accepted here,’ and we learned that this is the 10^th poorest congressional district in the USA.  Congreso is sizeable in terms of outreach – in 2012 they worked with 14,000 clients, and they are doing some significant work with young people in terms of education and also ‘work-readiness’.

The view towards Philly's city-centre from the 5th floor of Congreso's building

Our final presentation of the day was from Edwin Desamour, who has a remarkable story to tell about his own transformation and about how MIMIC – Men in Motion in the Community – came into being.  MIMIC works with young people who are marginalised through mentoring-based support in order to reduce involvement in violence and the criminal justice system.  Many of the MIMIC mentors are themselves ex-offenders who seek to model alternative choices to gang-based lifestyles.

Lots to get the neurons firing up today and it’s only Monday!

Ready...set...

It’s not exactly every day you get this kind of an invitation but it’s just one of a series of opportunities that are coming my way courtesy of AMBIT (American Management & Business Internship Training Programme).  Whilst tomorrow’s 5.30am bus to Dublin airport will be painful, I’m very much looking forward to the project visits and meetings scheduled over the next 11 days.  Life has been hectic up to this point but I’m finally just about packed and ready to go! (On a side note I'm fascinated that I've become a 'Mrs', maybe the Kenny's know something I don't.)