Youth Violence, Safety and Well-Being

Good morning.  My name is Dr. Adriennie Hatten. My background is in non profit management, social services and education.  I earned my doctorate from CSU in Urban Education in 2011.  My concentrations were Leadership and Lifelong Learning and Education Policy.  I have worked in Cuyahoga County for over 20 years.  It is a joy to participate in this Forum, to hear and understand what others are thinking as we move towards solutions to some of our socieities most pressing ills- violence and victimization.

Speaking of victmization many of our youth are victims of child abuse or neglect, from relatives, strangers or providers.  Unfortunately many have never received the proper interventions to help them heal and some are still being perpetrated against while they are menacing to others- and still the help does not come.  The public outcry comes.  The expectations for them and the criticisms when they do not measure up come- but where is the shoulder to cry on and the words to lift up ones's spirit.  Oh, I forgot to mention- I started my career at DCFS where I spent 7 eyeopening years  having my heart strings pulled by the suffering teens, who had endured the abuse and neglect the longest.

As we address the issues and define terms it is important to begin with a presumption that all children are a blessing and it is our society's obligation to provide for the next generation- not some of them, but all of them.  We have to identify all of the perpetrators, gaps in our services and systems, myths and downright biases that exist, which impede our ability to protect all of our youth from adults, their peers, and most importantly, themselves.

I share some words from Paul Hill Jr. that I just picked up from a post on FB-

Our challenge as underdeveloped human beings is how do we become fully human capable of loving self and others and receiving love" - Paul Hill Jr.

Posted Jul 31, 2012

Hi, I'm Gabriella Celeste the Director of Child Policy at the Schubert Center for Child Studies at CWRU. I think part of the challenge of "youth violence" is that our public child serving "systems", especially the criminal justice system, are challenged to find ways to truly support and guide young people in trouble. For instance, a recent shooting accident in Clintonville, Ohio between two good friends at a sleepover left one of the friends dead and the other charged with reckless homicide, despite the victim's mother's desire not to criminalize the incident. Part of the problem is we look to our systems for individual "accountabilty" but who is holding the system accountbale as a means for goood social practice?

Posted Jul 31, 2012

I'm Nancy Reeves, and I hang around the Civic Commons in my spare time.  As relevant to this conversation, I taught high school (math, physics, and computer science) at Shaw High School for 11 years, and subbed in Southern Summit County schools for most of a year after that.  I have a 22 year old daughter, and was active as a parent in the Manchester schools throughout her time there.  If some of my personal experiences with violence, safety, and well being as a youth become relevant to the conversation I'll share them later.

I am struck by how ambitious this conversation is, and am struggling to find a useful way to dig in, since this conversation could easily be a dozen or more conversations.
When I was teaching (23 years ago), the big violence was so prevalent it drowned out the more insidious - but equally damaging - smaller violence. Fights were a near daily occurrence, as was the sound of one or more of the principals wielding a paddle on those who were engaged in the fights.  Several times a year students would disappear from my classes, and then reappear, going to or from juvenile detention.  The recipients of violence, some big - some small - would often recycle it against someone they perceived as a weaker target - a teacher who survived the concentration camps was tormented with swastikas scrawled across papers turned in to her, students perceived to be weaker were bullied and female students were occasionally sexually assaulted, and the barrage of confrontational verbal encounters was endless.

A particular interest of mine more recently is violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and children in LGBT families.  There is certainly a lot of big violence directed at members of this community.  It sucks up more emotional space than it otherwise might because the violence tends to be extreme in its intensity, but there is also a lot of insidious violence which passes with as little notice as the less tangible daily violence of living in poverty did in Shaw High School.  Even more than the threat of physical violence, the daily violence of being rendered invisible and explicitly, or subtly, told that you (or your family) are bad contributes to a suicide and attempted suicide rate among LGBT youth of 30-40%.

If you have not experienced being an invisible other, it is an enlightening experiment to take a few days and listen with LGBT ears - silently pay careful attention to every message you hear and its tone - from the forms you have to modify in order to reflect who you are (gender, marital status, or who your parents are), to the commonly used put downs which only "work" if being LGBT is inherently bad (accusing politicians we dislike of being lesbian, gay, or transgender; describing unpopular things as "so gay"), more express name calling, twitter memes which describe what parents would do to their unborn child if s/he turns out to be gay, to the much more express sentiments like those of Fred Phelps.  You may only notice those toward the end of my list when you start, but with careful attention you can sensitize yourself to other, much more subtle and frequent, messages.

Imagine living with these messages every day during the years you are developing your sense of well being and of who you are, with many of the messages coming from family members or role models in your life (teachers, coaches, religious leaders) Once you sensitize yourself to the constant negative background noise of our lives (I am a lesbian mom), you might try speaking up as small step toward making the world a less insidiously violent place for LGBT youth (or youth in LGBT families).

But that is just one tiny corner of this question.  LGBT youth are not the only invisible others who bear the emotional scars of being assumed not to be present when our discussions condemn (expressly or implicitly) a whole host of other factors which may be present in their own or their families lives (mental illness, being on welfare, being in jail, alcohol dependence - just to name a few).

And further - as I started out - these more insidious manifestations of violence are often completely overshadowed by the much more urgent real physical violence experienced by far too many youth.

I wonder if there might be a useful way to organize this conversation.  Dealing with the two kinds of violence I have mentioned are very different challenges (and I have only named two of many more).  I'm not sure how useful a general mish-mash of conversation is to either identify or move toward solutions of a problem of this magnitude, which is really many different - potentially related - problems.

Posted Aug 01, 2012

I have not experienced any violence in the park but I believe the media overemphasizes some things to keep people fearful of each other.  People who receive services from some well intended providers often complain that programming is built around stereotypes and not aligned with the strengths of their culture or community and thus they end up feeling victimized by the services and do not return.  In serving youth and families it is important to use culturally relevant approaches and build authentic relationships with people which in turn should determine what is provided.  Participants in the Education Strategy Team in the Central Neighborhood have been building their capacity to offer culturally programming to middle grade youth in the community for 2 years and they are really building the capacity of their entire organizations- and-building trust with the youth.  I wonder what strategies other youth serving organizations use to effectively address the needs of youth particularly those who my be  victims of violence?

Posted Jul 31, 2012

Jeff, Are there any programs or services for these students? Guidance counselors, perhaps even peer mediation? How can we teach them another option to settle our differences besides violence?

Posted Aug 01, 2012

Thank you for your comments Wayne. I think you hit the nail on head. It also goes back to what Annemarie was saying about socialization. Why is the default reaction a violent one? How have we failed our children by not teaching them what socially and morally acceptable reactions are? Conversely, where are they learning these behaviors?

Posted Aug 01, 2012

When Michael says collaboration by all of us will neccessary- just who is the us?  Often times plans and strategies are made in isolation.  Just recently we have had folks from multiple sectors in the room, including youth to begin to talk about the issues of violence and public health through the City Council's Forum, an effort which I applaud.  People do not live in a vacuum and most things do not happen in isolation.  I think we need to find ways to be more flexible with funding, open to new and different ideas, and truly listen to voices that have not always been welcome at the table in order to truly collaborate AND find solutions to this societal ill that is manifested in violence towards and by our youth.  Any thoughts?

Posted Aug 01, 2012

Hi Im Angel and I agree with Micheal that if we ALL work in collabortion to prevent violence it would be a better attempt at reducing violence. In my school We have a Peace Maker group of students and teachers that you could talk to if you feel like starting violence or preventing it. Also parents talk to ther children about the consequences they can face and get them into programs to keep their minds and bodys going. The saying "It takes a vilage to raise a child" was not a lie, everyone (organazations, teachers, parents, and other young individuals) nedd to come together as one to get the job of reducing violence in order.

Posted Aug 02, 2012

Hello my name is Yailee Roman 20yr old; I'm a 4 ½yr Mycom ulumni. I currently work at the Partnership for a Safer Cleveland as a Youth Facilitator and I must say it has been a life changing experience. I’ve always been surrounded by violence in my community and for so long I have told myself to JUST DEAL WITH IT. But now that I’m older and have had the opportunity to grow as human being and also see my loved one pass away due to gun violence, it kind of helped me figure out my purpose in life. Now check this out……Here I am Going to work every day helping young people gain knowledge about their community as well as help them understand the importance in becoming and young leader but then I go home and try to relax after a long day and I find myself going outside to a battle grounds where kids as young as 13 are running around with bats, gun, and metal object anxiously waiting for war, harassing anyone that comes there way. Now what exactly am I supposed to do when my sibling are caught in between?? No one really knows how many thoughts are running thru my mind at this exact second…YES I care about my community and YES I’m another individual yelling STOP THE VIOLENCE everyday but hey I also love my family and will not allow anyone to harm them. At this point I too am being put in another difficult situation……

Posted Aug 01, 2012

I think we need to look at this from a strength based approach, as well.  Let's just not focus on kids who exhibit behavioral problems in elementary school because there are 'good' kids who are victims who do not act out in ways that interrupt teachers in the classroom. I think we need to focus on creating an environment where all children can feel comfortable to raise concerns with adults they come into contact with.  I also think mental health counseling is only a partial solution some youth also just need outlets like recreation to release stress and all youth need to be taught coping skills. Some youth hate programs so interventions need to be couched in everyday activities where youth do not feel singled out.  There our times when programs and pull outs are necessary but not always.  We should be sure to deliver our services and supports in a way that the youth find valuable and non-intrusive.

Posted Aug 01, 2012

Hello!  I am posting in response to Jason's question concerning the programs that exist for our schools.

About me...I am currently finishing my Ph.D. at Kent State University with a focus on teaching students with emotional and behavioral disorders.  My teaching experiences have primarily focused on working with these students as they exhibit aggressive, inappropriate, off-task, and disruptive behaviors, as well as antisocial and symptoms of depression in the classroom.

From what I have seen...elementary schools are struggling to determine the best approach to implement that would serve as an early deterrent to severe problematic behaviors.  There are many strategies that are used with students individually, but in terms of school-wide approaches, I have seen many schools turning to Positive Behavior Support (PBS).  PBS focuses primarily on prevention of inappropriate behavior and a school-wide culture of positive behavior (as it is implemented with all students).  This is one of the few school-wide programs that parents have told me that they like.  More info at:  www.pbis.org.

Does anyone know of schools that are succeeding with PBS or are using other school-wide behavior programs?

Posted Aug 02, 2012

Hello everyone ! My name is Quincy Smith I'm at senior at John Hay High School. I'm responding to the question that Jason asked . I feel that the problem is that there isn't any problems that are for the students to help them . Espeically within urban schools they don't have the resources to provdie a safe place for the students to go and get help. So the first step would be to gain resources for  students.

Posted Aug 02, 2012

Hello, my name is Brian Siggers and I am a graduate of Shaker Heights High School, and currently a sophomore at Ohio University.

I agree that the best way to combat this issue is intervention at the younger levels so the problem doesn't escalate as they grow older. I believe that the best way to go about it, is to provide counseling and mentor programs. The students need someone to talk to, someone they can explain their problems to, and learn to alternatives to solving problems. If the students feel comfortable with that counselor, then they may look up to them as a role model, mentor, and would model after their behavior. With this, they would be cognizant of non-violent methods to approach their problems.

Posted Aug 02, 2012

Hi , what type of programs would you like to implemnt to help the youth become young respectable adults?

Posted Aug 02, 2012

hello my name is jwhite i am a senior at shaw high school and in the city i live in there is alot of teen violence because the adults are always expecting teens to be troubled kids so they tend not to help them??

Posted Aug 02, 2012

Patrick as a youth advocate in the Umoja program, do you guess have any strategy for spreading the word within the schools? What has been the success rate?

Posted Aug 02, 2012