Trinity Boston Foundation Blog

ISN'T IT TIME?

Dear Friends,

 

James Coakley was 17 when he died of gunshot wounds on Monday night. He was a victim of a culture of violence that has left 24 people dead this year and thousands more wounded, traumatized, grieving and scared.   

                  

The press is quick to label James. But no label can come close to describing the 17 year-old who participated in Trinity's Street Potential program this year.  We'd like to tell you about him. 

         

The James we knew was thoughtful, quiet and composed. He could relate to people honestly and communicate clearly. One of the goals of our program is to form a family-like community of support for young men committed to the Department of Youth Services. James was a leader in our family - just as he was a leader in his own family and in his neighborhood.

 

 

 

N, a fellow Street Potential participant, wrote, "James was the type of guy who would always encourage his peers for the better. He always thought about the future instead of right here and now. He brought this positive energy to wherever he was at and wherever he was going."

 

The culture of violence can be like quicksand, so much easier to slip in than to step out.

 

James had every reason to hope. His Street Potential internship was at Grove Hall Community Center and he loved working with the kids there. On Tuesday, the day after he died, he was supposed to start a summer job. James' leadership and communication skills could have carried him far.   

  

We can't help James now, but there is much that we can do. The quicksand needs to go.

 

How? Here are three ways:

1. Treat the trauma. At the Trinity Boston Foundation we have prioritized clinical support to the most vulnerable young men in the city who are at highest risk of harm. We also work with those who are grieving, the family members and friends, to help the community heal. Boston is filled with excellent mental health professionals and we need all of them to find a way to get involved. 
2. Build up our schools. Children who are succeeding in school are far less likely to get involved in a crime.  At Trinity, we are participating in partnership programs at the Dearborn Middle School and Orchard Gardens K-8 School.  Every business, faith community and social organization should consider picking a school and getting involved.   
3. Create jobs.  This summer, Trinity has hired 52 Boston high school and college students.  Mayor Menino has made this a priority.  Is it a priority in your business, faith community or social organization?

 

The government has a key role to play in strengthening schools, increasing access to mental health care and creating economic opportunity. But we won't get rid of the quicksand and develop a culture of peace unless all of us make it a priority to get involved -- by giving our time and money and by building relationships that strengthen the fabric of our city.

 

The last time we saw James, he was worried. Worried that his time was running out. Worried that because he had not fathered a child, he would die without leaving a legacy. 

 

Let's join together and create that legacy for James and for all who have died on Boston streets. Isn't it time?

 

Yours,

Louise Burnham Packard

Executive Director

 

Please Help A Boston Student This Summer

Dear Friends, Trinity Boston Foundation is launching our 2011 Annual Fund this month because the summer months are when many middle school and high school students need us most.  Today is the first day of TEEP, Trinity Education for Excellence Program, summer program.  Today the TEEP staff and 52 counselors (43 high school students and 9 college students) welcome the new rising 7th graders and welcome back the 8th and 9th graders. The TEEP staff are all graduates of TEEP's middle school program. For five weeks, middle school students will enjoy TEEP's combination of summer school and summer camp (classes in the morning and field trips in the afternoon). Classes are held in three locations - Trinity Church, Roxbury Presbyterian Church and First Lutheran Church.   Throughout the year, our mission is to change the odds for Boston's youth and we can't do it without your support.    TEEP's six-year curriculum is a Road Map to Excellence. 100% of our six-year graduates go on to college and graduate within five years.  TEEP was recently selected as one of the top seven college access programs in Massachusetts because, while most access programs focus on the how --academics and the admissions/financial aid process -- TEEP focuses first on the why -- character and leadership development - and then fills in the how. "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire."  Please help us light the fire that gets our students to college and give to our 2011 Annual Fund by clicking here. Our goal is to raise $500,000 by September 30th.  Gifts will support TEEP as well as our other initiatives working to support youth, families and the community. Thank you in advance for standing with Boston's youth and for your support.  We are most grateful. Sincerely, Mimi Bennett                        Louise Burnham Packard   Board Chair                            Executive Director

MORE SUMMER NEWS... Our Work for Peace Continues! The tragic violence over the July 4th weekend reminds us how critical our Bostonians for Youth work is both for curbing youth violence and for uniting the city to address this critical issue. We hold all of those who have been touched by the violence in our thoughts and prayers.    TEEP presents at NPEA. In April, Dr. Amanda Sommerfeld traveled to Atlanta with TEEP's Founding Director Paul Bowen and Assistant Director Juan David Lozano to present at the National Partnership for Educational Access. Dr. Sommerfeld, who teaches at Boston University, became interested in TEEP after Root Cause selected it as one of the top college access programs in Massachusetts. Dr. Sommerfeld's conclusion is that TEEP's focus on character development is key to college access and success.  Visit TEEP this Summer! TEEP begins its five-week summer session today, July 5th. There are two opportunities to visit the program. We'll begin with morning assembly, then visit classes and end with a conversation with TEEP's high school counselors.  We hope you will join us on Tuesday, July 12th or Thursday July 21st at 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. in the Parish House. Questions? Call Paul Bowen at 617-536-0944 x358 orpbowen@trinityinspires.org  Ride with Trinity in the Rodman Ride for Kids! On Saturday, September 24th, Team Trinity riders, including students from TEEP, will ride 25, 50 or 100 miles in the Rodman Ride for Kids. The Rodman Ride is an umbrella matching gift charity. Team Trinity riders commit to raising at least $1000 for TEEP, which the Rodman Ride then tops off with a ten percent match. We are still looking for riders to join us in this important fundraiser. There are optional weekend training rides all summer long. Set a goal and join the fun. For more information contact us atinfo@trinityinspires.org.  Sole Train is Off and Running. Nearly fifty youth and adult mentors are training for the B.A.A. Half Marathon in October. Today marks the beginning of Tuesday training runs in addition to Thursdays. Youth are drawn from TEEP, Street Potential and relationships built through the Trinity Boston Counseling Center.   Upper Crust Pizzeria and BOLOCO are generously donating post-run meals. Check out our blog at (soletrainboston.wordpress.com).

It's Not OK Rally - June 28th

Dear Friends,

If you have not heard, a 4-year-old was shot in the back last night while playing in a Dorchester playground.

Tonight let's come together as a community, joining Mothers for Justice and Equality's "It's Not OK" rally at 6 pm in Franklin Field, Dorchester. Their flyer is attached.

IT'S NOT OKAY RALLY 

Silence is considered acceptance, so let's not be silent. The violence must stop and we must protect our children. Let's fill Franklin Field with the hope and love that our community deserves and needs!

Thank you for your steadfast commitment to change the odds for Boston's youth.  

Yours,

 

Louise Burnham Packard
Executive Director

TEEP Recognized as a Top Massachusetts College Access Program

This past September 11, I spent the morning with members of Team Trinity training for the Rodman Ride. It was lovely, with perfect weather and wonderful companions who fixed my bicycle seat and gave me extra water. And even as I was delighting in the ride, I was also thinking about the equally beautiful day nine years ago when the planes crashed and the towers fell. To all of you who lost friends, family and/or colleagues on that day, my heart is with you.

Seems like this is how it always goes in our life together -- the highs and the lows demanding that we hold them at the same time. Last week was no exception.

A Cambridge-based organization, Root Cause, studied 50 college access programs in Massachusetts and announced its selection of TEEP and six other organizations as recommended for philanthropic investment. You can read the entire study on TEEP here. Hearty congratulations to Paul Bowen, to the TEEP students, staff and faculty, and to all of you who have provided the funds and the volunteer hours to help TEEP grow.

As we celebrate this milestone for TEEP, we are also grieving. Lakeem Toombs, who participated in Street Potential a couple years ago, and Virgilio Dipre, a young man Nate knew through his work at DYS, both died of gunshot wounds in the last week. Earlier this summer, a Street Potential alum many of us know well was shot in the jaw.  Our sorrow brings with it lots of questions – including how to make more of a difference with the Foundation’s resources and in partnership with others.  Over the summer, the Foundation staff and Board has been reading a book by Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart, which chronicles the author’s work in the midst of a violence-filled neighborhood in Los Angeles. I don’t know where those conversations will go, but I am sure that the themes of violence, trauma and resilience will be central to our work this year.

Through all the highs and lows, I am grateful to be part of this Trinity Boston Foundation community. And I hope to see many of you on September 30th at our Fall Dinner. Thank you to all who have offered to host the tapas parties or bring dessert to Trinity following (still looking for a few more volunteers!). 

Seeing Potential in all our Youth

I hope you had a chance to read the lead editorial in this past Friday’s Globe, “Ex-gang member’s sentence should promote rehabilitation.”  The gist is that when a past crime catches up with a youth who has turned his life around, judges should be lenient in sentencing. It also talks about the “gross unfairness” of the police department’s circulation of photographs of gang-affiliated young men.  Foundation staff concur with “gross unfairness,” but would also add “counter-productive.” And “desperate.” It’s easy to understand how frustrated the police are by the violence in our streets. Aren’t we all? And that frustration, that feeling desperate, leads the police to want to “shame” the young men into behaving.

A wise friend once told me that the most important thing parents can do is make sure their eyes light up when their children walk into the room. Everything else is secondary.  Paul Bowen and I talked about that a couple of weeks ago as he was preparing for TEEP staff training. He wants the eyes of his high school and college counselors to light up when they see their students. So in staff training he asked them, “what do you believe about these youth – about their worth, value, potential?”

How about us? Can we look at those pictures of gang-affiliated boys and see vessels of the holy? Do our eyes light up? Do we see their essential worth, value and potential? I know that God’s eyes light up. And that ours can, too.


One final note. With a heavy heart this past Friday morning, I told The Rev. Hurmon Hamilton that the Counseling Center did not have the capacity this summer to run grief groups for members of his congregation who have been directly affected by street violence. He specifically wanted Counseling Center staff to lead the groups because they are able to do that work within a theological context, which he sees as essential for these families to process their grief. I mention this in the context of our ongoing Annual Appeal -- your gifts build the capacity of the Trinity Boston Foundation to meet needs such as these.

The Road Map to College: First-Generation Students Go to College

Today’s installment of our "Road Map to College" series was written by Christopher Parris, TEEP’s Academic Dean.

We just celebrated the graduation of our six seniors from TEEP’s Leadership Development Program (LDP). Jess, Darlene, Paola, Billy, Ymani and Lucy have all worked diligently to achieve excellence, and we’re extremely proud that all of our seniors will attend a four-year college in the fall.

However, what is even more remarkable about this achievement is that four of the six graduates will be part of the first generation in their families to attend college. This statistic is spectacular, since current studies suggest that first-generation students have a distinct disadvantage in gaining access to post secondary education.

A U.S. Department of Education study entitled “Mapping the Road to College: First-Generation Students’ Math Track, Planning Strategies, and Context of Support” reveals that, “regardless of academic achievement and income levels, first-generation students – who represent at least one-quarter of high school graduates – are less likely than their counterparts whose parents have more education to participate in mathematics curricula and planning activities that lead to college enrollment.” In spite of this finding, 100% of TEEP’s first-generation students are headed to four-year colleges this fall. What factors influenced this success?

I sought out the students from our graduating class for answers, and was able to identity three elements that contribute to student success at TEEP:

• Parental involvement and support
• Individual desire and self motivation
• The successful completion of TEEP’s college preparation curriculum, the Road Map to College.

Parental Involvement and Support
The families of our first-generation students migrated to this country to seek a better life for themselves and their children. This investment in their children’s future often came at the expense of personal sacrifice. In some cases, parents were unable to pursue higher education because of the need to provide for their families. This fact was not lost on Darlene who says, “My mother worked all her life without a high school or college degree, and she would not want the same hard lifestyle for me. She knows that with a college degree I would go further in life.” These kids feel a sense of responsibility to earn a college degree and see it as a reward for their parents’ self-sacrifice, exemplifying two of our 5 R’s: Responsibility and Reciprocity.  

Individual desire and self-motivation
This highlights the fact that not only is it important to these parents that their son or daughter attends college, but it also matters to the student. For Paola and Lucy, the bar has been set high by their older sisters, two of whom are graduates of the LDP. They believe that it is not only imperative for them to meet the standard set by their siblings, but essential that they exceed that standard. “It is important that my sisters and I continue this legacy. It will improve our lives and the lives of the people who surround us,” Paola says. By graduating college, they’ll be able to bring feelings of pride, as well as a greater earning potential, to the families who have supported them.

The Road Map to College
TEEP’s Road Map to College is a four-year curriculum that sets out a step-by-step approach for students and their families to follow, to ensure that each member of the LDP gains entry to college. The Road Map to College identifies the individual components that comprise a successful college application, and provides helpful information about how to choose a college.

This targeted academic guidance is combined with mentorship: A key goal of TEEP is establishing a safe, tightly knit community which enables us as leaders to form long lasting relationships with students. We seek to understand the needs of our kids and provide them with sound support and mentorship. According to Lucy, “If I needed help, TEEP was the perfect place to go. The thing about TEEP is that it was literally one phone call away. I trusted the people who were helping me which made the college process less of a hassle.” 

Parental involvement, the individual motivation of our students, and TEEP’s structured support are keys to success, as is the help of our community partners, including Access Boston, various college admissions officers, and the Trinity Boston Foundation volunteers who tutor our students throughout the year. The U.S. Department of Education study concludes that “it is possible that providing first-generation students and their families with more information about choosing courses to better prepare these students for college, might help these students better navigate the path to higher education.” At TEEP this is not just a possibility, we make it a reality!

TEEP Class of 2010: (L to R) Paola, Lucy, Jess, Billy, Ymani, Darlene

 

EDIT: Please note that the study cited in this post was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal entity located within the U.S. Department of Education.

Still boys, soon to be fathers: Street Potential in the Globe

In today’s Globe is an Op Ed by Tom Matlack of the Good Men Project. A few months back, he interviewed three of our Street Potential participants for a piece called “Still boys, soon to be fathers.”  Tom presents quotes from our guys without editorial comment. For most Globe readers, the quotes will be jarring. They are also authentic – and give us a small window into the minds of boys who have grown up with absent fathers, in poor and dangerous neighborhoods where despair consistently triumphs over hope.

I believe in these three boys. I believe in their deep humanity. I believe in their potential. And I know how much they have changed in the past year. How wounded they have been and how much healing has happened through the community they created with us at Street Potential. I have baked oatmeal cookies with these boys and I have talked with them about domestic violence. One just graduated from high school. Another is determined to stay in summer school and earn his diploma by the end of August. The third just started YouthBuild, a program which will help him earn his GED and teach him a trade. None of that was more than a glimmer of a dream when they walked in the door in September.

A childhood of trauma doesn’t turn around with a quick fix. As I read the comments already being posted on the Globe website, the tension is between empathy and blame. It is tempting to think that these boys are the problem. That they are the cause of violence in the streets, poor results in our public schools, and endless infusions of tax-payer dollars.

But rather than pointing the finger at them, let’s instead point the finger at ourselves. How are we working to be part of the solution? Are we advocating for Roxbury and Mattapan and neighborhoods all over the Commonwealth and the country that need what Street Potential is providing – love, hope, safe community and primary attention to mental health care? Street Potential costs about $15,000 per student per year. Incarceration costs five times that amount.

The theory behind Street Potential is that without a significant intervention of – dare we say it – fathering (and mothering), all the educational and career programs in the world won’t make a difference. On the cover of our 2009 Annual Report we quoted Willa Cather: “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”  Whatever name we might put to that Great Love, it is finally the only thing that is going to change the odds for our youth, for our communities and for us. We can bear witness to that Love in programs like Street Potential. If you feel inclined, go ahead and comment on the Globe’s website – it is a great opportunity for all of us to stand behind our youth and stand up for Love.

Finally, allow me to introduce you to Leon, born after Tom wrote the piece, but in time to celebrate his first Father’s Day. Leon not only has a committed father and mother, but through all of us at the Foundation, has more aunts and uncles than any child I know.

 

EDIT: Tom's piece, which had been edited for publication in the Globe was published in full in the Huffington Post. 

 

 

 

 

Grief counseling outreach after a weekend of violence

Many of you have already heard the news -- from the Boston Globe or via the Trinity Public School Partners distribution list -- but this was a weekend of violence in Boston. On Saturday night, Cory, a 27-year-old member of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, died of gunshot wounds. Nicholas, an eighth grader at the Dearborn Middle School, was killed in Dorchester on Sunday. And there was a stabbing death Monday in Mattapan.

Tuesday morning, members of the Counseling Center staff served as grief counselors at the Dearborn School. I believe there were also three Boston Public School counselors present. Our presence helped to double the number of clinicians on site. TEEP Director, Paul Bowen, arrived mid-morning and checked in with the sixth graders who are set to join TEEP this summer as well as with the older students. It was good to be there alongside many Trinity and Roxbury Presbyterian members who monitored the halls, passed out tissues and talked to faculty.  

Betty Case, a Counseling Center Clinical Supervisor, (pictured here in animated conversation with some 8th grade girls) wrote “The silver lining is that we are sharing this with the principal mourners [and] that we feel it's "us" this is happening to.”  

Counseling Center staff members are returning this afternoon to talk with the Dearborn faculty and staff.

Let’s join together in peace and comfort for all who mourn.

TEEP College Grads Help Change the Odds

Over the weekend, two members of TEEP's first class of students graduated from college. Both were the first in their families to do so.

On Saturday, Laura Gonzalez graduated from Wheaton College. On Sunday, Juan David Lozano graduated from UMass Dartmouth. TEEP alumni and staff were on hand both days to help celebrate. And I know that all of us were there in spirit – donors, volunteers, staff, students, families and friends of TEEP and the Trinity Boston Foundation. 

What makes me most proud is that not only have the two of them graduated from college, but both have chosen careers that allow them to continue to change the odds for urban youth. Laura has taken a position as Youth Coordinator at Centro Presente, a statewide Latin American immigrant organization. And Juan David, after serving as site director for TEEP Copley Square this summer, will join the year-round staff of the Trinity Boston Foundation!

Congratulations graduates!!

Kicking Off TEEP’s Road Map to College

Today’s post comes from TEEP Director Paul Bowen. It is the first in a series that will follow TEEP students along their “Road Map to College”.

First, a little background on the “Road Map”: For the past four years, TEEP has offered college prep assistance to our high school juniors and seniors. However, it  became apparent that we needed to start this work earlier than junior year. In  fall of 2009, we began work on a comprehensive, four-year program: our “Road Map to College.” This summer, each of our high school students will receive a binder of materials that  lays out each step they need to take throughout their four years of high school in order to be ready to apply to a full range of excellent colleges. Many thanks to TEEP staff member Chris Parris and volunteer Shane Lessard, who have been instrumental in developing the “Road Map to College.”

The Kickoff

On Monday, April 26, we launched the first event in our Road Map to College for our high school freshmen and sophomores. In line with this four-year program, rather than waiting until the junior or senior year for college visits, we took our freshmen and sophomores on an early awareness trip to compare and contrast two very different schools.

Our first stop was Bridgewater State College, in Bridgewater, Mass., a large public college that is fairly inexpensive and not very selective in admissions. Our students were able to speak at length with a Bridgewater State student (unaffiliated with the school’s admissions office) and came away with a candid picture of what the school is like and what the academic options are.

We then visited Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., where we met up with senior Laura M. Gonzalez, one of our original TEEP graduates from 11 years ago! Laura is passionate about Wheaton and talked about the difference that a small liberal arts college has made for her, and how it differs in particular from larger colleges and universities. She then took us to lunch in the dining hall, which we really enjoyed. We finished our day at Wheaton with a student-led tour that provided an excellent view of the school from another student’s perspective.

 

Beginning the Conversation

After visiting both schools, we began a conversation with our students about what they are looking for in a college and the differences among the various types of colleges. The contrasts were readily apparent. Natalia, a TEEP freshman, thought that "Bridgewater felt like a big city." Alex, a TEEP sophomore, said, "I loved the liberal arts emphasis of Wheaton." We also talked about why some colleges are much more selective in admissions than others and what they need to start to do now in order to be ready to apply to selective colleges. Bethel, a TEEP freshman, summed up the trip this way: “I liked the fact that we got an opportunity to see the difference between the two colleges, because it showed me what I need to accomplish in HS in order to go to the college of my choice.”

This trip was the beginning of a larger, more comprehensive conversation with our students that will continue and expand throughout the coming years. Our hope is that this blog will also start an ongoing conversation.