Connect with us

Thrive

Waveney Ann Moore: Federal grant holds the promise of scholarships and a boost to youth programs

Waveney Ann Moore

Published

on

Officers including Tanga Blackshear, right, participate in Not My Son rally. All photos provided by Rev. Kenny Irby.

Are you weary of disputes about vaccines, masks and months-old election results? How about what should be taught and read in schools and the thwarting of voting rights?

Then you turn on the TV to learn that a 17-year-old, who law enforcement officials say had been arguing with a young woman, was shot in the stomach by police after refusing to drop the gun he had been pointing at a St. Petersburg officer.

Still, despite this morass of defiance, spite and violence, there is hope.

Consider young men like 19-year-old Christian Davis. A graduate of Boca Ciega High School’s medical magnet program, he works at a bowling alley and trains on weekends as a U.S. Air Force reservist. He has plans to attend St. Petersburg College and transfer to FAMU to earn a degree in nursing.

Christian Davis

“I have goals,” he told me this week. And he is sharing his drive with other African-American youth in St. Petersburg. He waves signs, canvasses neighborhoods and urges them to set goals and hang out with the right people.

Davis is doing this under the auspices of the Not My Son program, a St. Petersburg initiative that places special emphasis on African-American youth and their families. “It gives knowledge to African-American males and you’re working together to make sure that the youth in the community succeed,” Davis explained.

“Some of the young men, most of the people they see in their community are doing the wrong thing, or they don’t have goals.”

Davis has also participated in Men in the Making, a “role modeling” and academic enrichment program that draws on the knowledge and guidance of Black male leaders. Davis was named Men in the Making’s Youth of the Year for 2021. He told me he’s been involved with the Not My Son initiative for about three or four years. His mother is also committed to the program, which runs only during the summer. But that could change.

That’s because the St. Petersburg Police Department just learned that it has been awarded a $101,625 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant would enable the Not My Son program to be offered year-round. The money also could be used to expand and enhance other efforts, such as the Recreation and Police (RAP) basketball programs, that focus on the city’s vulnerable youth.

The grant is good news for the Rev. Kenny Irby, director of community intervention with the St. Petersburg Police Department and pastor of Historic Bethel AME Church. He said more than 80 percent of the grant money will be invested in programming and scholarships for minority youth.

“Over the past six years, there have been relationships and projects proposed that weren’t able to be funded,” he said. “It’s essential to create positive nonenforcement encounters, because so much of what these youth are experiencing are arrest situations with law enforcement.”

Community Service Officer Tanga Blackshear has been involved with the Not My Son initiative since its inception, canvassing neighborhoods with congregations to encourage young people to participate in the program.

“We’re trying to reach the youth before they get into a situation where the police have to be called out to their home,” she said. “What we don’t want to do is take them to jail for something they did. What we are trying to do is keep them off the streets and out of trouble.”

The 21-year St. Petersburg police officer teams up with adult volunteers and youth to fan out into neighborhoods to spread word of the Not My Son program. They ask neighbors whether they can put a Not My Son sign in their yards and invite young people to sign a pledge card committing to the program.

“My daily choices help determine my destiny,” the pledge begins.

The canvassers often start out from churches. “What we do before we walk, the pastors say a prayer,” Blackshear said.

Congregations involved are mostly African-American and in traditionally Black neighborhoods. They’ve included Greater Mount Zion AME Church, Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church and St. Joseph Catholic Church. The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in the city’s downtown also is active in the program. The Episcopal congregation is predominantly white. 

The Rev. Clark Hazley of Mount Pilgrim recently held a Not My Son event at his Childs Park church that included a bounce house, water slide and vaccines offered by the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas.

“We were blessed to have at that time a great number of people showing up, having them sign a pledge card with their children,” he said.

Hazley began volunteering with the program at its inception and later involved his congregation. As he met with people in the community, he asked parents what they needed.

The men and women he spoke with defied accepted stereotypes.

“The parents were caring, but they didn’t have resources to help them. They didn’t have alternative things that children could do and they were at their wits end trying to keep these young Black men out of trouble,” the retired U.S. Army sergeant said. “They didn’t know about alternative programs other than football and basketball and how to educate their children about their choices.”

He discovered another important need.

“Some of the brethren that I get to engage, they don’t know how to be a father and not being with the mother of the child. And now mom is trying to move on with a new man in her life. Nobody has taught them how to have a conversation about that. That’s a big issue a lot of young people don’t know how to navigate,” Hazley said, noting it’s a situation that could lead to violence.

He believes the partnership with Irby and the faith-based community to address challenges facing the city’s youth is an excellent strategy.

“One church can’t do it. One pastor can’t do it. One mother can’t do it,” he said.

Hazley is pleased that the Not My Son program might run year-round: “If we can extend it past the summer, that would be great. We surely have enough volunteers.”

But nothing will be official until the City Council accepts the federal grant. Yolanda Fernandez, spokeswoman for the Police Department, says it’s expected to go before the Council sometime in November. It’s likely to be readily approved – with the usual pontificating, of course.

It should be a given for St. Petersburg to expand and enhance programs for its vulnerable youth.  

 

 

Continue Reading
1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Avatar

    Rose Hayes

    October 23, 2021at11:14 am

    While I agree with focus on our Youths of African descent, what is being done to help the Parents? Many of the youths are at risk due to poor parenting skills. How does a child handle the issue of ‘Dad’ and ‘Mom’ not being together but ‘Dad’ and ‘Mom’ each have a new friend? Parents need to be taught how to communicate with their children. They need to learn how to answer their questions truthfully. Parent Support For Education Council, Inc 727 500 5293

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By posting a comment, I have read, understand and agree to the Posting Guidelines.

The St. Pete Catalyst

The Catalyst honors its name by aggregating & curating the sparks that propel the St Pete engine.  It is a modern news platform, powered by community sourced content and augmented with directed coverage.  Bring your news, your perspective and your spark to the St Pete Catalyst and take your seat at the table.

Email us: spark@stpetecatalyst.com

Subscribe for Free

Share with friend

Enter the details of the person you want to share this article with.