By Marian Wright Edelman
Sometimes Saving Children Means Extending Our Families
Nobody understands better than Black Community Crusade for Children Working Committee member Kent Amos the miracles adults can work in the lives of young people who have been marked by society for failure.
For the past 15 years, Kent and his wife, Carmen, have been opening their hearts and home to scores of children in Washington, D.C., where they live, and in cities across America. In 1981, Kent invited three young men into his home for dinner, conversations, and study sessions. Before long, he and Carmen had 25 young people eating, studying, and sharing stories in their home every night. Kent kept an eye on their class work, went to their ball games at school, and put his arms around them when they needed a friend. Even when they got into trouble with the law, Kent stood by them before the judge. In one case, he talked a judge into probation instead of jail. And even after the young man violated his probation and went to jail--where his father and stepfather were incarcerated--Kent visited him and encouraged him to get his GED.
"There are too many of our children dying needlessly," says Kent, who lost three of his "adopted" sons to violence; one was stabbed to death in a dispute over a basketball game and two others were shot. "I committed to my sons that their deaths would not be in vain."
Within 10 years, Kent's extended family grew to nearly 100 young people, and in 1991, he took his efforts to an even higher level, establishing the nonprofit Urban Family Institute (UFI), which provides safe, nurturing environments for children. UFI is financed by private donations and public funds.
Kent has also spent his own money to keep the project running. At two locations in Washington, D.C., and 13 sites in Oakland, Calif., UFI has opened "Kids Houses," based on the idea that Kent started in his home.
After school each day, about 65 children, ages four to 16, pour into the basement of a building in the Park Morton housing development in northwest Washington, D.C., which houses UFI's largest Kids House. In one room, a staff of volunteers helps children finish their homework. Story time is being conducted in another room. In yet another room, children are coloring, working with colored paper, and playing educational games.
"I love it here, because I get help with my homework," says nine-year-old Shanece Colvin.
Demetria Pelote, also nine, says that Kids House makes her feel like she can be whatever she wants to be. "I like it here because I get to draw," she says. "People say I don't know how to draw that well, but I'm gonna show them, because someday I'm going to be an artist!"
The children at Kids House can also count on a healthy meal each night. "My favorites are lasagna, spaghetti, ribs, corn, chicken, and mashed potatoes," Demetria says.
"The easiest thing to do is to reach out to a child, because they reach back," says Kent. "You may be in a gang-infested community and forced to go through all the evil stuff that goes with that. But if you make it clear to a child that you care for him and are available to him, he'll come to you. Kids don't want what's going on out there. I haven't found one yet who won't change if you present yourself to him in a positive way. If you come at them with a speech or a lecture, then you've got a different problem. But if you really commit to them, they commit back to you."
The children are not the only ones who benefit from Kids House. Aside from the joy of working with children, virtually every volunteer has advanced his or her education since joining the Kids House staff.
Across the street from the Park Morton Kids House, D.C. Housing Police Officer Mike Padin is surrounded by a swarm of excited children. He's handing out basketball cards and promising to have a new batch next week. "Places like Kids House are important, because most of the kids here don't have any place to go," says Officer Padin, who has been patrolling the area for the past three months. "In housing projects all over the city, children are at risk of getting shot by the neighborhood thugs or being involved in the different crews [gangs]. All of us have a responsibility to these children--police officers as well as civilians--because we are the last line of defense between them and the streets."
Officer Padin is right. We all have a responsibility to see that every child has a chance to reach his or her full potential, and that's the primary goal of UFI. Kent offers us just one example of what can be accomplished when a few committed adults make up their minds that children are important. We all need to ask ourselves what we can do to ensure that the children in our communities are safe, healthy, and loved.
Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children's Defense Fund, which coordinates the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), whose mission is to leave no child behind and ensure that every child has a healthy, head, fair, safe, and moral start in life. For more information about the BCCC, call 202-628-8787.