Baltimore -- A More Positive Side : Helping Our Youth

Baltimore -- A More Positive Side: Helping Our Youth

The picture is of signing day at St. Frances Academy, Baltimore, Maryland

With the events of the last twenty four hours attention has been focused on some of the challenges Baltimore faces.  Social media has been ablaze with posts.  Some ask for prayers, some make political statements, some provide news updates and some wonder what they can do to help.

First we must define the challenge which is not easy.  There are issues that could fill a treatise.  There is mistrust and a lack of understanding by many on all sides of the issue.  Much of the mistrust is understandable, but that is not the focus of this post. 

The issue I will focus on is one that is close to my heart.  The lack of proper mentorship and development of young men.  It is not a problem that just touches Baltimore but one that touches our entire nation and it is not a new problem but one that has existed for generations.

The past June I wrote a series on Fatherhood and one of the most popular posts in that series was about the sad reality absentee father.

In that post I quoted former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich who shared some of his experience.  Governor Ehrlich observed “During my tenures as Governor, Congressman and Legislator, I visited many of Maryland's juvenile and adult correctional facilities. Often, I left in a melancholy mood. These are no places for the faint of heart. The scenes are right out of "Scared Straight" and disturbingly predictable: jails full of mostly young men with little formal education. Dropouts are plentiful. Many are alcohol or substance abusers. Some suffer from mental illness. Few possess marketable skills. And a majority come from fatherless homes.”

Governor Ehrlich’s observations are supported by Department of Justice statistics which reveal 90% of all prison inmates are males.  The lifetime chance of a women going to prison is 1.8% while it is a staggering 11.3% for males.”

The reasons for this are way too many to discuss in this blog post.  Some leave their family alone voluntarily and others involuntarily.  For the purpose of this blog we are just concerned with the fact that way too many young men do not have a positive male role model in the home.

There is a bright side.  There are some people in Baltimore who are working to bridge this gap.  One such person is Messay Hailemariam and the team at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.  St. Frances is a small private Catholic school which was founded by Mother Mary Lange in 1828 as the Baltimore School for Colored Girls with the mission of teaching children of color to read the Bible, which at the time was illegal.  In 1850 the school was renamed St. Frances Academy and is currently a coeducational institution serving students at risk in Baltimore City.  Messay wears three hats at the school.  He is the Director of Admissions, Assistant Athletic Director and Head Football Coach.  In a recent discussion with Messay he shared with me that he had no clue what true hardship was until he came to St. Frances.  Some of the students have come to St. Frances after missing school more days than the attended with college not even on their radar screen.  Over the past two years twenty six of the students earned full athletic scholarships for college.  Ten of these students clearly did not have college on their radar screen when they joined the St. Frances family. 

At St. Frances they are not only taught academics and coached athletically but they are also taught responsibility, accountability and team work. They are mentored by their coaches, faculty and alumni. For the first time in their lives they see a way out of poverty.  They have a purpose. There are many ways you can help St. Frances students but because many of their students come from underprivileged families a pressing need is scholarship funding. Donations can be sent to St. Frances Academy c/o Messay Hailermariam 501 East Chase Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.  Checks should be payable to St. Frances Academy Memo: Football/Tuition Donation.

Our next post will discuss SADD Students Against Destructive Decisions and what they are doing to help the young people in Baltimore.