03-26-18 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING March 26, 2018 there. If and when I have children, I would pay money to send my kids to a place like DePaul Academy. It treats the whole individual. If I have one (1) complaint today it is that this is not coming to my neighborhood. Willow Wetherall, 803 Cottage Grove Avenue, South Bend, IN, stated, I am a former Board Member of the River Park Neighborhood Association and a current administrator on the neighborhood's very active Facebook page which includes over 4,000 members. I am well aware of the challenges and concerns of the River Park neighbors. I also recently served on the Mayor's working group on homelessness and I've been a volunteer this season for winter women's amnesty. And sadly,with my work on homelessness, I discovered their community includes young men and women in their late teens. I know all too well the possible outcomes for vulnerable youth. I am here to speak in support of the establishment of the Woodford Home in River Park for the graduates of the DePaul Academy. The Director of the Academy, Ike Shipman, has done an outstanding job establishing the program for education and healing for the students. I hope the neighborhood and Council embraces this housing initiative and its residents. These young men can contribute to a stronger, safer and more connected neighborhood that looks out for one another and embodies the meaning of community here in South Bend. Cedric Harmon, 1225 Blaine Avenue, South Bend, IN, stated, I have been at DePaul and Rite of Passage for two (2) years since they opened up here. My current job experience is the result of doing it for fifteen(15)years. I work with at-risk youth. In 2012,the facility I worked with closed with the intention of pushing kids out of the court system to a system like Rite of Passage offers. I can honestly say since I've been there, it has been like no other place. I tell people all the time, this is not a correctional facility. The environment it offers is not a lock-down correctional facility. As far as issues go, we rarely have them and when we do, it is dealt with accordingly. But, I've noticed we've had students that get out of the system and they are sent right back to their environments. One (1) of the first students we had was in the predicament but Rite of Passage helped him get to college and he is now playing college basketball. I think extending this program will be beneficial and I think this is an excellent idea for this community. Kenneth Boxell, 805 Lancaster Drive, South Bend, IN, stated, I am the site Compliance Officer at Rite of Passage. I have been with them for a little over a year and a half now. I've been in the field of social services working with teenagers for the past thirteen (13) years now. From day one (1), working at Rite of Passage, I immediately told my wife after training that we are going to eventually relocate to South Bend, Indiana. That is how much I believe in the program. What I've seen from the young men and the growth in the term is absolutely astounding to me. Over the course of my thirteen(13)years working in the field, I've worked with countless youth that when they left programs or services, they didn't really have any place to go. Or the places they were going to would be worse off. What the Woodford Home will do is allow these young men to have a safe environment in which they can continue to grow and learn the skills to become a successful adult and young man. I believe this will be an incredible benefit to both the neighborhood and the City of South Bend if you allow this to take place. Kintae Lark, 307 Chapin Street, South Bend, IN, stated, What DePaul Academy and Rite of Passage is offering here in our area is a phenomenal thing. I've spent about thirteen (13) years before pursuing barbering things working directly with at-risk youth. I've seen a lot of programs that claim to do a lot of things but have not delivered. But this is something unique and special. I have had the opportunity to speak to these young men and I also opened up my business to accept an intern from this program. They surround these kids in a different type of way. The atmosphere is much more proactive. After the young man that interned with me graduated from the program, I was reached out to because they were seeking funds to send this young man to school after graduating from this program. Months ago, Dr. Bruinsma sought me out to get a haircut. At that time, he invited me to connect with him and we met to go through the facility. I've seen a lot of facilities that become a political thing. When he told me about the staffing ratios, it blew my mind because this is something different. This is a unique opportunity. It is always risky dealing with youth whether they are at risk or not. However, as a community I believe we have an obligation and that is to cover our young people. Myself personally, I've been on my own since I was sixteen (16) years old. I was a sophomore in high school. Had I not had a support system around me, I wouldn't have made it. I didn't expect to live to see eighteen. If I had the opportunity that comes 17