Our community contributors
Catherine Crosby: City of Dayton Human Relations Executive Director
Brian LaDuca: Director of ArtStreet at the University of Dayton
Marlon Shackelford: Omega Baptist Church Street Advocate Supervisor/Community Activist
Jonetta White: Dayton Peace Ambassador, senior Sociology major at Bryn Mawr College, volunteer management coordinator for CityLights Network, Davis Projects for Peace Fellow, motivational speaker
‘It takes a community to raise a child, and adults cannot be afraid to step up in the lives of young people who may not have any other positive, adult influences. Parents have to stop teaching their children to fight without also teaching them discipline.’ — Jonetta White
‘There’s a lack of mentors and “womentors,” and a lack of efficient programs for teens.’ — Marlon Shackelford
‘For cities to grow they must cater to, understand and educate with the future leaders of their city.’ — Brian LaDuca
‘The only way to address community problems is to live in the community and help fix them.’ — Catherine Crosby
Editor’s note: Teens acting out, pushing the envelope, is nothing new. Yet, when large groups come together to cause trouble at citywide events, as has occurred several times in downtown Dayton in the last year, it affects not just the youth and their families, but the city as a whole. Our partners at Dayton.com asked what can be done to build a more cohesive relationship with our city’s future citizens, ensuring a safe environment for all. The conversation Dayton.com staffers Vivienne Machi and Kamron Taylor had with four community activists touched upon issues relevant not just in Dayton, but in any community.
Q: How much of a problem is the problem of student/teen behavior in Dayton? If you think it is a problem, is it only happening downtown?
Catherine Crosby: It is a growing problem for a number of reasons. First, it creates the perception that Dayton youth are all bad. There are good people and bad people. The same goes for youth. Unfortunately, the media tends to sensationalize bad behavior more so than positive things that are going on with our youth. The problem is not only in downtown Dayton. Anytime you have an environment where there are limited activities for youth, they will find something to do.
Brian LaDuca: If the problem is student/teen behavior as it relates (to) downtown, then I see the problem simply being a lack of well lit, invigorating communal spaces. Skate parks, music shells, dynamic store front designs (not necessarily actual stores). The idea of invigorating epicenters such as Courthouse Square is an old archaic notion. The Water Street development, Citywide's The Nine development and the Brewery District should be capitalized on and connected through with dynamic paths and public spaces that are welcoming and not based on fear.
Marlon Shackelford: It's a big problem with little success, because we really don't have a plan yet. And it is happening all over Dayton. The 5 percent of teens who are miseducated and misguided are guiding and educating the 95 percent that are bored, have idle time, are angry, and who are looking for something to do. There's a lack of mentors and "womentors," and a lack of efficient programs for teens. And another problem is mental illness and feelings of hopelessness for our teens, which is why it's so important to have counselors in our schools.
Jonetta White: Although it is important to recognize that violence is not peculiar to any age group, race, or class, youth violence pervades the city of Dayton and has innumerable causes and effects. As a community, we need to send the message that violence is not OK with the same ferocity with which we worked to eliminate tobacco use in the U.S. We can no longer have this "hands-off" approach to being a community. Adults should feel responsible for ensuring the well being of their children and for the children of the community. It takes a community to raise a child, and adults cannot be afraid to step up in the lives of young people who may not have any other positive, adult influences. Parents have to stop teaching their children to fight without also teaching them discipline. Children must learn to distinguish between situations in which the child might be feeling angry or offended and situations in which the child is in physical danger. All too often, children fight because their self concepts (which are typically high/positive, if not unrealistic, among black children) are challenged. This does not warrant the use of physical force, but some parents use language such as, "don't let anyone punk you," which licenses the child to use force when she or he feels offended. Parents have to be on board with the objective to reduce youth violence.
Q: Why is this issue important? How does it affect overall community?
Crosby: It impacts the attractiveness of the City overall. It impacts our ability to recruit companies and families to move into the City because it creates a perception that the City is unsafe. However, the reality is if you want trouble you can find it anywhere, if that is what you're looking for. I've never had an issue in Dayton. My daughter has never had an issue in Dayton. If the media focuses in on the negativity that is happening in one community, people will feed into those perceptions and those perceptions set the norms for that particular community. However, if we chose to only highlight the positive, the perception and the community standards will change as well. That's not the only factor that will change the environment, but it is a very important one.
LaDuca: For cities to grow they must cater to, understand and educate with the future leaders of their city. When no effort is being put into what a 21st century teen/adult might be doing, looking for,or learning, then the student/teen is going to either simply ignore the city and it's assets because they will become old and dated. Who puts energies into dated influences or thoughts? Possibly those who created those old and dated assets — they tend to not let go — it's generational, right? When cities blossom they bring in the voice of the future generation to be inspired by. They are influenced and empowered to continue to grow, both the city and the youth involved in it.
Shackelford: Because of how it affects community development and community stability. Overall, if we don't work together and we don't have a place for our young people — if they don't have extracurricular outlets and job opportunities — nobody will trust or respect them. If young people keep doing these types of things, black or white, they won't be allowed downtown unless they have some supervision. And we don't want that.
White: One of the major effects of youth violence is that elders begin to self-segregate because they do not feel safe in their communities. Families move out or stay away from certain neighborhoods because parents wish to insulate their children from the violence. Many young people join and form gangs to defend themselves in these volatile environments. Youth violence also affects the kind of businesses a community can or cannot attract; the types of recreational activities a community can or cannot host, etc. These effects, the fact that youth violence has the power to disrupt productive social interactions within a community, make the issue of youth violence an extremely pressing matter.
Q: What can be changed or improved upon to address the issue? Is it really only about where you live?
Crosby: In certain communities, according to crime stats, we are experiencing higher instances of negative behavior among our youth. There are studies that show that youth with access to upward mobility are less likely to engage in negative behavior. However, in addition to being a product of a particular environment, exposure to negative images through media, entertainment industry, the lack of positive role models and limited positive recreational activities that result from budget cuts also contribute to the issue.
As adults, we tend to forget that the brain of a child continues to develop through adolescents and early adulthood. We can’t seem to understand why our youth behave in an impulsive, irrational, or dangerous way. It seems like they don’t think things through or fully consider the consequences of their actions. We then try to apply consequences that do not take into consideration that we are dealing with kids or we want to turn our backs on them and act as if they’re behavior can’t be explained. You then expose them to society and a system that is unforgiving and it turns into a cycle of bad decisions that lead to a very difficult life. This especially holds true for our young men of color who are consistently misunderstood and not give a fair shake in life. Media portrayal leads to stereotypes and assumptions of an entire group instead of allowing individual interactions to determine how we should interact.
These problems exist in every community.
The only way to address community problems is to live in the community and help fix them. I grew up in Cleveland in the inner city. When I purchased my home, I intentionally purchased a home in a community similar to where I grew up so that I could be part of improving the quality of life for all residents living in the community. Our youth do not have access to many of the programs that existed when I was young. As a result, they are exposed to unfavorable circumstances that lead to bad decisions that impact them for the rest of their lives. We have to get back to the village concept and take responsibility for our communities and not move away because it’s too hard or we feel things are too bad.
LaDuca: Change at this magnitude is nearly impossible quickly. But the levels of change can be immediate. Yes, where you live has a huge impact on this evolution and that is not simply a Dayton "thing" but rather its a urban/suburban/rural dynamic. And in fact it really is not on the student/teens to make these changes — they should want to be part of said changes and evolutions, they should want to experience them — but it's the proverbial adults' jobs to make the city more desirable, to stop looking at the negatives as end game but rather aspire for a future design that looks to encompass the health and well-being of the human being. Empathy is greatly at play here as is the want to look at trends, be inspired by trends and not be averse to risk taking within the urban dynamic.
Shackelford: You must hire people like the Street Souljahz, or security resource officers who work in Dayton Public Schools. They know the kids; they have personal relationships and can identify the kids, so we should be hiring them at these events. We'll spend over $100,000 to do an event and won't even spend $10,000 on security. Downtown is the city center, and everybody should feel comfortable there. If we have these events, we also need community policing, especially at a time where our kids are angry, upset and don't trust the police. We need help from our media and from the church — in our neighborhoods, the black church is still the strongest institution. We need to re-establish the teen and student centers, establish real community schools that have rites-of-passage programs, peer support, personal growth and stress mediation counselors. We need real programs that gives the kids something to do. Another problem is we suffer from what I call "adultism," as well as racism. Adultism is the systematic mistreatment of young kids by adults. We don't give youth a voice. We need to make young people part of the solution, not the problem. At one point, we had a citywide teen council; we had 11 teen councils, and we don't do that anymore.
White: This problem needs to be addressed holistically. Conflict resolution training is a critical first step in mitigating youth violence, especially among low income children who often lack the command of language and communication skills to articulate feelings of anger and frustration without using physical force. Cultural messaging is equally important to the goal of reducing instances of youth violence. We cannot continue to exclude the youth for fear of their behavior. Self-fulfilling prophecy is a concept in sociology which refers to acting in such a way that it brings about the outcome one wishes to avoid. As a community, we often treat those who have made mistakes as if their actions will forever define who they are. Felons struggle to reintegrate into society because the job market is hostile toward them, and they cannot participate in our political process because we strip them of their right.
Q: What positive, proactive things can young adults get involved with downtown?
Crosby: I can't necessarily speak to downtown specifically. However, we need more mentors. Youth need to develop a level of understanding and awareness of the consequences of their actions, both positive and negative. There needs to be more engagement to help youth understand their responsibility, pride and connectedness to their community. This reduces the likelihood for them to misbehave or be disruptive. Young people need positive role models to help with this process. …The world is so unforgiving. Making bad decisions at a young age makes for a long hard life. We need more people helping our youth understand this concept.
LaDuca: The big macro thing for most progressive young adults is a sense that they matter. This is the first generation of workforce that will be taking on jobs that matter to their hearts and minds — not simply their wallets. They demand aesthetic answers that might make their world a better place. They want risks that are partnered with reward. They want to the ability to be part of the growth, to be trusted with the idea generation — but most importantly, they want to know that their ideas will have a heart beat and that it all won't be talk. They want to know that all forms of economic and cultural opportunity is being respected and that just because I am white and a male that I am unaware of my privilege and that just because I am black and love hip-hop doesn't make me a gangster.
Shackelford: That's a good question. You have RiverScape MetroPark, but you don't have that many activities downtown. And that's the problem. We need more things downtown for young people. Most of the time, they're meeting downtown to fight, not to be productive.
White: Perhaps the greatest disservice to our young adults is that we have few community organizations that specifically galvanize and empower our 18- to 30-year-old group. These people can be among the most effective and influential mentors to adolescents, but we fail to cultivate their leadership potential.
Q: How much does a preconceived negative perception (race, gender, dress, etc.) contribute to the public reaction?
Crosby: When people don't allow themselves to move pass their prejudgment,t it allows for fear to grow. When people operate out of fear their decision making becomes impaired. It limits their ability to make reasonable decisions that are for the highest and greatest good for all. When people have a perception of fear and negativity toward our youth they tend to limit their level of engagement and generosity. Youth want to be part of something fun for the community, just like adults. If we don't find engagement opportunities that are appealing to them, then they become restless and disruptive. They begin to feel that they are not being heard or valued. At that point, they begin to push back
LaDuca: It means everything because those who are providing that preconceived negative perception are looked at as lazy and ignorant by the youth and when lazy and ignorant people are recognized by the youth the become less inclined to respect said adults' view or rules.
Shackelford: I would say it's about 75 percent; the negative perception then builds on something else. In real life, perception is not reality, but if people perceive something, they start living it out and it becomes their reality. When they see it, then they give up; they won't want to support those teens and activities, and that's when you lose those activities like Urban Nights.
White: At every turn, we make judgments about the whole person based on limited information — appearance, speech, or stupid mistakes. The stigma of doing wrong, once applied, is almost never completely removed because our society refuses to forgive and forget. The youth need our support and encouragement.
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