L E A D E R S H I P F O U N D A T I O N

Inside:Partners bring tools for success

When retired Army four-star General Colin L. Powell steppedout of his SUV to visit the site of the Urban Venturesbuilding that would bear his name, he showed why, morethan a decorated dignitary, he has become an American hero.

Though rushed from podium to podium that day, he took the time for twoyoung girls from south Minneapolis, whom he wrapped in a loving embrace.

Powell modeled the only strategy of youth development capable ofsaving a whole generation of inner city kids—taking time to find out whatkids need—a strategy Urban Ventures staff pursues continuously.

“We started with our primary customer, children, ages 5 to 18,” saidBruce Anderson, a veteran school superintendent, who facilitated programplanning for the new Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center.

“We asked not what we want to do for kids, but what specific education,skills, attitudes and values urban kids will need in order to thrive, becomeself-sufficient and lead meaningful lives in the 21st century.”

The list was long — encompassing 95 outcomes or abilities UrbanVentures wants youth to gain through their experience in the Powell Centerin three competency areas: 1) academic and vocational, 2) physical andcreative, and 3) personal and social.

This meant only one thing: to give youth all of the tools they need tosucceed, Urban Ventures wouldhave to collaborate broadlyand cohabit a campus withother youth-servingorganizations.

In this newsletter weproudly presentseveral of thosepartners.

Colin Powell on a visit tothe site for the future Colin Powell Youth Leadership Campus.

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Young Life reaches older youth

Kids Cafe: a recipe for success

Youth Frontiers targetsteen cruelty

Stars and Lab to enjoy makeovers

COLIN POWELLYOUTH LEADERSHIP

CENTER

Introducing partners in the

President’s Letter

Urban terrorism:Something Powell understands

Everyone says that September 11th has changedthe world. Maybe for some, but it has not changedthe world of urban communities. We don’t ownstock, work in tall buildings or ride in airplanes.

Many of us don’t even have driver’s licenses. Ours is a one-block world where people get shot for

being off their “turf.” Three weeks ago we buried Tommy,the third of three siblings shot and killed on the same block over the last seven years.

As one neighbor said, “What’s new about terrorism? Our communities have been terrorized for20 years by gangs, drug dealers and crime.”

Urban Ventures’ mission is to build successful community in the city. One of our strategies is toraise a generation of urban youth leaders that excels educationally, vocationally, technically andspiritually.

We are convinced that this ambitious plan requires a major offensive by youth developmentpartners who provide a continuum of services in one neighborhood location.

We asked whose name we could use for our campus, someone who would inspire youth and bedevoted to the urban community. In 1997 we asked General Colin L. Powell to share his namewith us. His life story encompasses many of the realities of our south Minneapolis neighbors:

Immigration — His parents migrated from JamaicaUrban — Raised in south Bronx, New York CityLeadership — U.S. Secretary of State Service — Led the America’s Promise campaign to build the character and

competence of America’s childrenMission — Works for justice and order in the world’s

toughest neighborhoods Role model — A person of character and faith

After granting us permission to use his name, General Powell gave us three hours of his timeon June 18th, 2000, addressing 50 CEO’s and 1200 Twin Cities’ leaders to kick off the fund-raisingcampaign and visiting the future site of the Center, to be located up the hill from Kix Field.

He challenged us with these words: “We must get into the life of any child who believes thathope is not there for them. We owe them nothing less. We must not fail them. We must expandall the things we are doing … ”

We need to make this project happen quickly. I ask you to consider yourpart! Each gift is significant. Some will leave a legacy toward a brighterfuture for our urban communities.

Art Erickson

Instead of shooing kids out of the kitchen, families in ourCentral and Phillips neighborhoods will be inviting them in,along with their baker’s hats, floury fingers, and skillsacquired in Urban Ventures’ Kids Cafe.

They won’t be able to resist the smell of Chicken Cordon Bleuand Mushroom Cream Sauce Crepes coming out of the new ColinPowell Center, prepared under the watchful eye of master chefsfrom Twin Cities hotels and restaurants.

Last year kids in eight Twin Cities Kids Cafes produced67,500 meals and over 11,000 snacks such as chili, handmadepizza or tacos consumed by families struggling to make ends meet.

“You find these kids now aren’t just popping food in themicrowave or buying fast food every day,” says Sue Zelickson,food reporter for WCCO radio who brought the concept tothe Twin Cities.

“Kids can stir up rice or cook a potatothat will stick to their ribs and be much

Kids Cafe makes culinary arts training fun!

to use an industrial dishwasher. Shewhips them off in record time with nohelp. Every restaurateur would love tohave a kid like that.”

Over 600 such cafes nationally serve low-incomefamilies, the homeless or families in transition inchurches, community centers, and even schools, saysAlyssa Whiting, Child Hunger Programs Coordinator atSecond Harvest Heartland that oversees the program.

“We’re raising the standard on fitness and healthyeating in a way that’s fun for kids,” says Whiting. “Theother night kids at one cafe got to meet members of theTimberwolves basketball team. Others have receivedtours of fancy hotel kitchens.”

Urban Ventures and Second Harvest alreadycollaborate on the newly-opened Kitchen ofOpportunities, in the Urban Ventures headquartersbuilding, which trains neighborhood workers as certifiedfood handlers. They produce food to feed over 2,000 perday utilizing donated food products.

“We plan to have a junior training division,” saysZelickson. “Kids Cafe children, who are ages 5 to 12,could graduate to the Kitchen of Opportunities at age18 and be on a fast track to a food handling career.”

more nutritious. They learn that pop doesn’tfill you up like milk does.”

Zelickson says that kids show theircreativity and ability to work as a team. Theylearn manners and take pride in their work.

“One 8-year-old girl named Diamondeven loves to do the dishes and has learned

Sue Zelickson assists a child in Perspectives’ Kids Cafe, St. Louis Park.

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“What feels worsethan being thebrunt ofsomeone’s bad

joke?” asks Joe Cavanaugh, founderof Youth Frontiers, another excitingpartner ensuring that the ColinPowell Youth Leadership Centerproduces first-class kids.

“Our vision is ambitious,” saysCavanaugh. “We seek to changethe way young people treat eachother in the hallways, lunch linesand classrooms of every publicschool in America.”

Last year 22 energetic YouthFrontiers staff members touched thelives of nearly 50,000 students andteachers, conducting 353 charactereducation retreats in 125communities.

“Our goal is not to get kids tolike each other, but simply toget kids to stop hating eachother,” says Cavanaugh.“Because cruelty and teasingcan literally ruin a kid’s life.”

Youth Frontiers teaches thevalues of kindness, courage,integrity, respect and wisdom infast-moving interactive sessionsusing games, humor and songsto get kids to deal openly withtheir attitudes toward oneanother.

“Our style is MTV meetsAristotle,” he says. “Our musiciansteach virtues rather than pop hits.”

Cavanaugh says that retreatsare conducted off site since the hostschool environment is not alwaysconducive. That’s why the staff iseager to construct the ideal retreatsetting and make their home basethe Colin Powell Center.

That will include optimal

lighting, a quality music soundsystem, plenty of carpet, Frontiers’trademark muted colors, and notables or chairs. “Kids like to liedown or sit. We create a casual, yetstructured environment,” saysCavanaugh.

“Youth Frontiers will bringover 22,000 kids and leadersthrough the Colin Powell Centereach year,” explains UrbanVentures Program Director Mark-Peter Lundquist.

“This enables us to reach kidsin every school district in themetro area.”

And “reach” they do, saysCavanaugh.

At one retreat Stephanie , whohas changed schools several times,said, “I’ve never had a

best friend.I’ve neverbeeninvited toa slumber party.No one has ever asked me todo anything after school.”

A few moments later a girlnamed Emily got up and said,“Stephanie, I want to welcome youto our school. I’ll be your friend.”She went over and gave her a bighug, says Cavanaugh.

A high school boy thanked hisclassmates for “one day in my lifewhen no one made fun of me.”

Another boy arose and said,“David, my friends and I tease youevery time we see you. I’m sorry.

I’m not going to do thatanymore.”

Welcome, YouthFrontiers!

Urban Ventures has always had amotto about serving kids: “It’s notabout programs.

It’s about relationships.” Twonational partners who specialize in relationship building

will ensure that this remains the top priority. Young Life is the largest urban youth-serving organization in the

country, according to Young Life Urban Director WileyScott.

“We believe that if you want to positively influencekids you have to serve them. That’s why I coachedsports for nine years at South High School.”

Young Life is known for going where the kids areand pinpointing their deepest needs. “We found thatonly 28 percent of African-American students in the Twin

When thinking about youth-servingorganizations, the Minnesota Air orArmy National Guard may not be thefirst thing that comes to mind. It

wasn’t for Urban Ventures Board Chairperson PamelaHudson either.

“But the National Guard can be an urban child’sbest ticket out of poverty,” says Pamela. “It has providedhelpful structure to many unstructured lives.”

No less than General Powell himself credits his

Youth Frontiers seeks a climate change in school relationships

Young Life and Life Coaches: The relationship specialists

The Guard: Some kids’ ticket out of poverty

Cities are graduating from high school, so correcting this is the focus ofour urban initiative.”

Life Coaches is a mentor program designed to heal the lives ofchildren broken through father absence. Within a mile of Urban Ventures,the number of single-parent female households—the single greatestindicator of poverty—has increased from 567 homes in 1990 to 3221homes in 2000.

“We rank first in the country in pregnant teenagers, age 15-17,” saysUrban Ventures’ Life Coaches coordinator Don Constable. “We needadult role models to get involved in these kids’ lives to stem this tide.”

Urban Ventures’ Center for Fathering collaborates with Life Coachesfounder Glenn Jeffery who trains and supportsmentors. “Adults use our tools to enhance their own

parenting,” says Glenn.

experience in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps(ROTC) for setting him on the straight and narrow, saysMajor General Eugene Andreotti, whose Minnesota AirNational Guard will have space in the Powell Center.

“General Powell credits the ROTC for many of hissuccesses, for keeping him away from drugs, enablinghim to set goals and to achieve those goals througheducation,” says Andreotti.

Nearly 3,000 Minnesotans currently pursueeducation through the Minnesota Air or Army NationalGuard, which pays 80% of University of Minnesotatuition regardless of the school one chooses uponcompletion of basic training.

In return, members of theGuard serve in the military forone weekend per month and anadditional two weeks annuallyfor six years.

Besides running theirprogram, the Guard willcontinue to provide UrbanVentures electrical andcomputer installation andmaintenance. We are very grateful for this partnership.

James Ken of Central neighborhood gets a view from the cockpit on anUrban Ventures field trip designed to broaden kids’ horizons.

Wiley Scott

Glenn Jeffery

rbanYoung Life

U

Major General Eugene Andreotti

As chairman ofMinnesota AthleticYouth Services, UrbanVentures advisory

board member Al Nuness haswatched 10 suburban communitycenters go up around Minneapolisover the last six years.

He has posed a question tothose sponsoring suburban youthenrichment opportunities aroundMinneapolis: “Why shouldn’t urbankids have the same educational andathletic opportunities when theyare more in need of then?”

The blueprint for the ColinPowell Center’s technologyeducation wing helps ensure thatCentral and Phillips children willnot get farther behind.

“I’m excited for UrbanVentures because as technologychanges, the costs are going down,making our opportunities evengreater,” says Urban VenturesTechnology Manager TanyaBelcourt, who is joined by a 15-person technology planning team.

The new Learning Lab willmake the old one look like a one-room schoolhouse, says Tanya. Itwill include a library, 50 computers,four classrooms, four tutoring rooms,and four offices with glass walls toenhance student supervision.

It will also have a technologyfun room with digital cameras,voice-activated computers andmusic video technology to rewardkids who meet educational goals.

The Learning Lab, which servesgrades 6 to 12, began in 1998 inresponse to the Minneapolis PublicSchools announcement that only33% of its students had passed

Learning Lab’s expansionmatches students’ enthusiasm

standardized reading tests and only36% had passed math.

Thanks to 62 volunteersassisting 180 students last year in a25-computer lab, 60% of our 8thgraders passed the Minnesota BasicStandards Test in reading,surpassing theMinneapolisaverage andthe fourotherschools inour area.Mathstudentssurpassed theaverages of three ofour four area schools.

An expanded program will takethe Lab to the next level. “Ourcurrent facility is bursting at theseams,” says Andrea Cobery,academic coordinator of theLearning Lab, whose tutors nowwork at Urban Ventures

headquarters across the street whenthe Lab gets too congested.

“The Powell Center will give usthe room and resources that we needto match the kids’ enthusiasm forlearning,” says Andrea. “For example,a library and a technology fun roomwill provide new incentives andavenues of exploration.”

Currently, high school studentslearn computer programming, web

design, creativewriting and Microsoftsoftware. Studentsalso makeexploratory visits to

businesses and colleges. Urban Ventures

staff has identified 29outcomes or abilities it

wants youth to gain through theseand other experiences in thePowell Center Learning Lab infour competency skill areas:academic, technological,employment and career.

The Lab will collaborate withits partners to accomplish theseends, says Andrea. “For aspiringkids, the sky is the limit.”

Urban Stars AthleticDirector KelbyBrothen must feel likean alley cat as he

descends several flights of stairs,braves the Minnesota winter andmaneuvers four locked doors to getto the athletic equipment stored indeep dark basement closets.

The storage conditions hardlymatch the thriving inner citybasketball and soccer leagues he hashelped establish that now top 400players and 40 coaches. Kelby is notcomplaining, though. His concernis for the kids.

“Without home basketballfacilities, our kids

spend at leastseven hours a

week on theroad—precious

time that could be spent onhomework,” he says. “Coaches spendone-third of their time in transit.”Those days may soon be over.

The Powell Center will havefour new basketball courts, withretractable dividing walls for indoorsoccer, built-in video “training film”cameras, and courtside storagelockers and bins.

People question whether newcourts are needed, he says. “Butlocal gyms are so busy we can’t get aminute of (regularly scheduled)time in any of them. Moreover,renting space for tryouts alone thisyear cost us $600!”

“We want to keep costs down.Most athletic programs charge atleast $200 per child to participate,but our kids don’t have that kind ofmoney. Thanks to our loyalsupporters, we can offer our programfor only $35 per child. We want tokeep it that way.”

Fifth to eighth-graders nowpractice at nine gyms in ninedifferent locations. “It’sdisorienting. Our kidsneed a sense ofbelonging andconsistency.”

City officials and researchstudies have repeatedly pointed torecreational opportunities as themost obvious way to divert crime,gang involvement, teen pregnancyand a host of other social maladies.

Yet Kelby has a vision that goesbeyond sports to an integratedprogram of youth development.

“I see kids running off theirenergy at basketball practice. Weblow the whistle and they go to theauditorium for a character lessondelivered through skits or music orvideos. Then it’s to the snack barfor a bite to eat and finally to theLearning Lab for an hour ofhomework with their tutors. Traveland diversions are eliminated. It’sall centrally located.”

In short, the Colin PowellCenter would be a dream cometrue. “This place says to thecommunity, ‘Your kids count!’” saidDave Bigler, former Senior VicePresident of Marketing at Principal

Financial Group and UrbanVentures volunteer.

“It says, ‘Here isyour chance to buildsome pride, set somegoals, raise your eyesand look toward abright future, ratherthan looking down

at the cracks in thesidewalk.’ It says, ‘There

are people who care aboutyou.’”

Urban Stars: the spark to integrated youth development

Kelby Brothen

“This place says to thecommunity, ‘Your kids

count! There are peoplewho care about you.’”

— Dave Bigler

Waiting for the start ofhis tournament game,Urban Star David Joynerrelaxes courtside.

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Why do we need theColin Powell YouthLeadership Center?General Powell

answered this question eloquentlyduring an address to 1,200 TwinCities leaders while on a visit toUrban Ventures on June 18, 2000.

First consider this:

— Fact —Urban Ventures President ArtErickson surveyed two student

groups and found that while 50 out of 50 suburban kids had computers at home,

only 5 of 70 Central neighborhoodkids had computers.

—

Powell: “This sophisticatedaudience knows what’s happeningto the workplace here and aroundthe world through the Internet, thepower of personal computers andsatellite dishes. We can’t leave anykids on the wrong side of thedigital divide.”

— Fact —The 2000 Census found that

single-parent homes have increasedin Urban Ventures’ south Minneapolis

neighborhood more than 400% since 1990. Father absence is the

greatest single contributor to poverty.—

Powell: “A kindly old Jewish storekeeper hired me at age 14 and taughtme how to work, to stick with a joband never give up, how to be loyaland do what you have to do to getthings done. My aunts watched overme and made sure I understood Icould not fail my family.

Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center

Powell speaks from the heart

V E N T U R E SL E A D E R S H I P F O U N D A T I O N

“Children develop expectations and dreams whenthey’re in safe places with caring adults surroundingthem who love them and tell them they’re important.

That’s why we need the Colin Powell Center.”— General Colin L. Powell