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CommunityCommunitysection B Fb. 27 - Marh 5, 2013

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Restoring

relationshipsHow restorative practices

are improving relationships

and reducing conflict

in Detroit

By Melinda Clynes

Can using restorative practiceswith students be the key to buildingcommunity in Detroit? We think theidea has merit.

According to Henry McClendon,program officer at The SkillmanFoundation, Detroit doesnt have acrime problem; we have a relation-ship problem.

He believes that crime is the symp-tom, while broken relationships arethe problem.

When crime happens, we treatthe symptom. We ask what law wasbroken, who broke it, and what kindof punishment it deserves. It keepsvictim and offender apart.

The same thing happens inschools. Students get in trouble,and theyre suspended or expelled.Once back at school, the perpetratoris still angry, the victim is still angry or afraid. And the suspended stu-dents chance of graduating on timebegins to buckle.

But what happens if, instead ofusing an adversarial approach, wedeal with conflict using a restorativeapproach that McClendon believesis more solution focused one thattreats the problem?

The restorative process bringsvictim and offender together to ac-knowledge the harm that occurred,study its impact, and think throughwhat needs to happen to make thingsright. This restores balance and jus-tice and prevents harm from happen-ing again.

Im not saying we dont have anyjails, and we dont have any police of-ficers, says McClendon. But, if allwe do is come up with stricter laws you know get tough on crime, zerotolerance you cant hire enough

police and you cant build enoughjails to solve that problem.

McClendon is an expert on restor-ative practices, which in its simplestform is a process that builds com-munity and social coherence. He hasregionally represented the Interna-tional Institute for Restorative Prac-tices and trained many local peopleon its merits

He is on a personal mission tosee Detroit become the first large,urban restorative city in the country.One obvious place for that change tostart is in schools.

Preventing, intercepting problems

At Plymouth Educational Centerin Detroit, a charter school districtmade up of a K-8 school, a 9th grade

academy, and a 10th to 12th gradehigh school, restorative practices

By Jackie Berg

It happens all the time:Conversation turns intoconfrontation. Angerexplodes. Punches arethrown or worse, gunsare fired. A violent crimeis committed and thelives of victims, perpe-trators, and of familiesand friends, are changedforever.

Uncontrolled anger isone element fueling therising tide of homicide gripping

Detroit and othercities. Experts saythat understand-

ing and dealing

with anger can helpindividuals, their fami-lies, and ultimatelyentire communitiesmake better decisionsthat can helpstop violence andreduce crime.

In order toaddress angerand the result-ing crime, youhave to examinewhat leads us tobecome angry.

what causes us to choose anger

over another option, saysChuck Jackson. He is executivevice president and chief clinicalofficer for Starr Commonwealthin Albion, Mich., and CEO of

Starr Vista in De-troit. Both orga-

addressing the pain

Anger

M a n a ge m en t :

Addressing theviolence by

nizations pro-vide servicesto families and

children.

Uncontrolledanger in adoles-

cents and adults

often stems fromunmet needs earlier inlife, he continued. Partof what we are missing asa society is that often weare not meeting the basicdevelopmental needs ofour children. They haveto feel confident that they

can master challenges,

have a place to belong, feelsafe and secure, can giveback to others and knowthat there are people wholove and care about them.When this happens theyhave a better self-concept,are more grounded and

anger becomes less of anoption for them. Theyare better equipped todeal with all kinds oflife situations.

Anger can alsocome from experienc-ing trauma at any age.Many people have wit-nessed violence, seenpeople they love hurt,or been hurt them-

selves, especially in

urban environments. Ifwe lose someone, we feelpain. Where does that paingo?

As a society we dontdo a good enough job ofdealing with this, said

Jackson. Part of wherewe all struggle, particular-ly as African Americans, isthat we are not quick to goto therapy, either becausewe lack the resources,or because we just dontthink we need it. Thenthe sources of our anger

are not being addressed.

Couple that with the real-ity that we live in a societythat is still oppressive andfor many offers few op-tions. All of this can leadto making poor choicesfrom maladaptive behav-iors such as resorting toviolence, and to self-medi-cation with drugs and al-cohol. If you dont have astrong self-concept, thesecan begin, consciously orsubconsciously, to looklike tangible options foreasing your pain.

So what are the alterna-tives for helping adoles-cents and adults addresstheir anger and walk away

from conflict? The answerGetting help with anger management can have many positive impactsfor individuals, their families and entire communities.

Going through the program closed agap for us and helped us establish areal line of communication.

Gwen, a parent of a Starr Commonwealth participant

Chuck Jackson

By Jackie Berg

Aim high. Thats theadvice that AT&T RegionalVice President Greg Clarkgives to students when-

ever and wherever he getsthe opportunity.

Clark, who is responsi-ble for AT&T governmentrelations and communityaffairs initiatives state-wide, is among 260,000employees echoing themessage nationwide asa part of AT&Ts ASPIREcampaign.

The main objective ofour ASPIRE program issimple, says Clark. Wewant to help more stu-dents graduate from highschool ready for careersand college and, as impor-tant, ensure U.S. work-ers are better prepared to

meet global competition.

No one can deliver thatmessage better than theemployees of the globalcommunications giant,who are accustomed toexceeding consumer de-

mands 24/7.Employees like Clark

agree to provide unfil-tered, real life advice andmentorship to high schoolstudents who job shadowmentors in order to betterprepare them to competefor jobs in todays com-petitive workplace thatdemands job candidatesarrive work ready.

They get to see ourday-to-day demands first-hand, says Clark. Wetalk to the students attheir level, but definitelydont sugarcoat the re-alities of the rewards andrisks of the working world

and what it takes to not

AT&T campaign aims to helpelevate student aspirationsAim High

only survive, but thrive.The experience definitelydrives home the under-standing that educationmatters.

A lot of participantscome in with pretty un-realistic expectations, ac-cording to Clark, whose

primary goal is to makesure students leave notonly better informed, butinspired to stay in school.The emphasis pays enor-mous dividends.

On average, a highschool dropout earns25 percent less during

the course of his or herlifetime compared witha high school graduateand 57 percent less thana college graduate with abachelors degree.

You cant help butdevelop close personalrelationships with these

kids and to do all you canto support their personaland economic success,Clark continues. I haveto say that while we knowthat thousands of stu-dents have benefited fromASPIRE, the benefits have

Two students console each otherduring a restorative practice ses-sion. Marvin Shaouni photo

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