Our Youth Doing Great Things!

Young people doing great work...is eveyone listening? :


RICHMOND Students come forward to stem school violence At Kennedy High, nonprofit group teaches alternatives
Simone Sebastian, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, May 27, 2006

In the hallways of Kennedy High School in Richmond, a student effort is under way to use peer pressure to help prevent violence and change the school's tough image.

"When I was in middle school, I was terrified to come here," admitted Cassandra Salisbury, a junior who is part of the anti-violence program. "Seniors would tell me stories -- Kennedy has gang problems, you can get shot, you'll get stabbed. It's (because of) nobody opening up their eyes that we've kept this bad reputation. But we're trying."

Salisbury and scores of other students are working with a year-old anti-violence organization called Future Leaders for Peace, which identifies the most influential students and trains them to become role models by denouncing violence.

They are being trained, for example, to keep their ears open and to mediate disputes among students before trouble breaks out.

"We want to show that the leaders in the school are interested in preventing conflict, not starting it," said Jonathan Kathrein, a co-founder of the nonprofit organization, which has made Kennedy its flagship project. "That will start a ripple effect in the school and waves throughout the district."

Kathrein and his group of volunteers -- primarily a dozen UC Berkeley students and alumni -- spend several days a week at Kennedy working with students and administrators to strengthen the school's conflict mediation program and identify student mentors for local elementary schools, among other things.

By making students an active part of their school's turnaround, Kathrein believes Future Leaders for Peace gives them a sense of responsibility and a reason to avoid the allure of crime in their neighborhoods.

"That was the problem here -- we had no leaders at this school,'' said Richmond police Officer Delon Jackson, Kennedy's school resource officer. "Now we have kids telling each other to go to study hall. When they come here, they have to walk past drugs, pimps and prostitutes. So this is a safe haven for them."

Numerous youth anti-violence programs have formed and folded with varying degrees of success in Richmond, a city with a national reputation for murder and violence.
According to Richmond police Lt. Michael Booker, on-campus violence has decreased significantly at Kennedy in recent years even though officers are being called there more often -- from 60 times in 2003 to 74 times in 2005.

"It doesn't mean there was a crime increase," Booker said. "When the school is in a partnership (with the Police Department), they'll call a lot more than a school that doesn't have a relationship."

Kennedy's existing anti-violence programs have provided added support, leading the school to become nearly crime-free, he said.

"We use Kennedy as the flagship for the rest of the district," Booker said. "This is the school that has seen the most progress."

Future Leaders for Peace began its program at Kennedy in January and hopes to spread to other Richmond schools next year. Since starting the organization in 2005 with retired businessman Richard Hunter, Kathrein and 12 volunteers have provided workshops and speeches about conflict prevention and mediation at Bay Area schools from Berkeley to San Rafael.

Kathrein, 24, was inspired to start the organization after years of traveling and studying international conflicts as a student at UC Berkeley. He determined that his inspiration wasn't in Ireland or the Middle East.

"I realized we don't need to pay so much attention to the conflict across the world when there is conflict just across the fence," said Kathrein, who was born in Marin County. "Before you get to changing the world, you have to start with your family and community."

Kennedy, which has 861 students, is in the heart of one of Richmond's toughest neighborhoods. Children who grow up there learn the realities of death at young ages. As teenagers, they attend more funerals than graduations.

Royce Hughes, a junior at Kennedy, is a quarterback on the football team and one of the school's 16 conflict mediators. He said he worries about gunfire just walking to the grocery store.

As a kid, he played kickball with friends at a street corner near his home. Now he avoids the corner because of its reputation as a hotspot for crime, and he's stopped hanging out with most of those friends.

"They've been shot or they went to jail. I'm the only one that hasn't," Royce said. "I just told myself, I have to get away from these people and find some new friends."

E-mail Simone Sebastian at sisebastian@sfchronicle.com.