Officials in East Cleveland have long dreamed of offering children new pastimes to complement their interests in drugs and gangs. Now a $750,000 grant could make it happen.
The newly created East Cleveland Teen Collaborative will steer kids toward summer jobs and extracurricular activities, and away from thug life. “The concept of jobs as a means for young people to support themselves and their families can stop the lifestyle belief that they have to sell drugs and harm people,” says Joy Jordan, president of East Cleveland City Council. Jordan introduced legislation backing a similar program four years ago, but it stalled when the city remembered it has no money.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2011.
