Someone Tell Lloyd McKell!

   Last Friday I wrote about Lloyd McKell's moron-minded idea of setting up a blacks-only school to help black students on the edge of becoming drop-outs. I'd like to draw your attention to someone else's idea today, someone who is dealing with the same kind of kids, and doing it in a far more positive and worthwhile manner.
   David Lockett, co-founder of PACT (Participation, Acknowledgement, Commitment and Transformation), a non-profit group that gives young offenders a second chance, came up with the idea of social entrepreneurship, wherein concerned citizens use their skills and ideas to build a healthier community. Last year, he brought Marjorie Agnew, owner of a kitchenware store on board, and her $10,000. was used to start up a cooking school that takes the kids through a six-week course. The cooking school began last February, in the upper-level kitchen of a Loblaws store. Two classes have graduated so far, and a third is scheduled to begin on Sept. 26.
   Lockett looks to this kind of involvement to gradually break the cycle of youth violence. There are some terrible offences committed by youthful offenders that do require jail time and punishment, but a majority of youth offences are less serious in nature. What is required is a response that will give the young offender a chance to turn themselves around, to avoid further involvement in the circumstances that led them into trouble in the first place. ''The whole idea is for the community to raise the kids,'' says Lockett.
   Students who could benefit are referred to the program by crown attorneys and probation officers. These are kids who have been in trouble with the law and ordered to perform community service in restitution for their acts. They often have trouble finding a meaningful placement, because many social agencies can't afford to take them on, and others just give them some mindless assignment to keep them busy and out of everyone's way for the required length of time. Given that 43 per cent of Canadian youth who are convicted will be charged again within a year, the system does not seem to one of high success rates.
   "What these kids need to turn their lives around are new skills, a new environment and a chance to contribute. This project works at every level. They get out of their neighbourhood, see teamwork, have choices.", says Lockett. The classes are co-ed and interracial, as determined by the group enrolled in any session. There are no blacks-only classes.
   Lockett is really getting into all this and now he's busily working to expand the concept, developing a job registry for the class participants and setting up a scholarship for kids who complete the course and come back as volunteers. Marjorie Agnew, in the meanwhile, is turning to her suppliers and associates, and exhorting them to get involved in similar projects.
   The previous courses ended with a banquet prepared and served to seniors, and the next course will culminate with the graduates presenting food baskets to low-income families. This gives the students an opportunity to see their efforts greeted with pleasure and appreciation, a reaction that may be a brand new experience for them. It's the very first taste of success for some of the participants, and it might be just enough to make them want more, to help them avoid future involvement with the law.
   Ending the classes with the act of giving to others is akin to aboriginal, or restorative justice, an approach that has shown positive results in reducing recidivism rates. A restorative justice approach to problem-solving can be used in the schools, with much greater success than segregating the races can provide.
   Of course, restorative justice is not the magic solution to all the difficulties faced by problem youth, but it will do a lot more to help than what we currently do. Cooking classes are not going to be the best activity for every youth with a problem, either, but they're definitely a step in the right direction, unlike the backward retreat into segregation that McKell espouses.