Teen Empowerment
Teen Club. The place was hopping and very full. I felt uneasy watching teenage girls new to our program “talk to each other” with their eyes. Almost undetectable gestures, odd shifts in their seats and an eye “ language” that took some time to decode. I knew these new girls were friends of a regular Teen Club attender who had been feuding with another long-term Teen Club girl.
I caught a slight nod towards one girls ankle. Soon I spotted a glint of silver in the girls sock. I walked determinedly to the girl, squatted down and distracted her by asking her name and what school she went to. Then I grabbed for the “silver”. Many around me were startled when I pulled out an eight-inch switchblade. “How dare you? Get out of here!” I thundered. I escorted the teen and her friends out.
This was not the first time that there were weapons, the threat of violence or actual violence at Teen Club.
As a way to minimize the opportunities for trouble that can often accompany large group gatherings in the inner city, we focused on splitting our large group up into small groups each week. For a while, this seemed to work.
One hot summer evening when I met with one these small groups, a thirteen year-old girl spoke openly about her upcoming “surgery”. Unselfconsciously she talked about her cervical cancer and the surgery needed to correct it. I couldn’t tell if she knew that cervical cancer at that age is triggered by having multiple sex partners.
This interaction rattled me not only because she had cervical cancer at age thirteen, but because I did not know her struggle, and worse – I did not know her name.
No more large teen groups. I know they can serve a purpose, but I wasn’t buying it anymore. Big is fun. Advertising big numbers is even more fun. But not knowing who is walking in the door or the pain or violence they may bring with them is unacceptable.
Therefore, for the past five years, we the POTC staff, have worked cooperatively with each other to establish a remarkably wholistic set of intersecting teen programs. It all came together during the past ministry year. When teens walk through our doors they receive, as one of our directors called it, “a serious multivitamin, covering all teen needs four days a week!”
Life Skills, Job Readiness, Regents Diploma Prep, Advocacy [at home and in school], Creative Arts [poetry slam, theatre, choir, private music lessons], Small Business Development and Spiritual Growth which is woven throughout POTC programming.
Seriously. Peace of the City teens are part of an extended family as we now are so much more in touch with the realities of their lives- as it should be.
