[CrimsonTide4]

Glimpse at hope for troubled teens

One was 18. Three were 15. Two were 14. Another one was 16, and two were 17. They announced their hometowns as such places as Sweetwater, Campbell County, Jackson, Chattanooga, Greeneville, Crockett County and Nashville.

On this particular night, they came in shackles and they left in shackles, but what happened in between perhaps matters most.


http://www.tennessean.com/opinion/co...nt_ID=52650895


''It's so delightful to be here,'' Tennessee Children's Services Department Commissioner Viola Miller said last Thursday night as she addressed the nine girls and others from the Nashville community who had been invited to the dinner by Harper and other members of her Delta Sigma Theta sorority. ''This kind of thing enriches your life.''

As for the girls, Miller said, ''this is an opportunity for you to grow and thrive.''

Since 1993, members of Delta Sigma Theta have been going out to Woodland Hills once a month to encourage the girls being held there to be successful once they get out of confinement.

''It's a stop-off point,'' Harper said of Woodland Hills. ''We tell the girls to enjoy life while they are there and to follow the rules.

''We got involved because we wanted to see what we could do to have an impact in these young women's lives. We also wanted to experience the joy in having some impact in their lives.''

If you don't think that matters, I wish you could have been in the ballroom Thursday night when Cathy Bell, the new superintendent of Woodland Hills, said, ''It's wonderful to see people who care about children and give them time.''

For juveniles, as well as adults, the more connection to society that they can keep while incarcerated the better their chances for success once they are back in society, said Ryan King, a research associate with The Sentencing Project.

''This is especially important for juveniles,'' said King, whose Washington-based organization advocates for change in the nation's crime policies. ''Adults, who are older, have already been formed emotionally, but juveniles are still developing.

''Any time you can show them that they haven't been forgotten, the benefits will be greater than hiding them away.''

There were a few educators present, a Metro police officer, a Tennessee highway patrol officer and at least two ministers.

As Harper said, Woodland Hills should just be a bump in the road for those youngsters who are sent there to pay their debt to society for getting in trouble with the law.

And yes, while they're locked up they should definitely do what they're supposed to do. But it's also good for them to know there are people on the outside willing to help them become successful in life once they have served their time.

And, as the members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority have shown for the past 11 years, you don't have to wait until these youngsters are released to show them how to be successful. All you have to do is make that one call to volunteer your services.

The smiles on these youngsters' faces will tell you how much they appreciate it.



I really did only provide excerpts. Kudos to this Tennessee chapter of DST.