Better for exercise and for the body in every way, imagine him tending his own farm after school, each day, earning more money than he could selling drugs (not that he would do that), and eating and feeding his family and community well. Does his family own their yard, where he may farm... or could he farm your yard... or is there a community gardening program in the neighborhood? If not, call Maurice Small for ideas...

Disrupt IT

I will try and get him a pitchfork, but honestly he just wants to play baseball.  We don't have a nearby team.  The closest organized sports are at Estabrook and O-ball on the other side of the bridge...not friendly territory for Montel. 

We have a great park in W.C. Reed field, but nothing much happens there for the kids in the neighborhood.  Although, Horizon Science Academy deserves credit for using the space to give their kids some fresh air and exercise.  I will keep you posted on Montel.  He is a great kid.  I want him to make it.

What to do with the KIDS???

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/03/a_new_picture_of_the_future_fo.html

Jester6:

Mcfly – 

You are missing the point. These people probably won’t brag about it but they have essentially given up on CMSD. And you could make an argument that they have given up on city government too. 

 

When these people decided they wanted to stay in Ohio City but CMSD was not good enough they did not leave. They did not try to fix CMSD either. The started their own school. 

 

When they want a T-ball league they didn’t call up the local rec center. They started their own flippin’ T-ball league.  

 

No protests. No chants about justice and peace. No candle light vigils. No press conferences. They did not lobby some branch of the local government to take care of them. They did it themselves. 

 

I don’t live in Ohio City but know people who do. I have been following this story since West Side Family Network started their school a few years ago. 

 

Cleveland offers very affordable housing, lower taxes than the suburbs and very short commutes. Sure the city and schools are basically dysfunctional. But when you consider the lower taxes and housing costs you can live in Ohio City (or Tremont or Detroit-Shoreway or Old Brooklyn) and send your kid to a great private school for what it could cost to live in the suburbs and send your kid to a mediocre public school. 

 

BTW, David Quolke from the Cleveland Teacher’s Union asked the school board to not to give these folks space in basement of their local elementary school for the charter. In the end the folks in Ohio City won the battle. 

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/06/west_side_... 

Laura McShane:
I wish folks did not use aliases here - it undermines the credibility of the post - but Jester6 is absolutely correct in his assessment of the charter school started by Eric Wobser who heads up the Ohio City CDC and Rich Piiparinen who is mothpiece working on behalf of the Land Bank aka Thriving Communities WRLC. The underlying racism inherent in the "my kids" are too good for Cleveland Schools is a never ending saga all the more ironic, because Mr. Wobser used public CDC monies to campaign for Issue 107 (sending out email requests to residents with endorsement for the school levy and port issue). Look you guys - when I was your age, I worked for the CDCs and tried to understand the political process in NEO. I tutored at Tremont School and coached the softball league. And, it's great that you have the same energy. But, your story is no different than the folks in Old Brooklyn who have done the same thing with O-ball and Old Brooklyn Constellation School (charter). This is the same story over and over.

My friend actually went back to look for these boys - so she could give them baseball equipment - give them something to do besides getting in to trouble.  

Sad for this young man at a recreation center in Cleveland - why was he not inside the building and engaged in some activity to keep him from this behavior? We'll never know.  And, it is not our place to blame the police - after all, the gangs have targeted rec centers for retribution when one of their recruits fall out of favor w/the "squad."  It is not as simple as everyone wants to make it - and it is not about skin color.  It is about raising our boys.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/11/father_of_child_fatally_shot_b.html

Quote from Eric J. Brewer:

"One federal law basically drove fathers and working families out of public housng. The Brooke Amendment sponsored by black U.S. Senator Edward Brookes of Massachusetts. I think Brooke thought he was helping with a 25 percent cap on the amount of money that could be taken from a family household's income for public housing rent. The net effect was that at 25 percent working families could afford market rating housing at that amount, so they left starting around 1969 and throughout the 1970's. Before ... rent had been based on a sliding income scale. Two parent household public housing families with men in charge were replaced with one parent, single mother headed household families. That very bad law created the very impoverished lifestyles that has dominated public housing since then."