Word: carreras
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...summer jobs. "Many employers have stereotypes of black urban youth," says Mary Kay Penn, who manages the Milbank program. "It is very hard to persuade them to take these kids on, even when we pay the salary." But last summer Penn placed 75 of the kids in jobs, and Carrera added a silk-screening program so they could learn to design and sell T shirts...
Though contraception is available -- prescribed by a doctor with parental consent -- Carrera knows that access to birth control is not enough. "When kids are empowered with information and stimulated by hope for the future, it has a contraceptive effect," says Carrera. "Education. Employment. Their own bank accounts. Good health. Family involvement. Self-esteem. These are also contraceptives. It's the total fabric that is important." Carrera also teaches them how to play sports, like squash, that rely on individual discipline and control. "Whenever you posit a single solution to a complex problem, you are not as successful...
Success in Carrera's program brings a substantial reward. Under an agreement made with former Hunter College President Donna Shalala, students who graduate from high school and complete Carrera's program are guaranteed admission to Hunter. So far, 15 participants, teens and parents, have enrolled; Shavon Glover, a mother at 15, before she met Carrera, was the first. "I always had college in the back of my mind, but I didn't think I could do it," Glover says. "When I met Mike, everything started lifting...
Since his initial success at the Milbank Center, Carrera has expanded his program to include two other community centers in Harlem, one of which is in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Carrera receives financial support from New York City's Childrens Aid Society and devotes many hours each week to fund raising from private as well as public sources. The cost for each teenager is about $1,500 a year, and the paid staff members are all indigenous to the community. "Most adolescent pregnancy programs are headed by white female social workers," says Cary Dixon, a 48-year-old black...
...role model, particularly for the many boys who don't have fathers at home. "When I grew up, families were there to teach kids that there are certain boundaries," he recalls. "Now there is no discipline in their lives. Kids' lives are like basketball played without lines." He believes Carrera's approach holds promise. "By keeping these kids on a clear education track, by having them understand the importance of delaying pregnancy and by including parents, Mike is doing what others aren't," he says...