wfn.org | Conflict-resolution skills turn youth around

[BethAH@mbm.org]

September 27, 2000
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinators
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

Communication, conflict-resolution skills turn youth around

TAMPA, Fla. (MBM) – Shantia didn’t like authority and she didn’t
hesitate to let her mother and teachers know it.

As a result, Shantia had to repeat sixth grade at Dowdell Middle
School in Tampa, Fla.  But that gave her a second chance to hear
the important life lessons taught by Walter Crawford in his 3R
Project classes.

“Her attitude was real bad,” Crawford says.  “Listening and
obeying authority was something she simply refused to do.”

She made good on her second chance, though, receiving the Most
Turned-Around Student Award.  Now, as a seventh grader, Shantia
serves as an office helper and has even spoken to Crawford’s
classes about the lessons she learned.

Shantia’s story illustrates exactly what Crawford wants to
accomplish with the Tampa 3R Project, started in 1992 by College
Hill Mennonite Church to make a difference in Tampa’s urban
problems.

The three R’s of the project are:
? Reality - dealing with the daily situations the students face,
both at school and at home.
? Religion - talking about choices and consequences.
? Recycle - having the students who have had success in the
program, like Shantia, return to tell their stories to others.

Crawford, senior associate pastor at College Hill, teaches the 3R
program at Dowdell Middle School in the Clair-Mel-Palm River
area, a middle-class neighborhood on Tampa’s southeast side.
Although most of his classes are with sixth graders, he also
teaches seventh graders. During a weekly peer session and during
summer classes, he also includes eighth graders.
A rainbow of Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and
Indians make up his classes.  Last year, through his sixth- and
seventh-grade classes, he made contact with about 1,100 students.

His lesson topics include communication skills, relationships
with parents and teachers, sexual relationships, conflict
resolution and positive attitudes, all taught in an interactive
manner with the kids.

“There’s nothing they can’t ask me, but I will answer it
factually,” Crawford says.

Although he makes it clear that College Hill Mennonite Church
sponsors the program, he enjoys the support of the principal, the
teachers and the parents.  Parents must sign a consent form for
their child to participate in the classes, but Crawford says it
is rare not to receive that permission.

Teachers support the program because 3R projects, like an
essay-writing contest, mesh well with their classroom goals.  But
they also see a difference in the kids.

“I tell the teachers I’ll show them at least a 20- percent
reduction in bad behavior,” Crawford says.  “They can see the
difference at the end of the year.”

Through his interaction with teachers and parents, and the
black-and-white proof on the report cards, Crawford knows
students benefit from his classes.

But he does more than just teach in the classroom.  He makes home
visits to talk with parents, serving as a liaison between the
teachers and the community.

He also teaches the parents.  Three times a year he gathers the
parents, serves them a meal, and encourages them to be good
parents.

“I give constructive criticism,” Crawford says.  “A lot of
parents don’t have time to be parents because they’re always
working.”

He urges networking between parents, and between parents and
teachers, to give the children a solid foundation for learning
and for life.

“We want to see these kids raised in the best way possible,” he
says.

Some of the parents and other members of the community volunteer
to mentor the children, or to serve as role models with short
classroom presentations.  Others help Crawford teach the classes.

Fundraisers and other activities throughout the year make the 3R
Project a community event.

Crawford has had requests to expand the program and said he
thinks it could be adapted to the elementary level.

“I see the need instead of going higher to go lower in the
elementary,” he says.

Originally, the 3R Project conducted classes in several Tampa
schools, but Crawford felt he could better communicate his
message by concentrating on one school.  Since he begins teaching
at the sixth-grade level, he can track the progress of the
students as they advance to seventh and eighth grades.

Crawford’s goal, though, reaches beyond making better students.
He wants to build a better community through better
communication.

“In 10 or 20 years from now, hopefully we’ll get some good
leaders,” he says.  “I put them in God’s hands and keep them in
my prayers that they’ll be the kind of leaders we want in this
community.”

One of them could be Shantia.  After years of defying authority
at every turn, she now talks seriously about becoming a teacher.

* * *

Gary Kauffman