Connections: Building Bridges To Adulthood; Hogg Teleconference; Pt. 4 no music

Sorry, it's a blast to take a deep breath. We funded them. Now with the idea that if it worked, we could expand it, we could replicate it as Mike said. Today it's in the high schools, it's not only helping dropouts but potential dropouts. So those are the kinds of programs we're looking for.

And what about the idea of trying to get small businesses though, mom and pop businesses involved? Because again it does sound as though you have a lot of people, a lot of resources, Mike. Well I think a key there is trying to understand what's important to that small business. Look at it from their eyes. And it's just any business if you can see what's in it for you then you're going to be more likely to participate. It sounds like you're talking again about passion because you had a story Sam about someone who got involved. The mother I believe it was, might have been Mike. Yes, well I think that was an example we talked about where there was a lady I heard about last week. A housewife and a small town in Texas, four kids. She wasn't working in the outside world and she didn't see her community going anywhere. And she did the research, she talked to the people at the state level, she talked to other businesses that she read about. And she took back and got people around her, she was a champion. And she saw a future for that town and really was a catalyst for making it.

So you need someone who's going to take the lead, take charge, whether in your business or in a small community. And another thing small businesses need sometimes is some support to get them involved. I think one of the better programs that is a good example of that is adopted school program around the country. In Austin there are over 800 adopters that have adopted a school. Well the majority of those 800 businesses are small business. They needed some organization to get involved. Absolutely. Okay, now we are going to be taking calls from those of you in the audience. So we are going to remind you to check with your conference site coordinator and get the number. Call, we'll call you back and let you know when you're on the air. And again, don't wait to the last minute to call Lara our panelists. Now we're going to also draw into this conversation, Grant Thomas and Ted Blevins. Because both of you have had dealings in trying to include the business community in programs that help adolescents. Ted, what question did you have that you want to do?

Well, I know that this is not a new effort. And Sam, the federal government has made many attempts at the same effort. How effective has it been and what level of implementation have we seen? Well, the latest one is the job training partnership act. I was privileged to be on the original private industry council in Austin, which really distributes those funds and try to overseas how it should be done. And it started off, the idea is great. That's to get the private sector involved in getting people trained and getting them jobs. The problem that's happened is it's evolved over the last five years. And we've had more and more regulations where you're spending more time trying to figure out what you're supposed to do as opposed to getting people jobs and getting them trained. So I think we need to really look at what our goal is and not worry about how we ought to go about it. So I'm not so sure they're working. So does business pick up the slack for government then? Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, I think business can and would like to, but they don't want to get involved in all of the regulations that go with it. Okay, Ted, you wanted to make a good example of how the private sector and business and business to business can make the connections to help our young people. And they generate it from within the need of the community. That's right. Also, I think one point you to raise is that if someone does come to you, do you expect them or how do you react when they're saying, all right, will we solely depend on IBM or solely depend on Southwestern Bell for funding? Is that a smart move? No, we are all looking for partnerships and we're looking for ways that we can leverage our resources. Like everybody, we have limited resources. So the more people who are participating, more companies, more organizations, then typically the better chance for success. Okay, great. It seems to me that an advantage of business involvement is that businesses are results oriented. They're looking to the bottom line before they invest in anything, emotionally, financially or otherwise.

They want to get some sense. We're going to what's going to come out of this. And I think that might be a breadth of fresh air for the schools, if you will, to encourage or even force people to look at what are your outcomes that are going to do. What is the bottom line? If it didn't money, what is it? Right. One point on that that I would add too. I think as you look back at the way we've operated in the past, we've typically looked too much at the short term, and we've really focused more on not really on the root causes, but the symptoms of the problems. And I think we're learning from that, and we're being longer term focused in those projects that we get involved. And we don't just involve our money, but when you get us, you don't just, you get more than our money, you get our people as well. Yes. I just wanted to ask both Mike and Sam, it's clear that you all as individuals, your companies, are aware that business cannot afford not to get involved. To what extent is that true of the business world as a whole? Have you seen some shift in terms of a greater awareness on the part of the business community

that it's not only a nice thing to do, but a wise and necessary thing to do? I have. I think over the last five years, when we've seen more businesses understand Mike's point about they have to be involved. I think the number of particularly small businesses, large businesses have always kind of been out there. But the small businesses, I think, are now beginning to see that they really can make a difference. So I've seen the trend going up. I have no statistics, but I've certainly observed that. Let me give an example, Kenneth. Last August, we had a summit conference about how we as business people could get more involved in the schools. Had chamber leaders from across the state come to that meeting afterwards, over 200 organizations signed up to support. Today, we've got well over 300 people working on task forces, and those people pay their money to travel and their money to participate. And those are large and small businesses, educators, community leaders. Okay. Now again, we are waiting for your calls to encourage you to call,

because I know we have had a number of people express interest in how to go about expanding their resources, how to find funding. And these are the guys who have the answers. So go ahead and call as soon as you can. Don't wait till the last minute, and perhaps not get your answer right away. And again, if you do have additional questions, we will have shortly after this particular segment, we will have another question and answer session. But specifically right now, we are dealing with the business community, and it's involvement with young people. I think a real important point that Sam made with our kids, is that the business world does have that link to reality. And these young people have to test their abilities in that environment. And many times, they're going to have a couple of failures before they succeed. And the sooner that they can experience this, the easier it will be for us to make that adult transition. And it's a matter of learning responsibility.

And as I've talked to business after business, they've got to be here for one new thing with them. And that's how the partnership works. The related point is, Sam, I heard you say twice, use the term relevance, as a key to the impact of business on kids in schools. And I heard you use the term, you know, there's a school here in the real world here. And I think that the business world is closer to the real world, in terms of you've got to be there. I mean, there's a very valid reason for attendance, if you will. I wonder if the business world would have anything to share with the school to help impart to kids that the school, too, is a real world. And that some of the values and expectations that pertain in the business world pertain in the world of the school as well. Well, you know, it is more and more of becoming a partnership. And I think we can help in a number of ways in the school. In addition to the mentoring idea, we can help in development of administrators and teachers. We've learned from our own mistakes.

And we're really getting into a participative mode in the school. And we can share that kind of experience with the schools. Really, the schools need to be a center for the community, a center of learning for the community. You know, we want to make sure that we are letting people know there. There's some, we want to be realistic about this rather and let them know that that there are some challenges that they may have to deal with. And what are some of the challenges? What are some of the hurdles they might have to overcome to make sure that there is a good business youth relationship or program? Patients, I think, we've got a build trust. And, you know, we don't have all the answers and I don't think any of us do. And it's a two-way street. We learn from that process, and I've talked to so many business people say, gosh, I didn't realize it was like that in the school. And that, you know, so you learn from that, and it really increases your appreciation for the problems that we face. And you say?

I would say one of the biggest benefits is that if you can get business in schools to talk, to just start the process of communicating a lot of opportunities will come out just because they're talking to each other. We've seen that time and time again. There's no one formula. It's really got to be customized to each individual, each business at each school. So if we can get more integration and communicating, I think a lot of things will happen. Okay, we do have a phone call and it's from Donna Reed in Waco. Go ahead, Donna. Yes, you mentioned earlier in the program a problem that had been very successful as far as students who had dropped out or were considering dropping out. Could you elaborate on that and give some specific details about it? Thank you. Are you talking about the communities in schools? Probably the communities in schools program. And it's not for kids who have dropped out, but rather for at-risk students, which, you know, that itself probably needs some discussion. But it's spreading across the state.

It's now there's some legislation that has allowed more money to go into it. But it does take quite a bit of funding to make it work because you put counselors in the schools and counselors cost money. But it also seeks volunteers around the counselors. Donna, did that answer your question? Is there a program geared toward the people who have already dropped out? Yes, yes. There is an organization in Austin called the Creative Rapid Learning Center. I encourage you to call them. They have had outstanding success. For example, in three or four months period of time, they've been able to move students grade level, one or two grade levels in reading and math. It's a competency-based learning system. Highly individualized uses a lot of technology. And it's been very successful. And we're moving that into the high schools. I think there are 60 some odd centers like that across the state. And more and more public schools are incorporating those alternative learning centers.

The Hershey List Bedford area has a key center that's very just outstanding. And Arlington has started the venture school. So there are more and more that are popping up. And I think that's the key that individualized, customized approach to learning is very helpful. Okay, then. And now we have a question from Temple. And this one comes from Ron Fleming. My question is directed to both Mike and to Sam. I'm aware that both of you have had somewhat of a very direct and intimate involvement in Texas. An involvement in training system. Sam, through his prior experience and membership with the Austin Travis County Privacy Council. And Mike with your involvement on the governor's task force. I'd like to know if both of you would each briefly discuss how local communities and businesses can establish working community networks to serve youth through the local private industry council through their utilization of the job training partnership background. I for one think that if the private industry council had more options from small businesses, they probably could could develop and implement more programs.

I think they have a limited number of businesses that are willing to cooperate with them. And I think if we had more encouragement from the business community to get more options, I think they could do a much better job more effective. Sam, does that answer your question? Let me add to Ron's question. I think that a real key here is networking. And that private industry councils alone can't do it. Community colleges alone can't do it. The high schools alone can't do it. And the many service agencies that are out there. So what we've got to do is we've got to come together as a community and tie those services together. Now, I'm participating in the, you mentioned on the credits on the screen, North Central Texas Interlink is such an activity. We're focusing all the elements of education and the business community together on the labor market needs and what it's going to take to get kids prepared to go into the jobs that we've got.

Okay, Ron, did you have something else you wanted to ask of him? Okay, again, talking about that idea of identifying what the labor force is going to be like. I think that was a very, very solid point. And okay, now I'm told that we have another question. And this one comes from Brenda Gomez in Edinburgh. Go ahead, Brenda. Yes. I want to know what strategy do you offer and trying to convince local business people to help needed children? To help need children? To help needy children. In other words, how to get them involved in programs that help young people? In my company, just talk to us. We're out there and we're very involved. For instance, we've got a program in the valley right now that's aiming at making math and science more fun and creating more of an interest in early childhood. And of course, I mentioned the communities and schools project earlier.

And we've had a number of businesses that, yeah, how can we help? And that's a part of it is just to understand what is out there and what's needed. Okay, we're going to take another phone call. This one is from Marsha West. We are glad you called back, Martha. And she's from Fort Worth. Go ahead. Thank you very much. My question is for Mike. It sounded like when you were mentioning the meeting in August, Mike, that maybe you were talking about Fort Worth's project C cubed. And I thought if that was what you were talking about, it might be interesting for other people to hear you elaborate a little bit on that program. That what you were talking about. I wasn't, but I think it is good to mention that because Fort Worth had mentioned earlier this idea of networking. Well, they've got the business community in Fort Worth and all of the elements of the education community focusing on where we go in with our education system. And how do we get there together? How do we get the kids prepared? What I was talking about was a meeting that took place in Austin in which Chambers all around the state came together to build those kinds of local partnerships.

And that was the creation of the Texas Business and Education Coalition. And the C cubed project in Fort Worth is one example, the A plus project in Austin is another example. Yes, it was the Texas Business and Education Coalition. It's a broad partnership of businesses and educators across the state who are zeroing in on how do we increase learning in our schools. Now, that's a very complex long-term undertaking involving various associations, agencies, businesses, service groups across the storm. I'm sorry, I hear you. And if I may amend something you said earlier about if and when businesses and schools are going to work together, the operative word is patience. Because I can recall an example about seven years ago when I was involved on a task force in Austin, which was supposed to be a joint effort between school people and businesses to address the dropout problem. One of the people who was originally on that group was somebody who was with the Chamber of Commerce who was used to dealing with business people. After two or three meetings, she got so to she said to me, I can't deal with this because there's a lot when all is said and done so much more it's been said than done.

She was used to a business atmosphere where you know it results immediately and she got tired inpatient if you will and dropped out. If she'd stayed involved, she might have helped school people adopt some of her approach to problem solving. Okay, let's take on another phone call and we have one from Austin, Diana, Castanilla, go ahead, Diana. Hello, I'm Diana Castanilla and I work with the Lone Star Girl Scout Council and I understand that IBM is developing a model school program or district. And I'm wondering what that entails and if they could tell us, Mr. Zagrowski can tell us what that entails and how organizations like Girl Scouts and Girls Club and Boys Club help. Okay, let's do it. I'm assuming you are referring to the partnership with IBM and the Austin Independent School District called Project A+. As Mike said, it's a very complex subject. What we are essentially trying to do is work with the district and the community which would include all of the organizations that you mentioned in trying to develop a school district that would become world class.

We have just started that. We have not even been out of the year and what we're trying to do right now is to define as CQB is in Fort Worth, what should the ultimate outcome be of an educational system? But please call me. I'll be glad to get with you and we can see how you can get involved. Diana, did you have something else you wanted to add that perhaps it didn't require as much additional information but something we could answer right now? Well, I'm not sure that I have a question anymore except that I will call him but I do want to let you all know that Girl Scouts is working with a program called Project Cells that directed at Risk Girls and it's primarily directed at Girls in the Hispanic and Black community. And we're presently working it with housing authorities and neighborhoods and recreation departments. So I think that we would have a good partnership here. Someone's got a foot in the door. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Diana. And now we'll take a call from Odessa from William Queen Nana. Go ahead, William.

My question is both for Mike or Sam. We're for a nonprofit organization and we're concerned with counseling adolescents who currently abuse substances. My question is to Mike, he mentioned that IBM was able to provide as well as some with Bill. Maybe people are interested in donating time to the program such as ours and also I'm interested in funding since our program is nonprofit. How can we go about getting information about qualifying for funding and the type of agencies or organizations? Both of Mike and Sam are fun. Send me the information or call me. I will take a look at it. We've got, we emphasize that to our employees that it's a way of life with us that we owe something back to the communities in which we live. And so we've got volunteers out there would be very interested in looking at the program.

Sam, did you want to add something? I would second the same thing. Sure. Okay. And again, we want to remind people who are at our conference sites that your phone numbers, our panelists, phone numbers and their addresses are in your resource books. So we do hope that you look through those thoroughly because it's already starting to sound as though they will come in handy. And Ted, did you have something that you wanted to bring up? Well, I think it's just important for us to understand that there are two real critical factors in transitioning young people. Into adulthood, education and employment. And if we can accomplish those two things, we have launched them. We have been the springboard. And it's going to take this center connection between the business and the schools and the private sector service agencies to accomplish that. And this is a good starting point for our state. These coalitions were developing. Okay. All right. Then now what we're going to do in just a moment is take a brief break. We will be taking more questions for those of you who are interested in talking to our panelists about the business youth connection. So stay with us and those of you who want to take a brief break to discuss this among yourselves. This is the opportunity and then we'll be seeing you.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. We'll continue our discussion on the connections between the business community and adolescents.

Now, Mike, you mentioned that you have some examples of some other programs that are worthwhile, that are helping reaching out to you. Well, and what I was talking about is what is going on in A-plus and Austin and C-Cubed and Fort Worth, their communities across the state that those kind of partnerships are popping up. Long view, the globe effort, greater long view, organization, I've forgotten what to say before. And it's from business and education together. Corpus Christi just had a summit conference yesterday. 2,000 people understand attended that. Arlington has got an Arlington Partners program that is working to get more community involvement in the school. So it's just I think something that's really on it. It's a groundswell that is very positive for this state. And also, what about the point again of getting the employee, one employee involved and pushing this kind of program within the business?

Can you tell me how important it is? Well, that's very important. I think the leadership of the business have got to be role models. Once they get involved and it's visible, then it's okay for employees to do that. And you've got to support them. You've got to give them a little time off or buy some punching cookies once in a while. But I think it's got to start with the leadership and they've got to get involved. And then it kind of flows from there. Another factor with that, with our young people, is that we know that what makes a difference in a young person's life is a significant other person. And many times that's the mentor. That's that's that business mom and pop operation or the foreman. And that adult being the role model and being involved in their life makes a difference and it's one on one. I think the other observation we're seeing here about the groundswell is it's important for us to realize that this isn't hopeless. There's a lot of hope here that we are responding as communities to meet a need and we're doing it. Okay, and that's a critical factor. Now let's go to our phone calls. We have one from Homer Gonzalez in Edinburgh. Go ahead, Homer.

Yes, my question is I'm working at juvenile correction study and we sometimes have very, you know, hardworking young men equal to work. But the problem is getting local private businesses to give an opportunity to work. How do we get them to give them that chance? Who can respond to that? Well, that's tough. I think I can. One of the things that we have found in that process is that the cost of an employer to process a young person through their personnel department, have some problems. We talked about patients. There will be problems. It's really a great response. What we found with some employers is they've had assembly lines or products they're producing. They're saying you contract with us to produce that part of our product. And we'll contract with you as an agency or program. And that way we'll see how your students or your residents succeed. And those that succeed, we will help them become a part of our regular workforce. We have to reduce the risk of those employers.

We also must say to those employers, we will have the workers there for you. They must have that count on. A foreman, a person in charge of production, they have to produce the product. We can't stop the production line to say, our youth didn't show up or there was a problem. So dependability, a person to contact if there's a problem. And then some innovative employment techniques such as contract labor to save the employer a lot of outside cost. Homer, does that answer your question? I guess it does. Okay, all right then. And Grant, you had something that you wanted to address. Yeah, but back to Homer's question. I think you'd be interesting to have Homer contact the station in, I don't know, two, three, four weeks, however long. And report on how I think your advice makes sense. Whether or not that advice translates into actual action on the part of businesses would be something interesting to find out. Well, and I think we too have to remember it's a long term process. And that's one of the benefits of these partnerships that we're talking about.

Because as we both, both sides of the equation, educators and business community understand each other's problems focused on how do we get the kids in a position to be productive. Those kind of opportunities arise. And we'll see, for instance, we've got, we're going to have to test about 24,000 applicants to find 5,000 employees for our company over the next four years. Now, if we can cut down on that process, have those kids ready to take those jobs. Well, then we've saved everybody a lot of grief and expense. What about the, again, we've talked about the personal commitment and we've seen some mentoring. And that might be intimidating to someone who wants to get in this kind of program thinking it's going to require a lot of my time. I might be getting calls at one, two o'clock in the morning from someone in trouble. How do you address that that kind of concern? Well, you first of all go into it very slow. You can, your commitment might be as little as one hour a week. That may be all you, all you are willing to do or can do.

Doing what? Being a mentor, visiting with a child at lunchtime on every Thursday afternoon. That means a lot to that child, as Ted said, and it gives that business from that person the opportunity contribute. It can go all the way to expecting a phone call at 1 a.m. in the morning. And I think you have to set your boundaries in what your commitment is early. And then, and then just do it slow. Don't try to get rolled in. Yeah, it sounds to if you're rolling, if you're working with a youth program to find out what the expectations are then. Right, right. Okay, so you don't. Let me add to that in a little bit different way. Going back to advice to businesses is, you know, when you think about it, we're the greatest source of parents. And one of the things that we really need to do is to emphasize to our employees good parenting techniques and the importance of being involved with their kids. And we're starting to look at that internally and look at the kinds of things that we can do from tips to brown bag lunches that focus on the subject, et cetera.

And so, you know, that is a kind of thing that helps the mentoring, because it helps it right there at the home. You know, you do hear about a lot of business programs, but there are some that seem to just turn into programs that provide businesses with cheap labor. Why does that happen? How does that happen? Where say someone recruits a young person to come in and, oh, stock shelves or something? And that may be all there is to it. How can we avoid that kind of thing? Well, I don't know anybody that's doing that. I'm sure that it may not be intentional, but maybe it just comes out that way. We're in that. I think the focus that I feel is there is that we're not in that for a short term deal. We're in it to far long term pay off and not just our company, but to the community at large. If a business is doing that, then at least they're providing a source of where the young person can come in and develop a sense of responsibility, a sense that they're contributing to some degree.

It may be short term and it may not be the best focus, but there is even some advantage in that. I agree with that. What we do not want any child taking advantage of, I hate to see young people lose out on job opportunities because a small business can't afford a higher wage. And that there should be some latitude for training reimbursement that gives them the opportunity to learn just to turn them away because it's too expensive is a greater lost to our young people. But in this kind of situation also, what would be the responsibility of the employer? Do you as the employer say I have someone working for you? Do I demand to see their report card? Do I want to find out how they're doing in school at home? We certainly would like to see that. We'd like to see that there's a reinforcement of the educational activities of the young person that there's a balance in their life. And that mentor through that employment can do that. And we see it happen very naturally with many employers.

That's not a bad idea, though. I just occurred to me, as you mentioned, though. For instance, there are a lot of, I'm trying to plug McDonald's, but fast food places that employ a lot of young people on a part-time basis, most of whom are in school. And it would seem to me that there could be ways in which those employers could ask, how'd you do on your report card? And if the answer was A's or B's, there could be something some incentive structures plugged into the business. I'm not trying to run McDonald's, but that could be a good idea. I think your point is well taken, but I don't think they know they can do that. I think part of this connection that we're going on, the coalition that Mike talked about Project A Plus is to get business, to understand what they can do to really help that educational process. We Project A Plus has come up several times and clearly proud of that. Tell me again a little more about that. Well, if I had to summarize what we're doing, it would be, we are trying to determine what the high school graduate in the 21st century needs to do in terms of skills, knowledge, and experiences to be competitive in the world, marketplace.

So once you come up with what that ought to be, then you back off and you say, what does the learning process in the school system have to be in order to give them those skills and those knowledge and those experiences? Because we can talk about effective schools all the time and you go around and ask anybody what's an effective school and you get a thousand different answers. You really have to come back to what is it that these kids really need to be prepared for in order to contribute positively society? And that's the beauty of, I think, the business orientation of this is because they really have, I think, a different view of outcome measures than a lot of people in the schools do. A lot of people in the schools say, what do we want? What's our outcome measure for our kids? Well, we want them to have knowledge. We want them to be able to pass the team's test or get at least ten or a thousand on SATs or what have you. But then what? And am I wrong that your read on this without them is not just the grades, but what are the competences in skills and the kinds of outcomes that we want?

Social skills, manual skills. A number of things. All right. We have another question. It's from Becky Britton in Fort Worth. Go ahead, Becky. Thank you. I'd like to add from the teacher standpoint, how the businesses feel about giving teachers an opportunity during the summer months when they're not employed in the school district. To work in the field and get some practical experience that they can then apply in the classroom and relate to the students why they're teaching math and science and the various subjects and how that relates to the workplace. Go ahead, Sam. I'm all for it. In fact, we're starting that. You know, it was interesting two or three years ago, there was a program from the University of Wisconsin. And we scratched our heads and said, why aren't we doing that here locally? So we are trying to do that. And one of the things we want to do is get more of the business involved in trying to do that. But I think that's a very good point. Does that answer your question?

Well, yes. And not only would it insist that as far as the teachers are concerned in being able to relate to the real world when they're teaching in the classroom, but it's also a means to supplement their salary. One other thing about teachers that I would add is that we talked about these coalitions. One of the key components of making those work is the teacher's point of view in that. So that is, we recognize that I think teachers will support people in the world. Planning, all right. Then, okay, we have run out of time. And that's pretty much all we have for this particular section. I'd like to thank you, Sam, Mike, and also Grant and Ted. And we will be taking some more phone calls to stay with us. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, if you have additional questions that you want to ask of our panelists. Now is the time to make your phone call because we will be taking those questions.

They're all here with us to answer whatever issues that you want to bring up. But before we begin taking our statewide questions, we'd like to tell you how to get a copy of the teleconference of VHS copy. For a VHS copy of this teleconference, send a check for $35 to KERA teleconference, $3000 Harry Heinz Boulevard, Dallas, Texas, 75201. For a copy of the location feature stories only, send a check for $20 to KERA at the same address. For more information about mental health projects in Texas, contact the Hogue Foundation, Post Office Box 7998, Austin, Texas, 787137998. Or call 512-471-5041. All right, we do have a question now from Glenella Scarborough in Fort Worth.

Go ahead, Glenella. Yes, my question is in reference to the peer helper groups earlier and is addressed to Grant or Walter. Has there been any observable negative effect on young people in high schools who were not chosen to be peer helpers? Walter, you have some thoughts on that? Well, I think it's in line with traditional programs where children aren't chosen. The young lady who does not make the cheerleading squad is hurt temporarily, but she gets over it. The young man who does not make the football team is hurt, but he gets over it. And I think children who are not selected to be peer helpers ultimately get over it, but I think the message to them should be, you can still help. You can still help, you don't have to be a formal part of the program, you can be an ancillary part of it. I think there would be some hurt attached to not being selected. I think Walter is right on with that. And I think it's important to put some limits on the size of the group of peer helpers in any campus just to ensure quality training and supervision.

But you're right, it's a very common feature of peer programs that there are a number of kids involved in an ancillary helping opportunities and services. So I think the short version of that then is in any school, if there are kids who want to help, there will be opportunities for them to do so. Whether it's as a formal part of the program or in offshoot activities. Okay, Glennella, does that answer your question? Yes, so you're saying there should be some awareness of that possibility so built into the program should be. Right, exactly. I like the word you use awareness. That's one of the things that we can do. Make them aware and not necessarily to expect it, but just to be aware that that's a possibility. Okay, thank you very much. Anything else you wanted to add to that, Glennella? Okay, we'll be moving on to additional phone calls and we will take those phone calls as they come in. Okay, we do have one from Eduardo Hernandez of Corpus Christi. Go ahead Eduardo. This is a good afternoon. My question, I guess, is directed to Grant or anyone else in the panel.

At the terms of the pal, you know, what problems would come up in terms of the youth maybe might feel pressure in bringing out family problems out into public that may break the confidentiality or maybe a retaliation from the parents about, you know, bringing these problems from to school. The second part would be in terms of peers getting that they are writing on each other if they perhaps will refer them to somebody else who could help them and whether the whole breaking of confidentiality. I like to give hard questions like that to Walter, but I took the second part. Okay, on the issue of confidentiality, that's a valid and important concern. Short version on that is that in virtually all quality peer programs, there are norms around confidentiality. If you've got peer helpers working with other students, the norm is that those communications are typically confidential.

Earlier in this telecast, it was raised that there are certain liability issues which will require that the peer helper refer the situation on to an adult sponsor. You could call that a breaking of confidentiality, except that in the training of the peer helpers typically, they are told to inform kids that they're working with. In most cases, what we talk about is confidential, but if there are situations where you or others might get hurt, who's that? Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I'd add about the writing and snitching. When I grew up, you know, snitching was a no-no. I've changed my thought about that where I would rather lose a friend than to have a dead one. I've had a friend who was doing something that was very serious and could ultimately cost a person their life. I would rather tell someone appropriate, some appropriate professional and lose that friend in life, but to keep them alive. And I tell young people that, which would you rather, not make a referral to someone who can help your friend and lose them or still be their friend and visit that grade?

But do you think kids really think that way? Because so, you know, at that age, they think they're going to live forever. I've seen a change in the armor that kids have. So many now recognize that life is fragile, and they are looking at some of the data. Most children that I've worked with have lost a friend in some capacity are another one. So I think one good message to get kids hooked in to helping is you can lose your friend. Okay. Does that answer your question? That's the first part, but in terms of what about parents, you know, kind of making it harder on their children? Well, I just wondered if that's a question that maybe Ruth might address. Again, the whole issue of when children and the school bring up the fact that there is a problem in the family. Do the parents retaliate? Do they give the child a hard time? Well, if you're talking about our particular thing, the parent counseling that goes on in home is not formally reported back to the school. In other words, there's a lot of discussion in the home around family issues that we don't get.

We get back the things that are pertinent for teachers to know, and everybody in that family has agreed that this is going to come back to us. So I don't think it's the problem that it may be in the peer program. I'm curious talking about family problems to appear. That's why I asked the question earlier about making parents kind of antsy. One thing I might say about that. I mentioned earlier that in typically in a peer program, the sponsor is assisted by a program advisory committee of other folks in or around the school that are supportive of an interest in peer helping. Very frequently, one of the members of that committee is a parent. And I think that in the kind of question that was raised a minute ago, it would make a special sense to have a parent as part of that committee to ensure that parental concerns are reflected in the way the program gets implemented. And there are some worst case scenarios where there would be a situation of child abuse, vicious child abuse going on at home, which could lead to legal action down the road. And those are real touchy kinds of situations, which that advisory panel and the sponsor would be the appropriate people to be dealing with those.

Okay. Now we are, again, waiting for some of you to call in and our panelists will be available to take your questions. And so we hope to hear from you. All right. We have room from Dina Hizaji in I'm afraid I can't make out. Okay. From Dallas and go ahead, Dina. Hi, I'm calling from the Dallas Family Institute and my question is to Walter. He is, he made a comment during the home school segment about the issue of minority, the importance of minority issues. And he made a comment regarding the black culture being more open to a female counselor and entering the home versus a male counselor. And I was wondering if he could talk about that a little bit more. Well, that, that was taken out of context a bit. What I was referring to, I was saying that a lot of low income black families are matriarchal in scope. And if you to do a home visit, I think that the mother in that home would be a little more comfortable if it was a female coming to do the home visit as opposed to a male.

And I think a situation is like that should be taken into account. Who's the head of household? And then look at some of the factors and designate or appoint an appropriate kind of person where you've got a mirror going as opposed to conflict. But is that an absolute? Is that always necessarily the case? It's not always the case. I think almost in that particular case where it is matriarchal for me, I try to match up to keep the mother comfortable. I think you can create uncomfortable situations for people in that kind of setting. And I would think that the professional would want to diminish any kind of discomfort or conflict. All right, then. Okay. And we don't have any more questions. So at this point, what we're going to do is remind you that again, our panelists will be available to take phone calls after the teleconference. So we hope you will stick around because they plan to stick around to get some of your comments.

Now, before we close, one thing we'd like to talk about is what we've seen in her today. And that's that a lot of young people get labeled. And we will address that issue a little further. But let me go ahead and try to find out some, okay, it turns out we do have a call standing by. No, we don't. All right. And then one thing I wanted to ask, and this is directed at Ted, you know, can you give us some closing comment that perhaps you can share with us to sum up some of the things you've heard here today or some of the observations that you've made. I think the greatest observation is that we as a community are accepting the fact that these are our kids, whether it's the business community, the school community, the private agencies, we're really having some ownership and commitment. And with that, I have no doubt that we can meet the need of our young people and make this transition from childhood to adulthood. And for us to continue that momentum. Ruth, go ahead. Well, sometimes as a public school person, I see so many kids with problems. And in such large numbers that I just feel kind of hopeless.

But the days kind of given me the feeling that passion and feelings and commitment are coming back in style. We had kind of a bland decade in the 80s. And I'm hopeful that the 90s are going to be different. I'm thinking about a quote by Albert Switzer. He says, my knowledge is pessimistic, but my longing and hoping are optimistic. And that's kind of how I feel right now. Okay. All right. Now we are going to go to another phone call. We have one from Ginger of fluilling in Corpus Christi. Go ahead, Ginger. I have noticed that when agencies get together and discuss common goals, a lot of times they have also common concerns in that they have to serve X number of customers to maintain their grants and their funding sources. And in addition, sometimes they're competing for funding from the business world among the same business entity. And it makes it difficult sometimes to satisfy their common needs in serving their customers and trying to focus on just the customer's needs. Is there any way that we can alleviate some of this competitiveness?

Okay. Who wants to feel that question? Well, is it all clear to you? If I understood the questioner is asking, you know, basically is the competition for the funds hurting the agencies in our efforts. That is a possibility, but also know that we learn each time that we apply for funds and again to develop projects to meet the needs of young people. And the collaborative effort that we're seeing in our comments today is an outgrowth of that competition. And with that, I think it's a benefit and not an inhibitor to us. Is that something you wanted to add to that Walter? I sort of agree with the statement, no addition. Okay. And I know that one person who might be able to address that will try to reach them in just a minute. Did that answer your question? Yes, I feel like that. We will remember that.

Okay. And when we were talking a little earlier, Grant, we were getting from folks a sense of what their observations were regarding what we've been hearing today. What are some of yours? Well, not for the first time. I agree with Ruth. I think there are no alternatives to that. But no, seriously, that having been here for the last two days has been, I think reassuring and invigorating to come together with people that are involved in areas quite different from the one that I have been involved in. And yet find that there's a lot in common. And there are a lot of good ideas to share. I'm not out at the, but is it 27, 28 sites? I wish I was a fly on the wall at some of those because I would hope that the folks who came out to them, that those meetings will not be the last time. Well, we hope the same thing. I'm assuming that the same thing that's happened here is happening at some of those sites. Well, let me briefly, Sam, we did have someone talk to us about, again, the business side of it in funding. Can you address that? Were you able to hear that one? Well, I think so. I think the key is that we're entering a period where we've all got to work together. And business, it wants to be involved in that. I don't think they've been that way in the past.

And I think the one thing I've learned out of today's conference is that there's a lot of willingness for us to all work together. And the key thing is we need some champions to go make that happen. And so that would be what I would have to add. And again, the key to recruiting all those champions in the 30 seconds we have left or less. And you wouldn't have a point regarding that. Well, a good thing to remember and a better thing to do is to be part of the construction gang and not the wrecking crew. And too often people choose the wrecking crew. They don't see things the way that they should be. And I'm offering the construction gang. We're going to all work together. We can make connections in any of the areas we discuss today. Good point. Thank you very much, Walter. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for on-air questions. However, our panelists will be available to take additional phone calls. But as we close our teleconference, we'd like to talk about what we've seen in her today. Young people get labeled a lot.

It's often easier for us to deal with a label than with a complex human being. For that reason, there are a lot of so-called bad kids out there who really aren't. Young people who would eventually respond to someone who would stand by them, no matter what. When you're looking at troubled adolescents, it's important to look at the whole person. Too often we only pay attention to the things about an adolescent that causes trouble. A doctor sees a young person as a medical problem. A psychiatrist sees a young person with an emotional problem. The teacher sees a young person with a learning problem. But an adolescent's needs are not simply physical, mental, emotional, or social. An effective approach to that adolescent must address all these areas. In a similar way, the people in places which surround a young person, the home, the school, friends are also connected. When we think about our young people, sooner or later we are forced to think about ourselves and our society. All of the issues which affect our adolescents affect us as adults. How can we expect our young people to learn in school when we all live under the constant threat of violence? We find ourselves talking about at-risk youth because we are an at-risk society.

How can we encourage our adolescents to care about other people when we don't reward them for doing so? We give them as role models, heroes who are famous only for being rich. The solutions must begin with us, the issues which most affect our young people affect us all. We live in a world of connections which link us together. We can make a difference if we take the time to see those connections and make them work for our young people, make them work for all of us. The responsibility is ours and the stakes are high. We'd like to thank all of our panelists, our local site coordinators and all of you who have taken the time to be a part of this teleconference. We hope it will help you make some meaningful connections today in your community. A few months ago, we interviewed Ted Bluvins for one of our stories. Something he said then struck us as an appropriate way to say goodbye. We think his words are worth remembering. Thank you again for being with us. Goodbye.

There's this thought that runs across our lives many times that there's only a few young people having troubles. That when we read the headlines or we see the problems that that's only a few people and basically everything is okay. But when we look at school districts that tell us that 53 to 55% of their young people or their students are in special programming. You begin to ask who is the regular kid? Who is the normal child? And it brings us back to the realization that we together have a real responsibility for our young people. To model for them so that they know what is right to do, to be an advocate for them. Because we're no stronger society than how we demonstrate our care for the vulnerable and kids are vulnerable.

And we're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that.

We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. The Hog Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary by sponsoring many special events like this teleconference. We're not going to be able to do that.

We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that. We're not going to be able to do that.

We're not going to be able to do that.