[ti:San Francisco Educator Works to Keep Young People 'Alive and Free'] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.12]Education Report. [00:04.77]More than half of young black men [00:07.26]in the United States [00:09.45]do not finish high school. [00:11.32]Many grow up without fathers [00:14.11]and in neighborhoods with gangs, [00:16.57]drugs and violence. [00:19.32]Sixty percent of those [00:21.22]who drop out of school [00:22.71]have spent time in jail [00:24.31]by the age of thirty-five. [00:27.06]Joe Marshall co-founded [00:29.20]the Omega Boys Club [00:31.25]in San Francisco, California, [00:33.60]twenty-three years ago. [00:35.60]Mr. Marshall tries to give boys [00:38.59]-- and girls -- a safe refuge [00:41.52]and a chance at a better future. [00:44.91]Every week, [00:46.10]he has two basic messages [00:48.09]for his young students: [00:49.99]"Stop the violence" [00:51.79]and "Don't do drugs." [00:54.47]Mr. Marshall spent [00:56.37]twenty-five years as a teacher [00:58.71]and administrator in San Francisco. [01:01.90]He taught math in middle school [01:04.10]and expected to see his [01:06.44]best students go to college. [01:08.78]JOE MARSHALL: "I got a lot of [01:09.82]horror stories and a lot of [01:12.15]my former students ended up dead [01:15.04]or in prison for selling drugs, [01:17.87]being involved in gangs, [01:19.18]girls ended up getting pregnant." [01:21.33]The Omega Boys Club serves [01:23.23]more than four hundred [01:25.27]young people every year. [01:27.03]Two times a week, [01:28.98]it offers after-school classes [01:31.72]in math, reading, family [01:34.60]and life skills, [01:36.25]and college preparation. [01:38.68]In many ways, it serves [01:40.93]as a kind of family. [01:42.88]It provides teenagers [01:44.79]with structure and support. [01:47.17]Joe Marshall has a doctorate [01:49.72]in psychology. [01:51.03]He sees gangs and violence [01:53.67]as a disease that needs [01:55.96]to be dealt with [01:56.98]as a public health problem. [01:59.52]JOE MARSHALL: "That's what [02:00.11]these young people get. [02:01.11]They develop a street mentality. [02:02.65]The big part is dealing [02:04.50]with the emotional residue of anger, [02:07.15]fear and pain that they develop [02:08.69]because they got invested [02:09.79]in this in the first place. [02:10.94]"Then we tell them to follow [02:12.50]some new rules for living [02:14.64]that will decrease their chances [02:16.97]of ending up dead or in prison [02:20.17]and increase their chances dramatically [02:21.66]of staying alive and free." [02:23.46]The club represents the headquarters [02:25.40]of what he calls the [02:26.71]"alive and free movement." [02:29.40]But his most effective way [02:31.95]to spread his anti-violence [02:34.24]message is through radio. [02:36.54]In nineteen ninety-one, [02:38.49]Joe Marshall started [02:40.52]"Street Soldiers," [02:41.93]a weekly call-in show. [02:44.38]JOE MARSHALL: "OK, let's talk [02:45.41]to line two. Line two. [02:49.00]And this is--Is this Marlena? [02:50.50]This ain't the Marlena I know." [02:51.89]MARLENA: "Yes Doctor Marshall, [02:57.52]this is Marlena!" [02:58.26]JOE MARSHALL: "It is my Marlena!" [02:59.46]Marlena was one of the graduates [03:01.55]of the Omega Boys Club. [03:03.44]JOE MARSHALL: "She's at Southern University [03:05.54]right now, going into her third year. [03:08.85]She talked about [03:10.10]what she had learned the hard way [03:11.70]and how we helped her learn [03:13.04]that by coming to Omega, [03:14.68]by listening to 'Street Soldiers,' [03:14.83]and she said she had learned [03:15.59]how to love herself." [03:16.73]The club provides guidance [03:18.43]and financial assistance to [03:20.52]help students stay in school. [03:23.70]Over ninety percent of members [03:26.60]who were accepted into college [03:28.94]have graduated. [03:30.38]Twelve other American cities [03:33.29]have copied the program. [03:35.33]Joe Marshall has been invited [03:37.91]to speak in Canada, Nigeria, [03:41.16]South Africa and Thailand. [03:44.25]He turned sixty-three this year. [03:47.14]JOE MARSHALL: "I want to build an institution. [03:48.93]I'm not going to be here forever, [03:51.07]so my big thing is to make sure [03:53.27]this goes on." [03:54.23]And that's the VOA Special English [03:57.16]Education Report. [03:58.77]I'm Steve Ember.