ROCKINGHAM — A program for at-risk teens is in the process of forming a support team for the entire community.
The new team was announced Tuesday at the Christmas party for the Project Focus, which has an afterschool and community service and restitution program, at the Leak Street Community Cultural Center.
Annie Pratt, restitution and community service coordinator, said many people — including herself — have experienced trauma related to violence and drug use.
“It affects the kids when it’s their classmates,” said Project Focus Coordinator Jeffrey Steele.
Pratt said she has lost five young clients in the past three years: two from gun violence in each 2021 and 2022; and one from a drug overdose this year.
Recently, Pratt said, she was on her way to pick up a client but was running late. That client’s home had been shot at around the time she was supposed to be there, she said.
Steele added that there was one teen in the program who had called looking for help finding a job, but was shot just a few days later.
“Some of the parents feel like the system has failed them,” Pratt said. “The parents don’t have anyone to talk to.”
The support team will include school guidance counselors, teachers, parents, mentors, pastors and law enforcement officers, as well as employees of the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Alcohol and Drug Services and Daymark.
Project Focus is an afterschool program funded by the Division of Juvenile Justice that serves court-involved kids ages 12-17 who “may need that extra incentive or assistance in making choices in life and the community,” according to a brochure.
Those 7-17 in the community service and restitution program are referred by the court. After they complete their service, they are transitioned into the afterschool program.
Those in the afterschool program can also be referred by the schools or parents, but court referrals take precedence.
The program includes activities like community outreach and skill building, as well as recreational incentives such as fishing, hiking and shooting basketball, according to Steele.
“A program like this … gives them a new outlook on life,” Steele said. “It’s the guidance they need. It provides structure.
At the conclusion of the six-month program, Steele said the kids should be ready to be a positive force in the community.
“Some of them are a little rough around the edges, but I can work with them,” Steele added.
One of those is 17-year-old Rahmeir Rhodes, who admits he had anger problems, but has learned how to be respectful in the few months he’s been involved with the program.
“I’m a calm person now,” Rhodes said.
During Tuesday’s party, Rhodes was called up to test the audience in Christmas-related trivia.
Guests at the party included representatives of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Division of Juvenile Justice and the district attorney’s office.
Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Harris told the few students who were there that the DA’s office was available to support them.
“We don’t want to see y’all in the criminal justice system,” she said.
Earlier during the party, sponsored in part by Mike Griffin and Over the Rainbow Child Development Center, Program Manager Hazel Robinson outlined advice from a mountain to the program participants who were there. Those lessons included:
- Rise above it all
- There is beauty in everything
- Be patient
- Get to the point
- Enjoy the view
“We’re serious about helping our children and we need all the support we can get,” Robinson said. “The children need our support.
