Breaking Out of Poverty
- Leadership class November Program

By SCANEWS. Staff

	Many participants of the Leadership program were offered the chance to visit the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Court Building and to ride along with police as a prelude to gain some insights to the criminal justice system.  At the Family Court of St. Louis County, we met the dynamic Judge Susan Block and learned about the Court Appointed Special Advocates  (CASA) and the Mentor Program.  The CASA was created in 1977 to make sure that abused and neglected children would not be abused and neglected at the hands of the social service system. 

Every year about 3 million of children suffer from some form of abuse or neglect resulting in over 4,000 deaths.  Yet only 3 % serious cases are reported to the authorities.  When these youngsters get to the courtroom, they are not necessarily represented with their best interest in mind.  the CASA volunteers are thoroughly trained in countroom procedure, social services, the juvenile justice system, and the special needs of abused and neglected children.  They are a powerful voice in a child's life. The Mentor Program recruits people who are committed to real solutions for kids.

We met Nykiah and Michael who are the successful outcome of these programs.  Nykiah was an abused child and came to the support system at the age of eleven.  She is now 20 and just bought an apartment, working, and attending the St. Louis Community College.  She related her story emotionally about a social worker who would resign from her job in order to adopt Nykiah because of her breech of conflict of interest.   

Michael is expecting to graduate from the Police Academy next month.  He
was a neglected child with family members invloved in drug trafficing. These two shining examples tucked at our emotions and many felt the benefits that programs like CASA can do.  Otherwise, troubled youngsters have no family to call their own, more likely than others to face homelessness, unemployment, and even prison as adults.  Anyone interested to lend a helping hand, please contact (314) 615-2908 or (314) 615-4400 for more information.

The program was conclued with an overview into the law enforcement system,
including the roles of police, prosecutor, judge and jury.   Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch and Col. Ronald Battelle, Chief of Police, represent St. Louis County together with Jennifer Joyce, Circuit Attorney and Chief Joe Mokwa both from the City of St. Louis, answered challenging questions put forth by the Leadership class with judges, lawyers and state policy makers among them. 

The vicious circle routes from committing crime out of poverty, to being arrested and prosecuted, to a decision for sentencing and parole is affected by many individuals whose discretionary decision may lead to different outcomes.  The state spends around $20,000 a year to keep a prisoner.  Ironically, the figure is higher than the official poverty line set for a family of four!  Human dignity and safety remain to be a perennial concern for our society.

What can we help?  For a start, McGraw Milhaven announced that the day after Thanksgiving, Friday November 29th he will host his show on the site of 9505 Gravois, the National Headquarters for Nurses for Newborns. It's going to be a two hour radio-a-thon from 9-11 am. aired from 1120 KMOX. (That's AM, not FM, Norm). McDonalds has agreed to put a collection jug in each store throughout the St Louis Metro area for the day.  People can stop by any McDonalds to give money.  In fact, Hoffman-Lewis, the ad agency, has agreed to cover all costs of the fundraiser so 100% of the money can be given to Nurses.  Let's join hands for a good course and a better future.