AMC 2006: Reaching Kids

Cincinnati's Gavin Leonard was part of the panel discussion, Reaching Kids: Youth-Driven Programming. Leonard is the director of Elementz, a hip-hop youth arts center in the West End.

Leonard operated the Copwatch program from 2001-2003, which recruited members of the public to monitor and record malfeasance by local police. Copwatch transformed into Elementz, which opened in 2005, Leonard says, as a way to build trust and relationships with area youth.

“Our goal is to work with young people who either live in or come to Downtown,” Leonard says.

Hip-hop dance class, DJ classes and graffiti art are some of the classes that are available at Elementz.

Leonard says Elementz budget is tripling and is proud that the organization has crossed over from talking about what young people might need, to actually meeting them as peers.

A lot of people want to address the issues of kids, he says, but, “most of these people aren't really connected to what young people are doing."

“The thing you have to assume is that young people probably don't trust you and don't trust your programs,” Leonard says. “Respect is the concept we work from. Respect yourself, respect others and respect the space.”

Leonard says that surveying the youth in the Downtown basin was important to developing the program. His team would walk the community, speak to kids at local schools and even ride the bus and solicit opinions on what the program might look like. The idea was to be responsive to the needs of local youth, he says.

Continuing that line of feedback communication is critically important to the program's success. Elementz also has young people on its advisory board, he says.

“You've really got to work from where people are at, not where you're at,” Leonard says.

That could mean going, geographically to where young people are, he says, giving, obversely, the example of groups trying to address the problem of high school drop outs at high schools, instead of on the streets, where you're more likely to find drop-outs. Working from the perspective of the people that you're serving is another example, he says, using their music, culture and lingo, not your own.

Leonard, who is white, works with kids who are almost entirely African-American. He says it's important to address a certain level of racism, classism and sexism. Also, part of Elementz organizational plan is his exit strategy as executive director.

One man in the audience mentioned that the race issue – white or privledged black program coordinators working with young people of color - is often the elephant in the room that no one talks about. He said that black kids he's worked with have often resented taking direction from whites and have felt a cultural disconnect.