The school auditorium smells of epoxy products. That’s what hits you first. Then the voices of teenagers who are gathered at the foot of the stage, listening to a transistor radio, taking a break. The sounds echo and swell.
Since late April, the teens, many from high schools across Chicago, have been fixing the broken chairs in the 800-seat auditorium at Kozminski Elementary Community Academy in Hyde Park.
The auditorium, with its cavernous interior and dimly lit chandeliers, has the ambience of a safe place. But lately, these students have begun to doubt whether such a place really exists.
Blair Holt, the 16-year-old killed on a CTA bus on May 10, is yet another reminder of how tenuous safety can be. (Two alleged gang members have been charged in the case, although Blair was not a gang member.)
None of the 35 teens working at this school and employed by Amer-I-Can Enterprises II knew Blair. But they feel like they know him. Each can tell you his or her own story about a friend, a young relative or an acquaintance gunned down in gang violence.
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“You don’t know anymore about even riding the bus,” said Corron Dotson, 18, from Dyett High School. “You may be mistaken for somebody else. It may not even be your fault and you’re gone forever?”
The students are fixing assembly hall seats, peeling away years of duct tape, sanding away decades of splintered wood and rust. But it’s not just that. Harold Davis Jr., the owner and organizer of Amer-I-Can, says the obvious metaphor is also true: Part of being here is that they also rebuild themselves.
Many come from broken communities and broken homes. Some have been involved in gangs and drug dealing. About half have mothers in the penitentiary. Some already are parents.
Davis gives these young people an opportunity to earn money, $10 to $12 per hour, and learn a trade. But he also teaches anger management, personal responsibility and self-respect. He demands that they use good manners.
“I tell the little brothers when they come in that they have to have a belt,” Davis said. “Pants can’t be sagging here. And I tell them no cussing and no calling the sisters here hoes.”
He said he also wants the work environment to be one that allows them to express their feelings. Last week, when I visited them at several schools to see their excellent work, the discussion at times centered on Blair and the fragility of life.
“It shows you how life can change in a flash,” said Julian Daggett, 19, a graduate of Collins High School. “I used to be in a gang. I used to sell drugs. I know I would have been locked up or shot if not for coming here.”
Three years ago, Davis persuaded Michael Scott, then Chicago Public Schools Board president, to allow him to bring Amer-I-Can into the schools. Davis, who grew up in the Altgeld Gardens housing project, had worked as a consultant for the school district, talking to students at the first sign of gang problems to prevent an issue from taking root.
He would ask to gather students in their school auditoriums, but principal after principal would say he couldn’t because the seats were in such disrepair. In some cases, the school auditoriums hadn’t been used in years.
He said there were a few complaints about workmanship early on, but after the kinks were worked out, the reviews have been glowing. He estimates that his students have fixed and refinished auditorium seats in more than 60 schools around the city.
But getting to the schools can be tricky. Davis employs a supervisor who transports the students so they don’t have to rely on public transportation.
“Some of these kids don’t leave their neighborhoods because they are afraid of crossing gang boundaries,” Davis said. “I have kids from DuSable High School at 49th [Street] and Wabash [Avenue] who had never been to Hyde Park [a few blocks away] before because of the gangs.”
Over the years, Davis has worked with nearly 100 students. The majority graduate high school and continue on with a trade. Some go to college.
There’s nothing supremely high-tech or deeply innovative about what Davis is doing. He’s giving young people who might otherwise be idle a chance to earn money and learn a trade.
But he’s also providing a different kind of safety net for when the world seems crazy and the bottom feels like it’s falling out from under them — as it does when any child is killed.
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