It's All about the Kids: Presenting Options and Opening Doors

When talking about the library she runs in the Alameda County (Calif.) Juvenile Justice Center, Amy Cheney gets right to the point: It's not just about the library. It's not even just about the books. It's about the youth who are incarcerated here. It's about showing them that they can change their lives. It's about introducing them to people who have had similar experiences, who have been in gangs, or in prison, or hooked on drugs, and who have decided to change their lives and accomplished it, and then written about their experiences. This is how I got out, and how you can get out too. These are people the kids here can identify with, who can show them that there are options. They can choose to succeed. Cheney has worked at the center since 1999, when a small grant allowed Alameda County Library to begin the Write to Read program, bringing in local and nationally known authors to speak to and meet the teens she serves. Today, the people she brings in are amazing, but she grew her credibility slowly and carefully. Some of the writers who have participated in the program are Terry Macmillan, Dolores Huerta, Terence Howard, Michael Eric Dyson, Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers, Victor Martinez, Zlata Filipovic, Zac Unger, Victor Rivers, Cupcake Brown, Ishmael Beah, and more. Many of them come back more than once, some on an annual basis, because they see the value of what they say to the kids and the response they get. What these people have to say has the possibility of making a huge impact on the kids here. Dolores Huerta cofounded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez, and when she came to talk about what they did and why, she had the kids in the Max Unit reading Ghandi after her visit. Ghandi! Cheney shakes her head in wonder. The Center's Population Cheney knows what she's talking about when she describes the teens she works with. The most important thing is to get the kids excited about reading and writing, and to use that to help them connect with the world at large. They're disenfranchised. They may not have been introduced to standard concepts basic to our society. You tell them that men and women are equal, and they say, 'Huh?' It's a new concept, because of the way they've been raised, or had to raise themselves. They've been marginalized. Many of the youth incarcerated here don't understand the concept of their opinions having merit, or their lives having value. Sometimes when people get locked up, it's the first time they've had a chance to stop and take a look at what's going on in their lives. When they are here, they have clothes to wear, a place to live, food--that's not always true 'on the outs'. There, they are spending so much time taking care of necessities and staying alive, they don't have a chance to take a look at the big picture. When their basic needs are met, then they can begin to look at themselves and their lives--how they got here, and how they can get to a better place. The vast majority of the youth Cheney works with have been severely abused mentally, sexually, and physically. They have been neglected, forced to grow up on their own, without adult advice and support, or with advice that's designed to help them survive in their world, rather than get away from it or overcome it. They've been in and out of prison, and so have most of their families and friends. Their chronological ages and their experiences are completely out of synch. They have had adult experiences, but they're completely unequipped to deal with them emotionally because their emotional age is that of a child. Their worlds are often small, constricted, and difficult to escape or change. Books can open a window out of those worlds, and meeting authors who have escaped can confirm that there are ways out. …