Last week I wrote about my early involvements with the Safe Haven program, my establishment of a juvenile group home, and the integration of incarcerated juveniles into the Straight Talk program. It was these and other programs that led to my development of the University Assisted Community Schools (UACS).

I know I have addressed UACS in prior articles, but a revisit to this successful concept can continue to increase public awareness of the available solutions for our marginalized youth that can help prevent their progression into joining the ranks of the “troubled” youth.

The overarching components of community schools when implemented with fidelity:

  1. The program is theory-grounded in social systems, prevention and collaboration, then executed with strong application.
  2. UACS has primary goals of preventing dropping out of school as well as delinquency. Obviously, education is a main component. The UACS gives teachers teachable moments by keeping kids in school.
  3. UACS removes academic and professional silos as key goals and uses applied research

Keeping these components in mind, I share some key experiences dealing with the political, economic and cultural barriers I encountered.

Political: “We don’t do this around here. Having kids in the schools after 3 p.m.” Yes, I was told that as an excuse by a key leader as a reason to not have the extended day program. After-school programming was not a common practice at the time, unless it was a ‘paid for’ daycare at an off-site.

Economic: The schools selected were urban, Title I schools, which is code for higher black demographic and less financially stable demographic than your suburban schools.  This impacts multiple areas from basic needs to transportation.

Cultural: The culture of the school system is historically static regarding marginalized students, not welcoming change within the public schools. Charter schools, vouchers and privatization are current factors that threaten public education instead of public education changing itself to meet the need.

These background experiences set the table for a systemic approach to gun violence. A thorough approach to this is found in several writings: Thomas Abt’s Bleeding Out, Jonathan Metzl’s What Have We Become, John Woodrow Cox’s Children Under Fire and Robert Kronick’s The Case for Atrocity: Gun Violence in Modern America and Its Victims.

The inside community is not static, however. It is continuing to stir the pot, meet and collaborate on solutions to solve the issues that challenge the future of their youth. On September 30, 2024, the eclectic group met and some potential steps to bring to fruition projects that will improve the sense of community within the whole region. The following are in various stages of development for controlling gun violence:

  • I serve on Mayor Kincannon’s Council on Violence Reduction
  • Blenza Davis, former principal of one the initial UACS locations, arranged a group of us to meet with Lawrence Williams, the ‘Lone Ranger’ without a Tonto. He is the Safe Haven anchor and does prodigious work in the community. His No. 1 priority is funding.
  • Presentation to Temple Beth El for funding for Safe Haven.

Safe Haven suffers from what hamstrings all small human service agencies: a lack of personnel to keep records, build budgets, apply for external funding and connect with the outside community. Frankly, Safe Haven is too busy keeping open for its clientele to look at new merchandise.

Bob Kronick is professor emeritus University of Tennessee. Bob welcomes your comments or questions to rkronick@utk.edu.