Street Roots • March 17-23, 2017
Commentary
Page 11
Hope Partnership unlocks a future for incarcerated youth
BY TALIA GAD
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
ne was about betrayal. One about
suicide. And another about the perils
of life as a bee.
The scripts-in-progress were being
workshopped by a class of a dozen teenage
boys. The kids were
self-reflective, open
to feedback, and
pushed themselves
outside of their
comfort zones,
which made it just
like any other play
writing course,
except that these
students were incarcerated.
It was one of a number of workshops
offered by the Hope Partnership at youth
correctional facilities throughout Oregon,
and when I heard the teens’ stories and the
emotional depth of their writing, I wanted
to know more about the goals and outcomes
of the program.
Project Coordinator Kathleen Fullerton
has been with Hope Partnership from its
inception, so I sat down with her to discuss
the program and what she’s learned at its
helm.
O
Talia Gad is
communications
director at
Partnership for Safety
and Justice, which
advances policy
solutions to crime
that ensure justice,
equity, accountability,
-and healing to
achieve safe, strong
communities in
Oregon.
Talia Gad: What exactly.is Hope
Partnership?
Kathleen Fullerton: It is a youth-
designed program where real learning
happens. It offers creative writing, play
writing, radio journalism and a whole range
of skill-building areas. The workshops are
led by partners and volunteers, and
technically they teach art, life skills and
executive functions like process, patience
and attention to detail. But the real aim is
to repair harm.
T.G.: How does it do that?
K.F.: My mantra is that you tend not to
harm the things to which you are
connected. Through the program, the youth
see themselves as a part of a community.
They understand that they haven’t only
impacted a single person; they’ve made a
whole community feel less safe. Now they
need to be responsible for building
community.
That emerges from the program: to help
them see how they fit into their community,
how they harmed it, and what value they
can bring to i t If they don’t feel they have
something of value now, we talk about how
they can create that thing of value.
T.G.: From your perspective, what are the
gaps between what's expected of youth as they
transition out of prison and what they’re
capable of?
K.F.: Their brain development is in a very
formative stage, and many of the youth have
limited exposure to the world. Everything a
parent teaches high school kids, they miss
some or all of th at They miss technological
education, which is really important in a
modern economy. They’re unprepared for
their top earning years and they may stay
behind the curve at every turn.
And then there’s the trauma, which most
of them have had, too. They may look like
an adult, and they may act like an adult, but
really théy’re developmentally around
middle school age.
T.G.: What have you learned about youth
incarceration that most people don’t see?
K.F.: How much their families are
affected. Their whole families are also doing
time. There’s a lack of contact. Loneliness.
You see how hard it is to maintain
relationships with just phone calls and short
visits. Family members are another kind of
victim: the mantle of shame and hurt, and
all the work that has to go into helping
them heal as well. Some people think,
“that’s fine, they deserve it,” but it really
does have a lasting ripple effect on the
whole community.
T.G.: What inspires you most about your
work?
K.F.: Every young man who does well
makes that choice every day. They choose
to be vulnerable in a community that
demands that they build on strength and
resilience: that’s a fundamental shift for
them. Failure is familiar; success is hard.
But the higher you set the bar, the more
likely they are to go over it
T.G.: How does Hope Partnership hold
youth accountable for their crimes, particularly
if they’ve caused others harm?
K.F.:The thing about thè word
“accountability”: we have a system that
supposedly holds a juvenile accountable, but
what really happens is that we send them
away.
True accountability comes from teaching
them how to hold themselves accountable.
We like to think that rules hold people
accountable, but accountability comes from
choosing to follow the rules. And that
choice comes from empathy.
If we help develop empathy and self
empathy, that leads to accountability. Self
empathy is about taking care of ourselves
and understanding our own emotions. What
is my need that’s not getting met, and how
to meet it in a healthy way? Then with
empathy, understanding that someone else
is behaving in a way because their need
isn’t being met. That process builds
connection.
That’s what Hope Partnership is. It builds
connections.
Most youth incarcerated at Oregon Youth
Authority Facilities have been convicted
under Measure 11, which results in youth
ages 15 or older charged with any of 21
crimes to be prosecuted in the adult
criminal justice system and (if convicted)
serve an adult mandatory sentence. With
sentences ranging from nearly 6 to 25
years, the law has led to a significant rise in
youth incarceration in Oregon.
Partnership fo r Safety a n d Justice has been
reporting on the im pact o f M easure 11 on
youth in a series o f publications since 2011.
The m ost recent one fro m February 2016
addressed the profound disparities o f the law
on youth o f color a n d the long-term
consequences o f a d u lt crim inal convictions
fo r youth. The next in the series is due
Spring 2017.
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