With some of the area's most experienced and knowledgeable youth advocates in front of him, Tony Spencer could hardly contain his excitement about the city's new partnership that he said could turn the tide in student achievement.
The city Youth and Community Affairs director and the city organized a presentation at the Bates Boys and Girls Club yesterday to introduce its new partners: Kids at Hope. The Phoenix-based group teaches youth-serving organizations about the vital influence that positive reinforcement from adults has on children's success.
By the end of the four-hour seminar by Kids at Hope founder Rick Miller, local advocates said they were not only convinced of the program's effectiveness, but they were certified "hopeologists." Officials said the unified message of Kids at Hope should help bring together the various groups working with children throughout the city.
"Nobody can control the hand they are dealt with in life," Mr. Miller said.
In the proverbial deck of cards, Mr. Miller said there are four aces a child can have - an anchor parent, an adult who cares for the child, an adult who believes in the child and holds them to high expectations, and an adult who provides opportunities for the child to succeed.
"A child can succeed if he is dealt one of these aces," he said. "If they're dealt two (or more), their chances to succeed is greater."
Annapolis Hope Square, the city's new program, provides Annapolis-area youth groups a research-based framework and community-wide strategy for fostering positive relationships between adults and all children. The program is intended to bring an across-the-board message and belief system that all area organizations can convey to the children, officials said.
Those that attended yesterday's seminar were staffers from the Stanton Center and the Boys and Girls club, local educators, and area churches. Through the city, organizations like these can receive Kids at Hope training that they can take back to their children.
"So often, groups identify kids as 'at-risk,' " Mr. Miller said. "We still lock too many kids up, too many still join gangs. We've focused so much on what's wrong with kids. This is a community approach. The community has to own this instead of one program."
Founded in 1993, Kids at Hope studied the effect that positive reinforcement and adults who believe in a child and hold them to high standards had in the success, growth and development of children. At one charter high school in Phoenix that used the Kids at Hope program, student attendance and standardized test scores improved significantly, he said.
Annapolis officials said they hope the program spreads to other local areas where city children live and interact.
"Baltimore needs this badly," Mr. Spencer said. "Prince George's County needs this badly. Anybody that has bought into this program wants to tell you why."
Mr. Spencer also said he hopes the program spreads to the county school system.
Carlesa Finney, director of the county school system's Equity Assurance and Human Relations Office, said plans are already in the works to bring Kids at Hope to the county schools.
"Whatever it takes, we want it in the schools," Ms. Finney said. "We need everyone in the village to know how they should behave."
Mr. Miller said he wrote the city several months ago to inquire about bringing the program to the city.
"Other agencies didn't get back to us at all, but Tony jumped on it right away," Mr. Miller said. "It takes inspired leadership to get this program going."
The partnership with the city was made possible through a $30,000 grant that Kids at Hope received from the Million Dollar Roundtable Foundation, a national association of financial professionals.
The foundation's vice president, Walton R. Rogers, a local businessman, urged Kids at Hope to get the program running in Annapolis.
Through the grant, Kids at Hope invited Mr. Spencer, Debbie Wood from the Chesapeake Children's Museum, and Rev. Sheryl Menendez from Light of the World Church on Virginia Avenue to a weeklong training session on the program at its Arizona headquarters in April.
Mr. Miller said he will return in several weeks for a follow-up training seminar for other interested youth advocates who are interested in implementing the principles of the program at their respective local organization.
