The Leadership Mind by Teddy A. Jones

Yesterday was one of those sad days working in community. A young man who has already spent over a year in a juvenile remand centre, who used to carry a gun, who has been on the run from the police in the past, now desperatley trying to walk the legal pathway, find himself a job came to me in a very bitter mood. He had been walking around town trying to find a job in a supermarket. One enterprise asked him to bring in a resume (the poor youth had never even heard the word before), then they asked him to bring in a recommendation. I assisted him with getting both. Then they asked him to come for an interview and take with him a signed photogrpah by a notary public. This he got and went. He was practically interrogated and then summariuly dismissed simply on the basis of his home address. This after he literally begged and pleaded with the boss to give him the job. Just because of where he lives he was sent home still jobless. He was fuming, he was so disappointed, I could see him fighti...

Guns, gangs and violence, G3 - This was the topic of a conference put on USAID and FLAVACA held at Hilton Kingston June 12-13 , which I was privileged to attend. It was time well spent, I learned a whole lot. The conference was well organized, and the organizers sought to bring presenters from a wide range of perspectives on the G3. There was the 'grassroots' perspective, the youth perspective, the police perspective, the media/business perspective... In the Grassroots perspective I learned new slangs that are being used by gang members along with some of the harsh realities of the inner city gang life and their gun related activities.