Empowering Youth - The Choice Program's Journey Towards Change

Join us for an eye-opening episode as we sit down with Dr. Kelly Quinn, Deputy Director of the Choice Program at UMBC. Discover the incredible mission and vision of the Choice Program, which has been transforming young lives for over 35 years. From anti-racist, evidence-informed approaches to providing essential services, including mentorship and workforce development, this program is making a significant impact in the lives of at-risk youth.

Dive deep into the historical context that shaped the program's evolution and learn about the pivotal theories of change guiding their transformative work. Gain insights into the unique partnership with UMBC, where cutting-edge research informs their intervention model, creating a powerful synergy for positive change.

Explore the advocacy initiatives and coalitions that the Choice Program spearheads, both locally and at the state and national levels. From reforming juvenile justice to advocating for crucial legal rights, the program's influence is felt far and wide.

Don't miss this inspiring conversation, reminding us all that young lives should not be defined by their worst day, and that by listening and supporting, we can help shape a brighter future.

For more information about the Choice Program, visit their website: https://choice.umbc.edu and follow them on social media (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/choicevoices) and (Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Choice-Program-207165152680326). 

Tune in now for a powerful episode that showcases the transformative potential within us all. 🌟 #YouthEmpowerment #ChangeMakers #AdvocacyInAction #PodcastEpisode #UMBCCommunity

Transcript

Dennise Cardona  0:00  
Hi, welcome to our podcast everyone. Today we have a very special guest, Dr. Kelly Quinn, Deputy Director of the Choice Program at UMBC. We are thrilled to have you here, Kelly. So let's dive right in.

Kelly Quinn  0:12  
So excited to talk about our work. 

Dennise Cardona  0:14  
Awesome. So Kelly, for our listeners who might not be familiar at all with the Choice Program, could you tell us a little bit about the choice programs mission and vision, as well as some of the services that it offers, particularly in the Department of Juvenile Services and intense intensive advocacy, as well as jobs and education? There's so much that's going on.

Kelly Quinn  0:37  
Okay. Yeah, so I'm delighted to share a little of the history of Choice and, and how we imagine a world where children and youth and their families can thrive, and that they can remain in community. And we've been doing this work for more than 35 years. We were founded in 1989, in Cherry Hill in South Baltimore, and we still have those offices and, and operate out of out of Baltimore City, and then also serve throughout Central Maryland now in Prince George's, Montgomery, Howard Baltimore counties, and then the city as well. And what do we do? We help young people who've been over policed and underserved, and who are under the supervision of the Department of Juvenile Services. And they may be with us for three months or six months. And part of what we do is really an anti-racist evidence informed approach to supporting them to helping them not catch another charge, and to keeping them in community. So we have staff mentors, and AmeriCorps members who support young people through that period helped them create smart goals. And sometimes their SMART goals are things like get a library card, get my driver's permit. And sometimes they are related to their probation requirements. So having to fulfill any number of tasks. We also know that for young people to do well, and to stay in community, and to thrive, they need a support, they need a job in the formal economy. So part of what we do is provide supportive work. And workforce development for young people in Baltimore City, we have three social enterprises, where young people can get their first job and, and earn some money. And then we also have programs that will support young people who are needing extra assistance with schools, or want some other kind of job aside from food services. So those are some of the kinds of direct services that we provide. We've been doing it for 35, more than 35 years, and we serve several hundred children and youth and young adults annually.

Dennise Cardona  3:03  
Wow, that is incredibly impressive. Woof. It's fascinating how the Choice Program has evolved over time. Could you share a bit about its history and the key theories of change that underpin its approach?

Kelly Quinn  3:19  
Sure. Yeah. So our program was born in the 19... late 1980s, and early 1990s. And a little like today, that was a period of a moral panic, where sociologists were promoting theories of about young people, especially young black people, about being super predators. And this was a time when there were violent episodes, and crack cocaine was abundant in some cities. And so rather than looking at the institutions that were giving rise to that sort of violence, sociologists started saying that these young black men are beyond humanity, that they are predators in communities, and that they need to be detained that there'd be no hope for them. These theories have since been discredited, and the authors of these theories have disavowed them. Nonetheless, those fears and ideology about young people were written into laws. And it's as a result, we have a youth legal system that is incredibly punitive. And really, in many ways, writes children off. It's our program was set up to be helpful to young people. And we were set up with a well intentioned program that as we look back of it now, was really about monitoring young people. We were basically human GPS systems. Under that model of intervention, what we did is we worked with young people, 365 days a year, seven days a week. And then we were available to them 24 hours a day, our staff and AmeriCorps members would go out three times a day, to make sure young people were in school, at home, and then met their curfew. They did fun things along the way. And there was lots of good work, I want to be very clear about that. And we also started a jobs program that began in Memorial Stadium, and now is at Oriole Park at Camden yard and in the Inner Harbor now at University of Baltimore. So I don't want to dismiss the philosophy of what we had. But in the in the mid 2000s, and 2000 teens, the staff who was working here at the time, realized as we started to see the rise of Black Lives Matter in communities, that we were reproducing the logic of a carceral state, and that with our monitoring, we were in our own way over policing young people. And so we moved from a model of monitoring to mentoring. And along the way, we started using some of the intervention work that researchers here at UNBC, first introduced, really, and we switched our model to be anti-racist, and youth centered, and trauma responsive, and culturally informed. So part of what we've really tried to do is rethink how we are in community with young people. And that is one of our major theories of change, that we can change a system by working with individuals. Another major part of our theory of change is that when you come to work at choice or serve with the AmeriCorps program, we are also changing systems, because the people who work here become change agents. And that's our second theory of change is that we are really trying to build the next generation of human service professionals, of lawyers of public health officials, school teachers, social workers, and, and engaged citizens and engaged residents. So we believe that we can change systems by working on individuals lives, and then also within institutions like the University or within the Department of Juvenile Services or within schools.

Dennise Cardona  7:39  
I've got chills right now. And everything you just said is because it's so beautiful, it's so purposeful, goodness, me.

Kelly Quinn  7:46  
Really an honor for us to be doing this work at a public university. And to be in service to the state in a moment where we are in another moral panic about young people, because of the rise of the proliferation of guns especially. And rather than, again, looking at the systems that are giving rise to this level of violence. We're turning on the the young people themselves, and crime is down in every category, not just in Baltimore, not just in the state of Maryland, nationally, except for guns, and carjacking. Those two have gone up. And guns is a problem bigger than use. So we continue to do this work to try in reframe our legal system, to reframe the kind of work that we do on an everyday basis.

Dennise Cardona  8:45  
Now, it's wonderful to see how the Choice Program has found its home within the UMBC community. 

Kelly Quinn  8:51  
Yeah. 

Dennise Cardona  8:52  
Could you tell us a little bit more about how this partnership has been mutually beneficial, especially in terms of leveraging UMBC research and resources to inform your intervention model?

Kelly Quinn  9:04  
Yeah, I'm so glad you asked because, in a way, it's a good question like, What are we doing a service providers embedded within a research one university and a university that is committed to community engagement? Right, those Carnegie classifications don't mean so much to the young people we're serving, like, why would you know about higher education sort of business, but the work of our colleagues, the faculty, staff and students, informs what we do. As I mentioned earlier, we started using the work of Carlo DiClemente, a psychology professor, an emeritus psychology professor and his really pathbreaking work on motivational interviewing and the systems of change. And in fact, in the past two years, we worked with him and Dr. Brownwyn Hunter of Columbia University's Justice Lab, and then also a team of graduate students, UMBC graduate students, and the habits lab crew at UMBC Training Center to make a really bespoke, self guided training module, where our staff and AmeriCorps members are trained in how to do a new kind of GPS: goal planning strategy. So we say that we were GPS like, following young people and tracking them geographically. But now we say we're GPS using the work of researchers and graduate students here to train and inform our work. So that's, that's one way. And then another kind of major way is that students on a regular basis through our institutional home in the Shriver Center, come and volunteer with us for college nights. And that's through our service learning and community engagement efforts. And what's really incredible about that is that our mission is to end the school to prison pipeline. And one of the unique, unique ways that a university can do that is by inviting young people to come to campus, to meet college students, to go eat all you can eat at true grits, that's always the favorite part on a college night is eating as much tanned food as you can possibly handle on your tray. From two grits, doing an activity with some of our undergraduate students, like maybe they're going to drop eggs from the side of a building in a little kind of cradle, and then head over to the RAC. And to have young people know that college could be a place for them. And that they will see people like themselves, who are also from the Baltimore region here on campus, or maybe meet somebody from New Jersey and learn like, oh, you come to Maryland to study, right? And the young people are also teaching the students about systems. They're not just teaching them like, new vocabulary, or really great dance moves. They're also helping our students understand, what does it mean to be a young person in Central Maryland and to face the kind of over policing that some of our young people have experienced. But then I also see, like young people have hopes for themselves and for their future. So getting to dream with them, I think is really important. We also within the Shriver Center, we also have the peace Worker Program, which is for returning Peace Corps veterans, and, and we have two piece piece workers serving with us now. One is a liaison to the Latina community here in Central Maryland. And then another works with their social enterprises also. So bringing some of the skills and empathy that they brought back with them after their year, years of service abroad, to our work here, I think is also really powerful. And then there's a third way that we're stitched within the Shriver Center and thinking about the larger community. And that's through the community leadership, graduate program and certificate. And some of our students have taken classes, some of our staff and AmeriCorps members have taken classes in CLDR. And then also, we benefit from understanding the kinds of skills and tools that that those community leaders offer for our greater community.

Dennise Cardona  13:35  
And it's so interesting, you said that, because I have been speaking with a number of community leadership graduates-

Kelly Quinn  13:41  
Yeah. 

Dennise Cardona  13:41  
On the podcast recently, and I just spoke with some with one person last month, and she was talking about the Peace Corps. And her experience with that. And so it's just interesting that you bring it up. 

Kelly Quinn  13:54  
You'll also talked to Becca Henry recently, and she was a choice staff person for many years. She began as an AmeriCorps member, she studied in CLDR. And now she's doing incredible work with Baltimore City Schools. But that is a great example of the kind of ways in which we see how we're preparing the next generation of change agents. She's a spectacular example.

Dennise Cardona  14:20  
It's a great, it's great that we have that you provide that context, that opportunity for people within the UMBC community to be able to roll their sleeves up and do the work and see how it's, see how it is affecting the overall larger community. It's a really great thing. It's clear that choice is actively engaged in advocacy and service on various levels. Could you highlight some key initiatives and coalition's where choice plays a pivotal role in effecting positive change within communities, the state and even on a national scale?

Kelly Quinn  14:55  
Sure. Well, I'd like to so so Becca was an example, right? Of somebody who's gone on to work in city schools. And we keep our eyes on the local institutions we often in in Maryland think that we are a strong blue state that holds progressive values. And in fact, when we look at the ways in which our legal system treats young people, what we see is that, in fact, we routinely violate young people's human rights. And Eric Ford, our Executive Director, served on a bipartisan commission for two years called the Juvenile Justice Reform Council. And that put together an omnibus bill of legislation to reform the legal system for young people. And Eric was one of the leaders who could contribute to young people's, like amplifying young people's voices, but then also really trying to point out how there are racial/ethnic disparities within the system. And we both Eric served on the commission, we provided written and oral testimony last year, and advocated with legislators about the kind of positive change that we wanted to see. We were partially successful. One major piece of that legislation has not been able to pass for the past 13 years. And that was something that really was part of that logic of the super predator myth. We introduced legislation and it passed last October 1, it was it became law in Maryland, when I say we, I mean, the collective we: Choice. UMBC did not introduce this legislation. But Eric is involved in proposing it. And at that time, what we said in the State of Maryland, what our legislators decided, was that all young people who were going to be interrogated by the police had the had the right to know that they could have a lawyer present. What we have learned we, up until last October 1, young people in Maryland did not have the right to know that they needed to know that they could have an attorney present. So we've had this major change in this past year, this summer. Several of our elected prosecutors and elected officials have started to say that that law is preventing the police from doing their jobs. And as somebody said recently, on a call before the Judiciary Committee in Annapolis, it's too bad that the Constitution is getting in the way of serving young people and solving crime. And it was a complete it was dripping with sarcasm, right, like, young people have the right to have an attorney present. Right. And that is now under assault this year. And Eric was part of the coalition to reform that. He is part of a kind of watchdog group now who is lobbying and advocating around it. He will be testifying in the coming weeks and months about the changes in this law, proposed changes in this law. He also was part of the state advisory group, he was appointed by Governor Hogan and served across the state of Maryland, trying to understand how to, how to set up a more justice system with the Department of Juvenile Services. He served on Wes Moore's transition team for public safety. And I'm not just working at the state level. But Eric is also a leader in the American Association of Colleges and Universities, Truth Racial Healing and Transformation project. And so through that Eric brought the TRHT Center to campus and routinely runs racial healing circles, not just on main campus, but at USG, at Montgomery College, at Prince George's Community College, throughout the region and with our staff and people in Treiber to. And part of the theory of change for TRHT is realizing that white supremacy culture has stripped people of their dignity and their humanity. And one way that we can learn and relearn and unlearn the legacy of white supremacy is to be in community and to be in conversation a little like we're doing right now changing these changing a larger narrative by having conversations. So he runs these truth, racial healing transformation circles. One of our peace workers has just been trained in this and she also is co-facilitating these circles. And then another major part of that is trying to reframe larger narratives and tell different kinds of stories. So I think Eric's a great example of working at the state level and then at the national level, and I do some work at the local level. I represent Choice with a youth led movement in Baltimore City. Around police, school police accountability. And this is led by a really terrific group of young people called Youth As Resources. And so they have, we have regular meetings to try and understand what's happening with school police and school resource officers in the state of Maryland. And then I recently was just elected the chairperson of the coalition to reform school discipline. So as you may hear from the kind of titles and the work that the committee's that Eric and I serve on, and it's the kind of coalition's that were part of, we stay very narrowly focused in our lane of advocacy within the youth legal system, as we're trying to effectuate change, we have strong opinions about lots of different kinds of things that are happening for young people in the state. And our primary focus is what we know best. And that is how to make the world fairer for young people to help them stay in community to help them be with their family, to help them lead the kind of lives that they imagined for themselves.

It's amazing work, wow. I can just imagine there are like myself, there are probably a lot of people listening, will be listening to this or watching this on YouTube, from the UMBC community realizing, wow, I didn't even know that this was happening on campus. Is there a place he would send folks to learn more information about the Choice Program?

Yeah, I think it's something good to add, I think our website is a good, is a good place to start. Because it does lay out our mission and vision. And then also outlines the kind of work that we do in each of our programs and intensive advocacy and jobs, and in education. It also has information about our annual reports. And so you could get some sense of what our impact has been. So those are some of the kind of main places, I'd also encourage you to check out our social media at choice voices, for example, on Instagram, and Choice Jobs has really great stories right now about what it's been like to work at Oriole Park at Camden Yards during a really winning season, or are the kind of day to day work that we do. So those are some places check us out on social media. And then also please consider checking out our website, I'd said that there's a third place, and then I would invite people who are curious to come along to and that's on a regular basis, we- I host a systems change conversation, where it's called systems change and truth, racial healing and transformation. So if people want to check that out, I'd encourage you just to be in touch with us in choice. And that's a place where we look at and do some teaching around the major issues on youth on the youth legal system. And we keep kind of a watch list of what are the bills that are pending and changes for, for good and for bad in terms of our advocacy efforts. So those are places that come to my mind.

Dennise Cardona  23:04  
That's fantastic. Kelly, is there anything that I have not asked you that you feel would lend even more value to this great conversation that we've had?

Kelly Quinn  23:14  
Yeah. Several years ago, Choice, worked with young people in our programs, and the local youth led group called Wideangle Media. And as part of that campaign, they produced a series of videos. And one of the things that the young people always insist in that video is that they are not defined by their worst day. And I think that's a really powerful sentiment for us to follow. And I think a call to action. They also insist that they're not defined by their past trauma. I think that's also really powerful. And then a third thing they insist there is that they want you to slow down, they want us to slow down and listen to them. And I just wish everybody could see that video, because those young people are so right. Let's not, let's not assume that the young people we see are, are fully defined by what we see in the news, and really listen to who they are and what they want for themselves because they dream of a different world.

Dennise Cardona  24:31  
Yeah, great life lessons. Wow. Thank you, Kelly, so much for sharing, for shedding light on the incredible work being done by the Choice Program at UMBC. It's been a pleasure having you on the show. And to our listeners. Thank you so much for joining us today. Remember, if you'd like to learn more about Choice, you can find additional information on their website, and check out the sources mentioned in our conversation today. Until next time, take care. 

Kelly Quinn  24:58  
Thanks so much. Thanks