The Padua Center - Steve Appeal

I expect you may have read newspaper reports about the escalating violence in Little Burgundy.

Is there anything that can be done? The Padua Center has created DESTA, a Black Youth Network with one purpose: to reach out to disadvantaged young adults, and prevent the kind of violence we are now seeing in the streets.

A few days ago I met a street worker who commented that a lot of young persons desperately want to get out of a bad situation, but that there is no vehicle to take them to new ground. I thought to myself, that's exactly what DESTA is meant to be, a vehicle to move alienated youth into positive life experience. Please read the letter which follows from the DESTA team leader.

Early last spring we received a government grant which enabled us to pilot a six-month Youth Empowerment Project. There is a 14-minute video (available upon request) that tells the story of how we were able to give youth an experience of meaning through our mentor program, and to teach them skills to enhance their employment capability. We helped the participants discover a sense of purpose, and clarify their values and life vision. DESTA will continue this vital outreach.

Here’s where you can help. Your contribution - consider it a Christmas gift - will give some troubled young person a big boost before he or she ever gets near drugs and violence and guns. In addition to supporting our mentor program, your generosity will establish an education fund to give individuals from low-income families access to higher education.

Our project name "DESTA" means happiness, and together I know that we can bring new promise to where there is much hopelessness and helplessness. The team thanks you for your trust.

As individuals we do not have the power to protect all youth. We do not have the power to ban the sale of guns or end the drug trade, or to require that violence be portrayed realistically in the mass media. Collectively we must work towards these ends. As individuals we have only a measure of power, but the power that we have is profound nevertheless - it is the power to care. All our youth are hungry for emotional contact and nurturing.

Some of the youth we meet live in conditions of poverty. A countless number are victims of family breakdown and lack nurturing parental care. In fact, many have been orphaned at a very early age.

A large proportion of black youth who are at risk are no longer in school. Some are incarcerated in juvenile detention centers and adult prisons. Many are desensitized to violence as a result of their own victimization, and the ready availability of guns and the drug culture are an explosive combination. The young persons involved in drugs and violence are real people. They are real kids from real families. We must find ways to make contact with these youth.

We see the extraordinary potential in these young people. Like all of us, they need affirmation and encouragement, and opportunities to develop their individual talents. Whatever the setbacks they have faced in life, DESTA fosters the awareness that social marginalization is not inevitable. We want to present the young adults with choices, and guide their discovery of personal vision. Our goal is to help them to awaken the power of their own self-determination and confident black identity.

We know we can make a huge difference in the lives of many youth. Thanks so much for supporting the DESTA outreach.