Alternative to Violence: Ex-Gang Members Lead the Way
Council for Unity Helps Sheepshead Bay Students Make Better Choices in Life
by Yuridia Peña
Rick J. Brown was a gang member and an atrisk student at Erasmus High School in the early 1990s. After a riot broke out in the hallway over footwear – one student wouldn’t apologize for stepping on someone’s sneaker – he came into contact with a program that would eventually turn his life around.
That program, the Council for Unity (CFU), got him off the streets. He is now a site coordinator at Sheepshead Bay High School for CFU, where he counsels at-risk students to seek alternatives to gang culture.
“My gang was a little bit different, mine’s was a money gang … we didn’t have to beat you up to get in [the gang,] there was nobody stabbing you or shooting you. It was like this: Make money, bring it home, put it in the pot. That was the gang I was down with,” he said during a recent interview.
The day after the riot, CFU came to Erasmus High School, and Mr. Brown was introduced to Robert DeSena, CFU’s founder. Mr. Brown was “dumbfounded” by what the organization offered. Through the program, he met former gang members and criminals whom he related to and who strongly suggested that there were better ways to live. Mr. Brown left the streets and earned his high school diploma.
CFU has been working with kids and adults for more than 30 years. It offers peer mediation, conflict resolution classes and workshops, trips to colleges, trips to prisons, career development and job counseling. Arguably, the most important thing CFU does is offer a community of support – a substitute for what at-risk teenagers seek through street life.
“They are looking for … a family,” said Yelena Geller, an English teacher who facilitates CFU courses at Sheepshead Bay. Ms. Geller taught English for seven years before Principal Reesa Levy asked her to run CFU classes. “These kids have enriched my life, specifically in this program, because as an English teacher, I would always find a way to finagle these topics into my lessons… being here I have the best of both worlds,” Ms. Geller said.
Topics such as drugs, violence, teen pregnancy and domestic abuse are discussed through student-led presentations and mini lessons. “This is my favorite class; you feel welcomed (and) nobody judges you,” said Lakisha Innocent, a junior.
Another student, 20-year-old Aliah Madoo, said CFU helped her put an end to an abusive relationship. “I realized I deserved better,” she said. She plans to graduate this spring and attend the University of Rhode Island for nursing.
“It just helped me stay in school … sometimes high school is boring,” said Miguel Augustus, another junior. Gafar Liameed simply stated: “I feel safe.”
CFU classes are designed to teach students how to pick a topic, research it, conduct a lesson and lead a class discussion. “They are heard, they can talk about their issues, and somebody is actually listening to them and addressing those issues,” said Yvonne Prescod, CFU Director of School-Based Initiatives. She noted that Mr. Brown is “a very big selling point [for] kids coming into the classroom.”
(Watching Mr. Brown, it’s easy to see how teens are lured by his charisma and “swag,” urban-speak for
confidence and style. Mr. Brown chooses to reside in a nearby housing project, which makes him even better equipped to relate to his students. )
CFU is an elective course at Sheepshead Bay and has been so successful that many students - even honor roll teenagers – take the class to learn leadership and research skills; however, many at-risk students, over-aged and under-credited, are offered CFU as a credit-recovery class. It becomes mandatory. Other schools shape the program to meet their student needs. Some offer it as an after-school program, others use CFU coordinators as guest speakers.
The nonprofit’s multi-faceted program was originally created to target high school students. Today, CFU offers the program to a younger demographic as well. The curriculum is carefully structured for each age group and school level.
At IS 228 in Brooklyn, for example, CFU acts as an anti-bullying program and leadership training. “CFU has taught students not to be bystander because a bystander is as guilty as a bully,” said Dominick D’Angelo, the school’s Principal. Mr. D’Angelo said CFU classes help students become “service-minded – to value the community in which they live.“ CFU is so important for middle school students because these are the years that the leadership foundation is set with our students,” he added.
CFU’s overall mission is to create a culture of hope replacing a culture of despair. The program is not only offered to students but also prisoners – CFU has a chapteer at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Studies have shown that the program’s presence has reduced organized crime, bullying and violence in jails, schools and neighborhoods where gang culture thrives.
CSA President Ernest Logan, who serves on the CFU Board of Directors, has been an advocate for CFU’s work for many years.
