The Wrong Kind of 'Come Up'

My students are “coming up” on things way too frequently.

In the hood, to “come up” on something, means stealing it.  

Before I served youth with UrbanLife, I didn’t think so many people were engaged in criminal activity just to meet basic needs. But these days, I see it happening all around me.  The tentacles of poverty have their slime all over our students.  And this morning, it’s grieving my soul.

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Corey didn’t commit the crime.   But he was a lookout for the criminals.  Corey needed money from somewhere.  And it wasn’t coming from his mom.  According to him, she gets the most angry when he asks for new clothes.   He shouldn’t have to wear shoes that are so small, his big toe loses feeling.  But those are the shoes he wears every day.

We told Henry that he was going to steal from the wrong person at some point.   But the immediate rush of dopamine and monetary reward was too great for him to stay away from.  He kept stealing.  Finally, last spring, he was arrested in a stolen vehicle.  It landed him behind bars for some hard time.  

Walter is perhaps the most promising student I have worked with at UrbanLife.   He excels in both school and sports.   Adults are compliment him and students follow him.   I just happen to follow him on Facebook.  Over social media I began to see phones for sale way too often.  If he wasn’t stealing them himself, Walter was selling the stolen phones for profit. 

Todd made sure he slept at his friend’s house last weekend.  It was the end of the month.  And there wasn’t any food in his cupboards.  His dad is on trial for burglary next week.   He desperately wants a different life for himself though.  On Sunday, he interviewed to be a part of The Come Up Leadership Development Internship.  We are all pulling for this kid.

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There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior.  But it’s also not a given that these guys can ask their parents for a lock (for your PE locker), for new socks or football cleats, or for money to pay a debt for a textbook that his sister wrote in.  Most of my guys are not even thinking about homecoming.   The way into a suit and onto a picture order is way out of reach.  Cash is dry at home. Jobs are hard to come by.  And foot-pushing scooters are their best mode transportation.

I've taken some hacks at addressing this blunder. I’ve hired youth to work at our house.  For hours at a time, they’ve mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, and washed vehicles.  Last week I had a couple youth washing exterior windows for neighbors.  But these are all '1-offs'.

This week’s launch of THE COME UP, our leadership development internship, will create new realities for a handful (See yesterdays post).     “Coming up” doesn’t have to mean stealing.   It can also mean rising from the bottom to high places.   We believe this will happen in the lives of many of our young people.   This kind of “Come Up” is an avenue to meaningful work, fair pay, and real challenge that calls forth their gifts.   Perhaps most importantly, participation in this internship decreases the chances of their lives being defined by the worst thing they haveever done.

You can allow 1 more student to be included in this internship.   Commitments of $100 a month allow us to expand the opportunity to additional qualified applicants.

Give HERE if you are able, designating gifts to “The Come Up.”

*Names are altered to protect identities of my students.  Photos included in this entry are not the actual students I am describing.