By Mary Corrado
Associate Editor
“Jobs over jail” and “Education over incarceration” are the motivation of a unique and inspiring factory. The Anixter Center Roberta Bachmann Lewis Factory Program is the only place in the city to offer both education and vocational training to adolescent boys and girls aged 16 to 21 who are on probation—and the program works. This place is a true second chance.
“A new beginning means a new attitude. You may need to change your thought, your dress, your friends,” said program manager Patricia Martin. “This is a safe haven. You can’t wear gang colors, or make gang signs, or talk gang talk.” Thirty-two students are enrolled in the program, which includes fare cards for public transportation each way as well as an on-site hot breakfast and hot lunch.
Directed by a foreman, the students do light assembly and packaging work for half of each day. For example, for two weeks the students are assembling special foam and cardboard layers for use in packaging pharmaceutical instruments. Other tasks include using a scraper to strip soft plastic from hard plastic so that each may be recycled, or bagging turkey basters or sets of wooden spoons for sale at a dollar store. Students are paid by piecework.
“We prepare them for the job market: how to take orders, work with others, and voice differences, how to dress and conduct yourself,” said Martin. Those who earn the top five paychecks each week are recognized on a bulletin board with praise, and superlative workers move up to be materials handler, passing out work and tallying up who does what.
“This is not just imitation work. It will leave the building. It will be used,” foreman Wayne Smith told Inside.
“We learn to get along. That’s good for the future, because there will be people you don’t like at your job but you have to get along with them,” one student explained.
The second half of each day is spent preparing for the General Equivalency Diploma (GED), which is equivalent to a high school diploma. Willie Baldwin teaches upper math and social studies in a pleasant classroom of eight desks. Brad Kaste teaches science and lower math in the adjoining attractive classroom. By using a pre-test to assess each student’s academic strengths and weaknesses, the teachers can offer individualized help during the four to six months of a typical enrollment. A student council meets once a week.
“I learned more here than in public school,” one student told Inside. “The number one thing is the individual attention from the teacher,” said another.
The staff includes two counselors who address personal as well as job issues with the students. Classes in sex education—including sexually transmitted diseases and birth control—take place weekly, and no subjects are off-limits. Those students who are “parents too soon” are counseled on how to cope with this challenge as well.
“It’s structured, but there’s a lot of love in here too,” Martin said. While she may say, “If you don’t get it together you’ll be out of here,” she’s more likely to be heard saying, “You’re doing a good job.” “We give respect, and we expect respect back,” she said.
“They help you get a job, cope with life, and have more options. The counselors are great,” one student said. He’s only six weeks from taking his GED. Once a student earns the GED, the Anixter Center Factory Program helps him or her to enter a skill training program, full or part-time work, trade school or junior college. This student has plans to become a machinist. “I wouldn’t change a thing here. I will always stay in touch with Anixter. They helped me with open arms,” he said.
Another young man, whose academic skills are strong except for math, is finally getting those math skills with the individualized attention of Mr. Baldwin and “Mr. Brad.” Glowing with confidence, he talked about going on to junior college and then on to regular college to study zoology. “This program keeps you off the streets. It helps you get a GED, and it’s faster than other programs...It’s perfect.”
Students who need quite a lot of help academically—learning to read, for example—are tutored one-to-one by volunteers who come in between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Anixter Center Factory would welcome more volunteers; please visit www.anixter.org or call volunteer coordinator Stephanie More at (773) 929-8200, ext. 227.
The Illinois Arts Council funded a writing program, facilitated by Megan Carney, which produced a booklet of stories, which, although from girls and boys all over the city, are all the same: stories of pain and loss and danger and fear, of gangs and drugs and empty futures. The very act of writing helps them understand and cope better.
The Anixter Center Factory has no shortage of success stories. There is the gang leader who had enough when his younger brother got shot, who came to the Factory and, through determination, is now ready for the GED test and is being promoted at his job. There’s another who initially failed the GED but renewed his effort, passed it, signed up for college, and plans to apply for the Marines.
“Make the best of it. What you get out of this is what you put into it,” said one boy, noted for always having the top paycheck and for showing leadership. He plans to attend a junior college which offers sports as well as academics, such as Robert Morris College, because he loves basketball. After a couple years there, well, he’d love to study and play basketball at Purdue University. These kids know how to dream, and, with the help of this unique program, they are making rapid progress towards changing those dreams into reality.
“I enjoy working here so much,” said Martin. “These are my angels. I can see them soaring and making a difference.” |
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