Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Commissioner Lumon May on Pensacola's Teens
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: Hi, I'm Rick Alsen, and this is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. has become a weekly event for us at the newspaper and to bring stories that written about and what been covering with the blog, ricksblog.biz, and with the newspaper. Big story last ⁓ Children's Trust meeting, were voting on their budget. And Commissioner Lumen May up the need for money for programs for at-risk teens at 14 to 17 year olds. ⁓ that kind of falls out of the system. I've asked Commissioner May to join us today. the mayor today, Commissioner, also brought up this age He is going to San Diego to a mayor's conference with the police chief, and he's very interested in coming with some kind of program. you throw out a number at the trust meeting of trying to set aside a million dollars because we don't really know what program should be yet. Commissioner Lumon May: Absolutely, Rick. Actually I I threw out a million and I think we're at two million now, really in terms of equity distribution of the age groups for the demographics. We have we spent close to eighteen to twenty million on after school programs, zero to about age twelve. we know the most vulnerable population are the young teenagers. I mean that's the that we're having downtown. I w spoke with the mayor on yesterday, I ⁓ spoke Councilman Patton ⁓ terms of, you know, even walking downtown going to dinner. ⁓ on palliopalks and the young people are just hanging out there because they have nowhere to go. And so I think that it's incumbent upon us to put together programs ⁓ that's gonna promote youth development but help with juvenile delinquency. I mean unfortunately Iscamia County has the highest number ⁓ of juveniles are on probation. and we have one of the highest civil citation rates. I mean, even in terms of numbers and not just ⁓ percentages and even like more than places like Broward and Dade County and that says that there is a real critical need for us to bring services ⁓ for that Well Rick Outzen: We know that in the in the in the public school system there's a lot offered it for the middle school kids. There's no athletic programs there. At one time there used to be basketball. They we've we've things over the years, but in but ⁓ that don't it. then when you get to to the high school, if you're not a gifted athlete, you're really left in in the large is trying find out what to do. Commissioner Lumon May: you know, when we look at ⁓ step up for children, school choice, many of the children are just exiting Scamie County public schools and middle school. ⁓ and you will see all of the middle schools, the private middle schools, they have youth football. When you go to Okaloosa and anywhere east they have middle school football. And so I think in order to prepare our kids for the high school level, is one of the reasons you saw Mike Bennett, you saw Coach Shackerford and many of those others come out to support this because our children are coming to high school not prepared to be able to be competitive. Now with the NIL and all other things that you have, not only do you need to be a good athlete, but your emotional well-being, ⁓ physical well-being, your athletic well-being, and your academic is all important. And so ⁓ if we were able to implement this in collaboration with the Scammer County School District, we could have behavior technicians, we can have counselors, we can have social workers, we can have tutors, and can have coaches. I mean when you look at the Little League middle school coaches, These guys are getting off work every day, coming to coach, ⁓ they're former players, former coaches, but they are not subject matter expert in academics. And so I thought that this could be a good collaboration in terms of working with the school district. And another way is to put our kids back in our schools. ⁓ unfortunately I represent district that does not have a middle school. district three, we do not have a middle school, and daily we're trying to combine ⁓ middle kids and high schools and maybe even elementary kids on a high school campus at Pensacola High School, which I believe is unhealthy. I think that we give children incentives ⁓ to want to go to school in their neighborhood, and that's by offering them extracurricular activities and just starting with football and whether it be golf or whether it be tennis or whether it be performing arts, ⁓ we have to give children opportunity to do what we want to do, live, work and play in your community. Rick Outzen: You know, you've you've you've got some resistance at the trust level about setting aside a million of reserves ⁓ this. however, it was part of the motion. so there there is a chance to come back. ⁓ today the mayor in in his conference, I brought up the subject. He actually brought up teenagers and this is he thinks that the city cobble together some money also that could go to a program like this. He said It's not money's not gonna be the issue. The issue is deciding you know, getting the right pilot program started. thinks that's what the challenge is. Commissioner Lumon May: The mayor and I had extensive conversation this entire week, Rick, and I and when I said to the mayor, we don't need to study the problem. ⁓ we have the data and the statistics and saying what the delinquency is. let's pilot a program and see if it works. ⁓ I you know, the road to ⁓ maybe with good intentions. I mean there are a lot of well-intended programs that actually don't implement the program by including all of the stakeholders. I mean, oftentimes we create these programs without going to the end users, which are the children. So we have to give them things that we're gonna incentivize them to want to come into our program and not to be forced in after school programs. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of money on after school programs and you can drive by many community centers ⁓ today at four o'clock, five o'clock and they're empty. ⁓ because people think their kids are just gonna walk in and take tutoring because they need it. They don't necessarily comprehend what they need. And we're dealing with a population that maybe eighty, ⁓ percent live in single family homes. the mentorship. in the leadership is critical to make them become positive citizens. Rick Outzen: Yeah, the let's shift gears a little bit because I think this is something that I think this is a topic that we're gonna be talking about for a while. as when the mayor comes back, I know that y'all will be meeting more often. ⁓ The will have another sh we'll have another shot at this, hopefully and look at it. but ⁓ is big announcement next or big event next week, the Rafferty Center, the the gym ⁓ right next the Theopolis May Community Center is be have a ribbon cutting. talk about what that means to the community. Commissioner Lumon May: Rick, I mean w we're very fortunate and very blessed to have donors like Troy Rafferty, Doug Baldwin. ⁓ Doug Baldwin started playing me when he was a a little kid and his generous donation and in Troy with many others, ⁓ the Studers, the Bears, the Cronleys, ⁓ Pap Antonio, ⁓ we were able to build a essentially a three million dollar facility ⁓ with no tax dollars. Rick Outzen: Right, privately funded. Privately funded. That hasn't happened in this county ever. Commissioner Lumon May: And typically people come to the government and say build us a community center in our community. ⁓ but the donors, ⁓ the supporters, we went to the government ⁓ in a partnership with the mayor and said we want to build this facility and partner with the city because we want it to be here forever and we believe that community centers saved lives. Right. My mother, ⁓ grandmother, my mother's mother, ⁓ was a jonitor at Frick Center for thirty three years. ⁓ but she was not just a custodian. ⁓ she mopped the floors, but she tutored She coached, she refereed, she organized leagues. And so people say, why do you spend all of your weekends and days in community centers? It's because that's where I grew up with my grandmother. And I know it works. I know it saves lives. And I know, you know, of the young men that we have, Terrell Hankins, who works for me now, he said, Coach, the only time I got a hot shower was when I went to the community center. The best meals I've ever ever eaten were the meals that we ate at the community center. And so I think that that was important not only from our donors, ⁓ from, you know, hundreds of coaches who are volunteering day in and day out. And we understand that we have a lot of juvenile homelessness. we have parents, literally, Rick, ⁓ who bring their kids to practice, but they sleep in the car behind the gym. And so this investment gives us an opportunity to say you may not have to sleep outside. You can come in, grab something to eat. We'll take you over here and get you a shower. ⁓ these children have something ⁓ that they can be proud of and you know, there's ⁓ been ⁓ athlete that's come through the program that has given more back to Pensacola than Doug Baldwin. Right. I mean we have we've had we've been very fortunate to probably have seven or eight professional athletes ⁓ to leave our area and we often say to whom much is given, much is required. And the only thing we ask is that maybe you come back. and but we've never solicited any of our our young people to come back and give donations. But Doug Baldwin has stepped up in a big way to represent Pensacola. Actually he replicated ⁓ what we're doing at the May Center and Rafferty Center in Seattle. Right. To do a community center. And when he stepped up, Jeremy Reeves stepped up and you know, over at S Y S we're just blessed, man. We've had Reggie Evans, Lady Comfort, Trent Richardson, Doug So many great athletes. Jeremy Reeves, ⁓ they're going with us. Devin Weatherspoon, ⁓ actually his fiance, works for us now. And so we've just been blessed ⁓ to be able to invest. But more importantly, not just those athletes that are coming back Rick. ⁓ but I'm talking about Reggie Smith that owned the drywall company. I'm talking to the person that owns the custodial company. we know that if you invest in human capital, it will return two, ten, twenty-folds if we just give them an opportunity. Rick Outzen: And you know, it's we if you drive by Legion Field today, you look at that field and you s and you don't realize that it was pretty much abandoned by the city years ago. Absolutely. And it was ⁓ ⁓ who Southern Youth Sports Association that helped bring that back. ⁓ And city now is investing in it in a big way in the and the private community is too. Lumen, thank so much for coming on as always. Thank you. It's for the soul bowl. Getting ready for soul. Commissioner Lumon May: Thank you, Rick. That's a beautiful hat. down to the Blue Wahoo Stadium man and we're gonna have a great I was just talking to my dear friend Kendrick at HCA and so you know, we have to thank all of our sponsors. I mean, yeah, it's the largest little league football game in the country and it's because we have a great community that supports us. Rick Outzen: Always, always. We'll go ahead and take a break. I'm Rick Alton. This is Rick's Blog Live. We'll be right back.