Hull program takes teens from the streets to the sea

Lifesaving Museum rescues troubled youths

The former gang member, now 18, has learned not to think too far ahead. The realities of the past - jail time, the drive-by shootings that killed friends and family members, and other gang-related conflicts - make thinking ahead seem counterproductive.

But still, tentatively, he has started setting goals. He'd like to work, be a help to his family, and not join the roster of nine friends who died this past year. "I could have been there for any of those shootings," he said.

His change in outlook has come with his participation in an unusual program run by the Hull Lifesaving Museum.

He is one of a few teenagers referred by the Department of Youth Services to take part in a maritime apprentice program that blends boatbuilding skills with academic achievement. In the process comes renewed self-respect.

The teens come from Boston's roughest neighborhoods, and not a few have already spent time behind bars. Some have been in foster care, some homeless. Half have lost friends and family members to street violence, and half have been victims or perpetrators of violence themselves.

They make a new life working and studying through a program developed by the museum's staff members, most of whom have worked as parole officers or social workers.

The goal of the Maritime Apprentice Program, or MAP, is to provide skills and, at the same time, give the young men and women ages 14 to 21 a chance to experience aspects of childhood that they missed.

"The kids now have to start childhood and relearn how to live," said apprentice supervisor Ed Norton.

Rock-climbing, golfing, overnight camping, rowing sessions, a visit to a boat show or the aquarium - all things a family might do - are among the staff-led activities. All participants must also pursue a high school diploma, a GED, or attend college.

MAP, which began in 2006, accepts up to 18 apprentices each year. The teens - all have been males so far - continue to live in the city, and do most of their apprenticeship work there, at the museum-run boat shop on Boston Harbor. They also work at the museum's headquarters in Hull. Their identities are not made public, for fear of attracting the attention of gang members from the lives they are trying to leave behind.

Boat shop supervisor Mike Johns, in charge of teaching the boys about building and refurbishing, starts each participant off with just a ruler. That simple tool becomes the springboard to learning about measurement, calculating numbers, and following written and oral directions.

"Education is now in context," says Conny Doty, director of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services, who champions the program. "Suddenly, there is a desire to learn. They discover that they have a good head for math, that there is a reason to read."

Museum executive director Lory Newmyer works with the boys to redirect their street smarts into more productive skills, teaching them to write, to argue their point cogently, to discuss views as part of a group, to be able to banter with ease.

It's a crucial lesson for these "intelligent, honorable kids . . . coming from a world where a misplaced look or gesture can be lethal," said maritime program director Ed McCabe.

The staff of the federally funded program works with each apprentice for about two years. They accept setbacks as inevitable, given the teens' backgrounds. And when an apprentice gets hired by a local business, the program urges those businesses not to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble.

"The burial of friends, life-and-death decisions, would you get by unscathed?" asked McCabe.

The staff doesn't give up easily, either. One young man - the one who said he doesn't like to think too far ahead - was recently sent back to jail on a parole violation. In such cases, says Newmyer, "we go to court to testify on his behalf, visit him in jail. There is always hope."

As a handwritten sign in the boat shop office reads, "They get greater later!" Added shop supervisor Johns, "We're family."

"The Hull staff is the support system for these kids," said Larry Smith, deputy director of the Mayor's Office of Jobs and Community Services.

"When you look at it financially, what is the cost to society?" Rather than spend $35,000 in tax dollars to keep someone in jail, he said, "it would be so much better to put down $8,000 [per person] for this program, help the kid, and come up with a good citizen."

A case in point is another 18-year-old, from Roxbury, who came to the program last year after losing three close family members within two weeks' time. Now close to graduating, he has won an award for academic excellence and dreams of working in an architectural firm some day. He has seen peers succeed, as well as falter, in the program.

"A lot of kids make mistakes, but they don't just give you one strike and that's it," he said. "I wish there were more programs like this around because a lot of kids could really use it."

A past participant, now 20, would agree. The Dorchester native, who graduated from the program a year ago, still stops in to say hi, and offer encouragement to newcomers.

"I'll never know what could have happened to me," he said, "but I don't have to look over my shoulder anymore."