Helping young people leap hurdles

On Saturday afternoon, I sat down for two-and-a-half hours with a group of young African American men, between the ages of 18 and 22, hearing what they think about our city.

They all graduated from high school. They are registered to vote. All of them work two jobs, taking care of themselves while handing over much of their paychecks to support their households, which include their parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.

They also lost a friend, a good student and sensible thinker, who led them until he fell to the senseless violence that’s all too common in our city.

They told me about how, after expenses, they are having trouble saving up the $500 they need to take a state-mandated driver’s ed class and get their driver’s licenses. How they used to go to NORD gyms and courts before the pandemic but now it seems like there’s no way for them to play basketball in the gyms – “ghost facilities.” They hear elected officials talk but not provide the kind of services that could help them pay for trade school or give stability to younger kids who have no support at home. They feel unsafe, despite what the crime statistics say.

They cannot see what their next steps will be. It’s hard to feel hopeful that they will be able to find a job that can pay for all those high bills – light, water, and rent. But they hear about the money spent putting lights on the Crescent City Connection bridge. Which is more important – one Super Bowl Day, or the generation that represents the future of the city?

I asked them, what would you want to see happen now?

They’d like to find a way to reduce what they pay for driver’s ed. They’d jump at enrolling in a Pay to Learn program, so that they could continue supporting their households while taking career-training courses to better themselves. It’s time, they say, for a NORD that works, for police officers who care about and protect them and their loved ones, and for easily accessible ways to improve entrepreneurship skills and financial literacy.

There’s a song titled, “Maybe God is Tryin’ To Tell You Somethin’.” These young people are telling us. They are angry and afraid. “The city is messed up” and no one is listening. They are anxious and they have grave doubts about the future.

But despite that, once we talked about what can be done and how it can happen, they lit up the room with youthful optimism. They are ready to do the work, to make New Orleans their city, your city, our city.

The question is, are the rest of us ready to listen and act?

Arthur Hunter is a former NOPD police officer and judge.