They may not sound like ways to cope with gang violence and drug dealing, but members of the 18-year-old youth outreach organization, Survivin' N Da Hood, know they're on the right road. And they're teaching others what they've learned.


VIDEO: Still trying to

survive

By Ed Stannard

NEW HAVEN - Speaking in front of a group, dropping the street slang, learning sales techniques.





They may not sound like ways to cope with gang violence and drug dealing, but members of the 18-year-old youth outreach organization, Survivin' N Da Hood, know they're on the right road. And they're teaching others what they've learned.
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"It feels good because it makes me feel like I'm doing something special for the kids," says Miracle Bridges, 14, a trainer for Survivin' N Da Hood. "It just puts that excitement in me."





Miracle is one of 27 kids, age 6 to 18, who are showing other New Haven youths what they've learned about communication, peer mediation and how to show their best side to the world. They're learning how to solve problems and make good choices.





"You should do the right thing," Miracle says. Otherwise, "sooner or later, you're going to go down the wrong road, and you can't do your life over."





Reaching at-risk New Haven youths took on a heightened importance in the past two weeks following the death of 15-year-old Quinnell Payne.





Payne was speeding down a street on a stolen dirt bike July 23, collided with a van, and died. The van driver was beaten by bystanders, police said.
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Payne had been involved in a city-run summer jobs program called Youth@Work, but dropped out. City officials said there are many opportunities for youths, such as Survivin' N Da hood, but the pull of the streets is sometimes too strong.





Survivin' N Da Hood's Ingrid Colon led a recent session on public speaking at the John S. Martinez School on James Street.





"Do you feel comfortable talking to other people? How many said yes?" she asks a group of campers from the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees. "Do you listen to others and listen carefully to what they say?"





Most of the trainees admit they're pretty shy. One says he'd be less nervous if he was paid to speak.





Aubree Brabham, though, has already climbed the hill to self-confidence and is standing at the top.
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"I feel extremely comfortable when I'm talking in front of a group," says Aubree, 11½, an aspiring actress and singer.





Colon compliments her on her poise and vocabulary.





"When you have a good vocabulary, it's easier for you when you're speaking in front of a group," Colon says. "You're quick on your feet when you have a good vocabulary."





Aubree knows how important it is to succeed. Every day, she sees young people in her Westville neighborhood who aren't interested in much more than hanging out on a street corner.





"Our neighborhood is really friendly, but sometimes there are things that happen in our neighborhood, like cars coming way too fast and (they) endanger the lives of other people," she says.





Colonia Thigpen, 17, is a first-year trainer.





"I thought it would be hard for me because I'm a shy person but, being in the workshop for two weeks, I learned to be more open in front of my peers and more confident in what I do."





Thigpen, who lives in Fair Haven, hopes to attend Penn State and ultimately, become a lawyer.





"I'm hoping to take what I learn here and provide it to younger adults ... to focus on making it a better community," she says.





In another room, kids are learning how to make a sale. They've been given some challenging things to persuade their peers to buy: poison ivy toilet paper "for annoying uninvited guests," and "combs for bald-headed people."





"You got to remember, as sales spokesmen, you can sell anything," Deron Beasley tells the group.





"Used socks?" someone calls out.





Survivin' N Da Hood began when Patricia Boozer, then a student at Yale Divinity School, and her teenage children were watching a news story on TV about a homicide in New Haven, and the teens realized they had witnessed the argument that led to the killing.





"No one should get killed over what they were arguing about," one of the teens had said.





LaRie McGruder was 15 and Duke Porter-Boozer was 17 when they and their mother decided to create a program to let kids know there were better ways to solve conflicts than with violence.





The program has run with a core group of six to eight trainers, but is expanding this year and organizers plan an after-school program in the city schools on "what it means to be cool."





Survivin' N Da Hood, based in Boozer's home, will have a satellite office in newly built public housing in the West Hills area.





Closely tied to Community Mediation in New Haven, the program relies on grants, state money from the Department of Public Health and contracts with clients.





None of this would have happened, Boozer says, if she hadn't chosen the worst street in the city when she moved to New Haven in 1987.





"We got to know the kids that were selling drugs on the corner" and realized they weren't bad, they just needed direction.





"If you catch them early enough and show them the consequences, most people will make the right choice," Boozer says. "They make that quick choice, that street-survival choice, that's not in their best interest."





Porter-Boozer is now director of the program. His mother serves as adviser; his sister works at Community Mediation.





"I do have to say we've trained thousands of kids," Porter-Boozer says. "It's a good feeling that a lot of people know you and know what you do."





Priestly Best knew how much good Survivin' N Da Hood could do when he researched the program for a paper at Gateway Community College in 1993. "Basically I fell in love with it because it was a group of young people addressing young people's issues," says Best.





He started out as a trainer, and now serves as a supervisor. He's also an evangelist for the program and has brought materials to Indiana, Ohio, Barbados, Haiti and other places.





Best, 33, knows how important it is to make the right choices, because he made some wrong ones himself, living in a rough part of New Haven.





"I didn't fit in, but I did because I knew how to hustle," he says. "I was blessed enough not to feel the full burn behind it."





Best, known as "Pre," says much of the reason Survivin' N Da Hood succeeds is that it delivers its message with a lot of fun thrown in.





"Survivin' N Da Hood probably never in the beginning told me not to be out there hustling, but they said 'You got another choice.'"








Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@nhregister.com or 789-5743.