HOLLAND, Mich. — At Escape Ministries in Holland, their goal is to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by building job skills and helping youths finish their education.
Students arrived at Escape Ministries for their last day of school. They are all part of the Alternative Suspension Accountability Program, or ASAP.
“I made some pretty bad choices, and Escape open their doors for me,” said Keonte Williams. He says ASAP is giving him a chance to get back to Holland High School and without Escape he probably would just drop out.
“Escape is, like ... it gives you another shot. ... They see the mistakes you made and they brushed it off as nothing happened. Like, it's not going to define you forever,” said Keonte.
“It doesn’t look and feel like a school, a little more like a youth center,“ said Executive Director Kevin Denton. He says a lot of the kids in the program just need a second chance to put their life back on track, saying, “What we found is a great success rate of kids returning to school in a better place, learning replacement behaviors that keeps them there and all the way to graduation.”
The program usually has 10–15 kids from all over the Holland area that come here to learn instead of being at home or getting in trouble.
Student Eddie Leonard said, “They don't come at it the same way most schools do. I feel like ... it's more about helping you not just with school but, like, deal with everything else.”
Escape also has a small music program along with after-school tutoring.
They also have a gym with a full-sized boxing ring inside.
“We have students who are in other programs who come and learn to box and learn to get fit and learn the value of a health body,” said Denton.
Escape allows the kids to change the narrative of their lives and allows them to take ownership of their behavior and education, saying, “We find ourselves in a unique place kind of between the public schools and juvenile detention, and we provide the service for the community, keep kids out of the juvenile detention system.”
In the last 15 years, Escape Ministries has helped more than 2,500 youths and their families and created more than 450 jobs.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube