KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Amid the noise, Manuel Messan believes a greater sound should be heard.
“A big part of it is teaching us how to be advocates and realizing we have a voice and we can use it, especially for people that don’t,” said Messan, a senior at Portage Northern High School.
Massan explains two years ago, he joined Western Michigan University’s (WMU) Youth Juvenile Justice Fellows program. His childhood in Illinois pushed him to do so.
“I grew up in not the best place starting out in my earlier life, and I’ve seen a lot of kids I was really great friends with turn out to go into pretty bad situations,” said Messan.
Through bimonthly meetings, the fellowship program teaches local kids, ages 12 to 22, how to identify challenges within the juvenile justice system, develop strategies to reform it, then share their experiences with community leaders and lawmakers.
“If we want to get them involved civically and be more meaningfully engaged in all of our systems, we need to start young,” said Dr. Luchara Wallace, the director of the Lewis Walker Institute at WMU. “We need to help them to understand and see their voice matters.”
Wallace says for example, this year’s class expressed concerns about a lack of post-incarceration support for kids, so on Sunday, they held an event which, in part, encouraged area representatives to bring Cafe Momentum to Kalamazoo. The nationally recognized nonprofit restaurant employs kids impacted by the justice system.
It also aimed to raise money for the fellowship program. According to Wallace, the grant that initially funded it runs out this year. She says it costs approximately $75,000 per year to run.
“The fact that we can see some of [the fellows] grow from middle school students that maybe have been justice impacted to high school students preparing to graduate, it’s absolutely incredible,” said Wallace.
Wallace hopes community donations can help the fellowship program continue. She says when those in power do not listen to their young constituents on policies that impact them, it can create unintended issues.
“It’s vital that we not give up on them and that we continue to provide ways for us to work collaboratively to support them to meet their needs,” said Wallace.
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