filed under Economics | Education | Food | National Media | Only In RI | Social Justice
From Grime to Griddle
10:45AM ON
07/14/2008
BY
Ariel Werner
The New York Times has a piece today on a RI Training School program that puts juvenile offenders to work restoring old New England diners through the New Hope Diner Project. The youths restore the diners’ decrepit buildings, work the griddles and cash registers, and will (eventually, hopefully) manage the actual businesses sometime in the future. Pam Belluck writes:
“The whole poetry behind it is that these are kids who have been pretty much cast away emotionally and criminally, getting a chance to restore beloved eateries that have been cast off from society, too,” said Daniel Zilka, the acting director of the American Diner Museum, who rescues decrepit diners and helps run the project. “If they continue on the path that they’ve been moving upon they would end up in an adult correctional facility. This is probably their last opportunity.”
The offenders at the detention center, some as young as 13, have been convicted of crimes like sexual assault, armed robbery, breaking and entering, and drug offenses, and sentenced to serve 6 to 18 months. The center, the Rhode Island Training School, also has maximum security for offenders including murderers, but offenders qualify for the project only if they behave well enough to move to the regular detention population. They must also have, or nearly have, a high school equivalency diploma.
Work release is an important reentry mechanism for many offenders, but should these youths be encouraged to spend their time studying and developing more general skills before jumping into this line of work? Or do programs like this create order, stability, and options for young people with seemingly no way out?
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2 Comments on “ From Grime to Griddle ”
July 14th, 2008 at 3:25PM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
Since you asked Ariel,I would say there is no “one size fits all” answer.if a training school inmate shows a predisposition for skilled trades,that person should be encouraged to pursue that avenue-if on the other hand they are more inclined academically they should be encouraged in that direction.The point is that in youth corrections any positive alternative is preferable to warehousing.There will be that small hardcore antisocial group that cannot benefit from positive reinforcement,and they should be segregated.
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August 13th, 2008 at 10:50PM
Virginia Ryan Says:
Diner History Lecture
The history of the diner industry that began in the Blackstone Valley and Rhode Island will be presented at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 16 at the Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Square. The diner began with Walter Scott on the streets of Providence with his horse-drawn freight wagon and quickly expanded to Worcester. In Worcester, men by the names of Buckley, Palmer, Jones, Barriere and Gemme made history expanding the diner industry nationally and internationally. The New Hope Diner Project is a collaborative effort to provide job training and education to the youth of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Division of Juvenile Correctional Services, through the restoration and operation of vintage diners. Call Virginia Ryan at (508) 853-6357 for additional information.
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