Dropouts to get free job training in Central Area program

Jocquelyn Duncan knew the statistics: Black, Latino and Native-American students had the highest dropout rates in Seattle.

Many of them lived in the Central Area, where Duncan grew up, She often saw these kids walking around the neighborhood during school hours, some with young children in tow.

Something had to be done, said Duncan, a director at Casey Family Programs. So she and others got together. They brainstormed. They envisioned a center where students could learn not only how to make a living but how to make their lives better.

What they came up with is an educational pilot program called Work-it-Out. The new nonprofit is scheduled to open in the Central Area in January and will serve youths 16 to 21 who have dropped out and need vital job-training skills.

It will start small, likely with just a few students enrolled early next year. The eventual goal is to serve 100 students, Duncan said. Organizers are banking on grants, donations and corporate sponsorships to help run the center.

For instance, the city has offered to install Internet access free of charge, she said. And paint companies have donated supplies to help spruce up the century-old Horace Mann school at 24th Avenue and East Cherry Street, where the program will be located.

The Department of Neighborhoods awarded the program a $100,000 grant this year, which will help pay for rent and utilities. (The Seattle School District is leasing out the building.) Instructors will be contracted through nearby schools, such as the University of Washington and Seattle University.

So far, the project has moved forward only because people "rolled up their sleeves and wanted to help," Duncan said.

Come January, Duncan and others will be reaching out to various high schools to find out which kids have dropped out — or are in danger of doing so. Admission will be free, and application information will soon be available on the school's website at www.workitoutseattle.org.

"We're going to have to do this one child at a time," she said.

There's an added benefit for neighbors, Duncan said. The Horace Mann school will get renovated. The building had sat boarded up for months behind a chain-link fence, after NOVA, an alternative school, moved out last year.

"We're restoring a historic building that means a lot to this neighborhood," said Duncan, chairwoman of Work-it-Out.

At the same time, she said, "we're hoping to create a school culture that is about meaningful experiences which are connected to the students' real-life experiences.

"We're building community."

The school won't be a "school" in the traditional sense. Curriculum tracks will be tailored for each student, who will get a certificate of completion after finishing the course work.

The system will be based on three principles: rigor, relevance and relationships, Duncan said. This basically means that students will get hands-on learning — for instance, vocational training in technology or culinary arts. They also will work on developing close bonds with staff. Building trust is a key part of turning lives around, she said.

Also, nutrition will play a vital role. The school cafeteria will serve food grown from a garden on the site. Students will learn the importance of cooking healthful meals, Duncan said.

Since early fall, volunteers have been coming out in droves to help fix up the school, said Dariush Shafagh, operations manager. Church groups, Microsoft employees, and the list goes on, he said.

When Shafagh walked into the three-story building, he said, "there was dripping water, there was mold. It was like walking into a bad movie." But soon, walls were painted, and floors refinished.

A lot of work still remains, Shafagh said. There's no heat in the building. The boiler has to be functioning by January, Shafagh said.

All of the volunteer effort has made both Duncan and Shafagh aware of how important their mission is. Even though there's so much more to check off on the to-do list before the school officially opens, Duncan said she's not worried. It will come together.

She has her sights on the larger picture. "We're hoping this trajectory [among dropouts] of cradle-to-prison can stop," she said. "You've got to correct that. And we, as a community, can do it."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-464-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com.