WHY MVP EXISTS
There is a general agreement that a major cause of crime is the lack of
values taught to children. Too many children are growing up without the
benefit of loving, responsible and competent adults who teach them
right from wrong. Many of these children do not understand empathy or feel pride and satisfaction at doing the right thing... or remorse and guilt when doing wrong.
Without being taught these positive values, and living and maturing in a world of criminal values where everyone fights and bad behavior is promoted and encouraged many feel hopeless and unmotivated...
Now, imagine
walking into a classroom where twenty middle school students dressed in
professional attire greet you with a firm handshake, look directly into
your eyes, and introduce themselves. As you look around this one-room
classroom, you see they are engaged in their studies. It's hard to
imagine that these same students had been kicked out of previous
schools or that when they first arrived, were three to four grade
levels behind. Some of these students were being pressured by gangs at
their previous schools; some have older siblings already immersed in
gang life. Other students here had been taunted and bullied because
they didn't quite "fit in" with the majority of their fellow students.
And, in almost all cases, these students at one time felt inferior,
disinterested, unmotivated and hopeless. Then they came to MVP, to the
safety of our small classroom, and to the patient instruction of our
teacher Laura Caraccio.
We reach out to our neighborhood and believe these children who's lives are changed will also set an example for kids who may have felt a different way of life was not possible.
