'Refuse to lose': Teen inspired inside juvenile detention helping others

'Refuse to lose': Teen inspired inside juvenile detention helping others

Kevin Barnwell
Facility News

MUSKEGON, MI -- Change how you think. Change how you feel. 

That's some of the advice Tyya Cunningham received from mentor Leslie King, founder and director of Sacred Beginnings. 

Cunningham, 16, of Muskegon, is going through the Lighthouse Girls Treatment Program, which is part of the 20th Circuit Court Family Division.  

Sacred Beginnings is a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit that works with human trafficking victims.  

School choice producing segregation in districts across the state

School choice producing segregation in districts across the state

Mike Langenright
Education

Holland, Mich. – For more than a decade, Holland Public Schools has watched its enrollment fall, prompting the closure – and demolition – of multiple schools.

The decline is not the result of an aging community with fewer, school-age children. Rather, it’s largely a reflection of Michigan’s generous school choice policies. Choice has, consciously or not, left districts like Holland not only scrambling for students, but more racially segregated as its white students leave, often for districts that are less diverse.

Students Pledge To Do the “Write” Thing To End Violence

Students Pledge To Do the “Write” Thing To End Violence

Mike Langenright

“I don’t remember everything that happened when I was 3, but I can recall one certain night.My mother was sprawled out in the middle of the floor and coated with blood, and my father had dozens of beer bottles. He was breaking the beer bottles and using the sharp parts of the broken glass to cut into her. He had a belt and was whacking her with it over and over. I will never forget that night. Every time I wake up, I see that memory in my head. It’s a never-ending nightmare.”

Strong Education Programs, Supports Can Be Potent for Justice-Involved Youth

Strong Education Programs, Supports Can Be Potent for Justice-Involved Youth

Kevin Barnwell
Ideas and Opinions, Education

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In my case, education fundamentally saved my life. At age 16, I was sentenced to serve six years at a secure juvenile detention facility in upstate New York for the crime of attempted murder.

I committed the offense when I was 15 years and 363 days old. If I been 16 at the time of the offense, I would have been charged as an adult and would have received a much longer sentence than six years.

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