What Works -- how to make kids believe

By LEONARD PITTS JR.

lpitts@miamiherald.com

PITTSBURGH -- This is a What Works column.

Those of you who are regulars will recognize that as my series spotlighting programs that have proven effective in tackling poverty, miseducation, fatherlessness and other problems that blight the prospects of African-American kids. In the year and change that the series has been underway, it has taken me around the country, from Harlem to Austin to Atlanta. Today, it brings me to this city of bridges and rivers. More specifically, it brings me to the Crossroads Foundation.

Crossroads (www.crossroads foundation.org) was founded in 1988 to help funnel at-risk Catholic elementary school kids into Catholic high schools. Funded by private donations, it serves children (whether they are Catholic are not) whose families cannot afford the jump in tuition (from about $1,000 a year to as much as $7,000) the high schools represent.

Applicants are screened, says Executive Director Dr. Veronica Morgan-Lee, by a number of criteria. One is need. Crossroads kids usually qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches. A second is academics. Crossroads tends to reject kids who have been academic stars on the theory that schools will offer them scholarships; it looks for kids who are motivated, but who have not yet performed to their full potential. A third criterion is support. Crossroads seeks kids whose parents (parent, singular, in too many cases) will be active and involved partners.

And finally, says Dr. Morgan-Lee, Crossroads asks a question: If a particular kid is rejected and has to go to public school, ``Would they survive? Would the streets get them if we didn't take them?''

If the answers are no and yes, chances are good that child is coming to Crossroads. What will she get? Heavily subsidized tuition. Tutoring. Summer skills workshops. Individual and family counseling. Sexual abstinence programs. College prep. Intercession when problems crop up with the school.

They also get Mr. Charles. ''Whatever a kid needs to be successful,'' he says, ``that's what we do.''

Sense of connection

You would not want to walk the halls of any Crossroads school with its youth advocacy mentoring specialist, Charles Shealey, if you were in a hurry. He knows everyone and everyone knows him, and there are hugs and handshakes and laughs all around, and you have to believe this sense of connection is part of what makes Crossroads work, part of the reason it says 100 percent of its kids graduate high school and go on to college.

We're talking about students from places where that sort of success would not be expected. Brett Pippens, 14, says his neighborhood is so bad ``the mailman doesn't want to come past, the bus doesn't want to pick up kids from the corner.''

Renee DiNinno, who is 17 (and one of roughly 30 percent of Crossroads kids who are not black), says that in her neighborhood, you see ``abandoned houses, people just on the sidewalk doing nothing. . . . It's just old and broken down. People are just sitting there watching you.''

And yet, Pippens is planning a career in engineering or law, DiNinno wants to be a nurse and Kayla Longo, 17, will be the first in her family to attend college. ''Makes me feel like I'm actually going somewhere,'' she says. ``I have a lot of people in my family that didn't even graduate high school. It makes me feel like I know what I want to do with my life and I want to make sure I get there.''

Josh Bray, who is 18, knows what he wants, too: forensic science. People in his neighborhood, he says, tell him it won't happen, tell him he's never leaving the neighborhood unless it's via the usual routes: a cell or a cemetery.

Thanks to Crossroads, he has an answer. ''I laugh at 'em,'' he says, ``and tell 'em wait and see.''

Ashley Cole ditched party plans fearing attention from female fans would upset angry Cheryl

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The Chelsea star pulled the plug on an evening out at the weekend over fears he might attract unwanted female attention and further upset his wife Cheryl.

The 27-year-old Chelsea and England defender told pals at the last minute that he didn't want to risk losing Cheryl's trust by going out, preferring instead to stay in, have a few drinks and play his PlayStation.

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Staying in: Ashley Cole, here in London last week, apparently cancelled his plans for a boys night out, for fear attention from his female fans would upset wife Cheryl, seen on Sunday night in London

A source said: "Ashley called at the last minute to say that he had changed his mind. He didn't go into too much detail on the phone but told them all to come over to his pad for a boys night in.

...but wife Cheryl recently enjoyed a night out with the girls

"It's not like Ashley to pull the plug on an evening out, but he got cold feet when the realisation hit that he could be faced with girls trying to talk to him and he didn't want to be put in that position.

"All the boys were happy to go to his house to chill but they noticed that, although he was fairly bubbly like before, they could tell that recent events were still praying on his mind."

Last month, Ashley was caught cheating on his wife Cheryl with hairdresser Aimee Walton, 22, during a boozy night out with friends.

Heartbroken, Cheryl, 24, left the marital home in Oxshott, Surrey, and took a winter break with bandmates Kimberley Walsh and Nicola Roberts to Thailand in a desperate bid to escape the furore surrounding her marriage.

After weeks of anguish, Cheryl decided to give Ashley a second chance.

The source added: "Ashley was pleased that he stayed home because then he was able to relax.

"He was just one of the lads again without worrying about people staring at him and making him feel uneasy. They played music, chatted and just generally had a lot of fun."

But Ashley's reclusive nature hasn't extended to Cheryl. She made the most of her weekend by joining her Girls Aloud bandmates for a boozy Saturday evening at London's Burlington club.

She helped bandmate Kimberley Walsh's sister Amy celebrate her 21st.

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