annualreportFY03

6 The City School
Prison Empowerment Project (PEP) brings local students and inmates
together for discussions around violence prevention and criminal justice
issues. PEP sessions are offered during the school year in after-school
hours. Ama Nyamekye (PEP Manager) and student staff Joseph Reddick,
a senior at Brighton High, developed and administered the program
throughout the year.
The Prison Empowerment Project combines community violence prevention
efforts and an education about our criminal justice system, with
trips to local prisons to listen to inmates speak about their stories, decisions,
regrets and lives. PEP works with youth to help them to understand
the cycles of violence that often devastate low-income
communities. PEP works in collaboration with the Boston Schools and
Boston Police—and is one of the most popular violence prevention programs
in the city today. PEP is not a “Scared Straight” program, but is
rooted in education, academics, reflection and experiential learning.
PEP Demographics
This past school year The City
School’s PEP had 6 regular sections,
2 overnight sections, 3 single trips and
1 month-long class with Dorchester
High School. Teens made up 125
of our participants, with 19 college
students and 24 adult mentors also
attending the program.
Joyce Mendes (SLP ’02, PEP ’02)
Gender
49% Female
51% Male
Race/Ethnicity
43% African American
25% Caucasian
22% Latino
6% Asian
4% Other
Schools
78% Public school
15% Private school
Residence
77% Boston
15% Cambridge/Somerville
8% suburban