Four teenagers were honored Thursday for completing life skills training as part of the City of Danville’s Project Imagine program, which strives to give gang-affiliated teens a future off the streets.
随着最新一届毕业生的毕业，在过去的六个月里，已有23名青少年完成了这个项目。
Speaking at yesterday’s ceremony, Robert David, the youth services and gang violence prevention coordinator for the City of Danville, encouraged the teens to not let past mistakes define them.
“You got a set of instructions with some bad information, and you followed those instructions, and in your heart, you thought it was right,” David said. “We are not trying to make you anything. 我们在努力让你成为你自己。 我们怎么做呢？ It’s by giving you some different instructions on how to do some things and how to handle situations differently.”
Going forward, David said, “We don’t expect you not to make mistakes because that is part of learning. It’s the getting up when we fall that strengthens us.”
作为培训的一部分，青少年接受了基于力量的评估，使用的是凯西生活技能和克利夫顿优势工具，旨在引导青少年走向健康、富有成效的生活。 这些青少年还进行了目标设定练习。
“It looks like you learned something, but you also gave us something,” David said. “As much as you come to make changes, we get just as much by seeing you change. We don’t take it lightly that you showed up and worked hard.”
副城市经理厄尔·雷诺兹鼓励青少年们利用他们所学到的知识，不仅改善自己，也改善社区。
“The important thing is that you have a purpose, and you have a focus, and you apply that to your everyday life,” Reynolds said. “What will help the community is what ‘I am as a person. 我愿意回馈社会吗？’ The question is, do you have the desire? 你有心吗？ 从这里开始。 你太重要了，比你想象的还要重要。 We are depending on you.”
“想象计划”通过为帮派成员提供生活技能指导和工作准备培训，为他们提供远离街头的未来。 该项目始于2018年，包括为期9周的带薪工作体验，以及在合作机构工作时的指导。
现在的重点是发展与帮派成员的关系，并在每个青少年在实现他们在项目初始阶段确立的目标方面取得进展时保持这种关系。 One of the City’s youth services and gang violence prevention outreach workers is assigned to mentor each teen in the program for a minimum of one year.
第一个班有10名青少年，他们在6月初完成了训练。 7月下旬，四名青少年完成了第二节课。 9月份有5人在三班。
参与“想象计划”的青少年是从警察局、法院、学校和家长推荐的人中挑选出来的。
“想象计划”获得了全国的认可。 2020年，大卫被国家帮派犯罪研究中心评为弗雷德里克·米尔顿·斯拉舍奖得主。 该奖项旨在表彰他在帮派预防和干预方面的成就。
The program also received the President’s Award from the Virginia Municipal League in October 2019.