By Kevin Kirkland
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
GARFIELD — On a hot, humid summer afternoon, Chris Taylor, 17, of Garfield, would rather not be at Josh Gibson Field in the Hill District, repairing an old set of bleachers.
As he and two other teenagers struggle with rotten wood and rusty nuts and bolts, crew instructor Michael Blatz watches, makes suggestions and grabs a wrench when the boys are stymied. A visitor suggests that they’re learning skills they can use when they become homeowners.
“When I have a house, I’m going to hire a black guy,” one jokes.
“I’m going to hire Mr. Blatz,” Chris says, looking for a smile from the older white man.
To the casual observer, the crew looks like volunteers. A team of young baseball players nearby — all blacks like the workers — put a little more energy into their jumping jacks when they see they’re watching.
Would the 11- and 12-year-olds still try to impress the older boys if they knew they had been charged with crimes ranging from theft to assault? Tyree, 16, of the Hill District, once played baseball in this Little League. Now he’s fixing their bleachers as part of his 100 hours of required community service.
Tyree, Chris and the others were assigned by Allegheny County juvenile court to the Abraxas Youth and Family Services WorkBridge program. Last year, the 20-year-old Oakland-based program served 2,145 male and female offenders ranging in age from 10 and 21, attempting to teach them job skills while also providing community service and restitution to victims. Its guiding principle is balanced and restorative justice, which links offender, victim and community.
“We’re trying to show offenders that they don’t only hurt their victims, they hurt the community,” said program director Monica Long-Whaley,
Making connections with agencies that need help “rebuilds that bridge with the community,” said Bill Gueguen, WorkBridge supervisor.
On Community Repair Crews, males ages 15 to 21 take on projects for nonprofits, elderly or low-income people and crime victims. Mr. Blatz works alongside young men from the Hill District, Wilkinsburg, East Liberty, Garfield and nearby neighborhoods. About 90 percent are black.
“Kids from different communities work together and put their differences aside,” said Ms. Long-Whaley. “We’ve never had a problem with gangs or territorial issues.”
WorkBridge participants are usually identified only by their first names. Chris’ full name is used because he completed his service and he and his parents agreed to it. He ended up on a work crew after he and some friends had a run-in with Pittsburgh police investigating a theft in Oakland in early January.
“The description was black kids wearing hoodies,” he said. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I lost my temper and hit a cop.”
Rather than have a felony on his record — aggravated assault of a police officer — Chris agreed to do 100 hours of service through WorkBridge. He and Mr. Blatz didn’t get along at first.
“He dodged me, tried to make excuses,” said Mr. Blatz, a former contractor who has worked for Abraxas for seven years. “I say right from the start: ‘I’m not your friend. I’m here to make sure you do your hours. You’re going to respect me, the program and most importantly, yourself.’ ”
As Chris began to work with Mr. Blatz, he got a glimpse of his softer side.
“Sitting around talking to him helped me get things in perspective. You need to let some stuff go,” Chris said.
Mr. Blatz, 56, of the North Side, is both mentor and father figure to some of his workers. Sean Gibson, 37, of Moon, found his mentor and father figure in his late grandfather, Josh Gibson Jr. In 1994, his grandfather founded the nonprofit Josh Gibson Foundation in honor of the Negro Leagues slugger who played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays in the 1930s and ‘40s.
Josh Gibson, a Georgia native who grew up on the North Side, was an 18-year-old sandlot star when his wife, Helen, died giving birth to twins, Josh Jr. and Helen. He became the Negro Leagues’ premier power hitter but struggled with depression and alcohol and died at age 35 in 1947, just months before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the majors.
Sean Gibson, who grew up in a public housing development in Fairywood, became involved with the foundation in 1999 and helped start the Little League.
The idea is to teach African-American children to play baseball, a sport black youth have increasingly forsaken in favor of basketball and football. Each summer, teams of 9- to 12-year-olds play at two city-owned fields behind the Ammon Recreation Center on Bedford Avenue.
Several years ago, the foundation began awarding college scholarships and added an after-school tutoring program. Children who want to participate in baseball or other activities must keep up a 2.5 GPA in school. Those who don’t must attend tutoring three days a week at Ammon.
Sean Gibson, now president of the foundation and the for-profit Josh Gibson Enterprises, recently began bringing in professionals, athletes and others, to speak to the children.
“Education and mentoring are much more important than sports in what we do. We tell the kids ‘Use your athletic ability to get an education,’” said Mr. Gibson, a Langley High School graduate who attended Robert Morris and Edinboro universities on basketball scholarships. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Edinboro in 1995.
In June, longtime criminal defense attorney Sumner L. Parker spoke to about 25 children wearing the uniforms of the Philadelphia Stars and Baltimore Elite Giants. Growing up in Long Island, N.Y., Mr. Parker said he worked hard in school mainly because his parents wouldn’t let him play sports if he didn’t.
When one boy asked the lawyer about his clients, Mr. Parker said he had represented 12-year-olds accused of sexual assault and murder. The buzz of conversation at the back of the hot, muggy gym suddenly stopped.
“I come to talk to you in the hope that you never have to meet me professionally,” he said. “I’d like to put myself out of business.”
To attract more teenagers to the foundation, Mr. Gibson plans to field a PONY League team next spring. He held tryouts last month for a team to play against a visiting Japanese team, but the game was rained out. Now he has brand-new Grays uniforms but no players; most of them are playing football.
Meanwhile, Chris Taylor has started his senior year at Peabody High School. He has a part-time job at a Quiznos restaurant and would like to go to college. He plans to go back on his own to paint the bleachers at Josh Gibson Field. He hopes Mr. Blatz stops by.
“He is somebody I’d like to stay in touch with, somebody I’d like to talk to in a couple years and laugh about it,” Chris said.
Out of the 60 to 80 youth that Mr. Blatz works with each year, a few linger in his memory, like the one from Wilkinsburg who “always had a big grin on his face.”
“I said, ‘Why are you smiling? No kid wants to be here.’ He said, ‘I’ve gotta work 50 hours of community service and pay restitution, but I got no felony [on my record].’
“He showed up for work every time and got it done,” Mr. Blatz said.
Months later, the teen was sitting in a car with friends when gunmen in two other cars opened fire. He was killed instantly. Mr. Blatz said he was one of three boys he had worked with who died in shootings in the past two years.
“That was devastating to have three kids die. No 17-year-old should have to worry about being shot.”
Copyright 2007 The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette