Program offers ex-cons way out

May 19--A "bold" program launched last night is offering gang members and ex-cons $20,000 a year to get out of the life and attend community college for free to help curb gunplay in the city.

The "Boston Uncornered" initiative has $18 million of public-private funding targeted with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northeastern University -- but one top cop said supervision must be a top priority.

"We have to throw them a lifeline, but on the other side is the educational learning environment at school," said Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes. "Lots of kids spend lots of money to go to school. I hope there is no disruption.

"If there are any new arrests or signs of gang activity, I hope that would be grounds for termination," Kyes, president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs of Police, told the Herald.

College Bound Dorchester officially rolled out the first-of-its-kind free ride at the anti-poverty nonprofit's annual gala last night. The goal is to enroll at least 250 former gang members into classrooms full-time to break the hold they have on inner-city neighborhoods.

The program will pay the students $400 per week -- or $20,000 a year -- for 33 to 35 hours of school, tutoring, and work-based learning.

The program is targeting six of Boston's top 14 gang hotspots in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury neighborhoods and aims to engage 600 gang members over time.

"Despite years of investment and billions spent on inner city neighborhoods, nothing has changed," said Mark Culliton, CEO of College Bound Dorchester. "Those areas we declared (a) 'War on Poverty' (on) in 1965 remains the same exact areas today."

The program will cover paying the students, tuition and supporting 45 new staff positions along with training and administration. The city and state have committed $4 million to the project and fundraising for the rest has already surpassed $4.8 million.

Emmett Folgert, director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, called it a "bold move."

"I wish them the best," Folgert said. "We all hope it's going to work."

Boston has 2,600 gang members representing 1 percent of the city's population, according to College Bound Dorchester. Gangs are responsible for half of all homicides and 74 percent of all shootings in the city, officials said.

Antonio Franklin, a 31-year-old Dorchester man who plans to study sociology and psychology at Bunker Hill Community College in the fall, said the program could change his life. He said he served 10 years in prison for assaulting a police officer.

"There was a point in my life I was stuck in the gang-bang lifestyle," he said. "I didn't feel like I would make it out of my neighborhood let alone go to college ... Everyone deserves a second chance."

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