Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jackson says help teens now

Keith Jackson, former NFL football player from Little Rock and coordinator of Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids (PARK), spoke to the Chamber of Commerce at the annual banquet Monday night, stressing an atmosphere of love and discipline puts a child on a positive path.

He told the crowd of well over 250 I am excited to go all over Arkansas. It is a unique state. People make you feel at home.

Jackson said he grew up in Little Rock and wanted to play football. His first coach, Ed Johnson, was a man who gave his life back to the kids.

I told the coach I was afraid to play, he recalled. The ice cream truck rolled through and the coach decided to bribe me. It took him getting me two popsicles, but it ended up being a trip from the popsicles all the way to the NFL.

Jackson said Coach Johnson taught him the importance of giving to the lives of children.

In another instance, when times were tough and money was short, the coach was buying players some chicken for dinner. He told Jackson he would buy him the chicken  but someday he needed to give some chicken back.

Time is a non-refundable commodity, he said. Once you spend it, it is gone. As the bible says, for everything there is a season.

I knew working with at risk teenagers was not always going to be easy. But the results have been wonderful. I believe it was Thomas Payne who said what we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.

Jackson reminded the crowd of the urgency of time, spoken of by Dr. Martin Luther King.

He stressed that now is the time and the season to help. Having realized that in his own life, Jackson said he set out to create a level playing field for at risk teenagers through the PARK program and has made progress toward that goal.

Refusing to believe there are just have and have nots, he has embraced the idea that a good education can make a difference in a persons life.

There are more than 12 million single parent families in America. We are quick to blame our teachers for our students not doing well, but many times the encouragement just is not there from home that is necessary for success, Jackson said.

I can speak about this from personal experience. My mother raised three of us and we were so poor we had to leave off the last or because we could not afford to mention it. I was fortunate to get out of poverty. Too many kids dont make it.

Jackson said part of the problem, as he sees it, is America has abandoned the concept of community. He said the spanking he got from the neighbor for misbehaving did not bother him until the neighbor would start to call his mother.

If we go back to building strong communities again, we are going to end up with stronger cities and then stronger states, he said.

I do believe in blame. I blame the people who think they can legislate the human heart. We could all learn from Helen Keller. She said she would not refuse to do the something she could do.

Action is the key. Jackson said he believes in the theory, If not now, when?

Jackson went on to mention many other inspirational people and their determination to make a positive difference in society. Then he proceeded to describe a little bit about how PARK works.

We work in the evenings, 4 until 7 p.m., to help students with low Grade Point Averages, he said. We are all about the ones who have slipped through the cracks. These kids got left behind in the no child left behind efforts.

Jackson said the program started with a five-year commitment to help 25 students whose GPAs were 1.8, with the goal of raising those GPAs to 3.3.

Of the original group, eight survived the challenge. Two went to the military, one to cosmetology school and five to college. Jackson said one is about to graduate from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.

The program has improved. Of the last five years, 86 graduated highschool and made the same leap in GPA.

We partner with the schools, he said. They help us with transportation. PARK is a program where we take charge of the problem and dont stand around waiting for the government to do something to help.

Jackson said statistically the educational level of parents is a key as to whether children will go to college. If mom or dad goes, the kids usually will.

He says it is possible to change the pattern by creating a series of firsts in families through encouragement, promoting integrity and working hard.

Many have told me they are the first in their family to ever go to college  extended family and all. It is not impossible to change a pattern for the better. Now is the season to make a difference, Jackson said.

Jackson said sitting on the sidelines does not get these changes done. There must be a dedication on the part of the helpers and the students they serve.

When I was a young fellow, the older men taught us your word is your bond, he said. Those old card and domino players were right. If you dont pass these sayings down to the next generation, then you stole them. We need to be like the older generation; communicating love, loyalty, duty and morality.

We cannot complain about the younger generation not having these qualities, or not seeking a purpose in life, if we dont teach them these things are important.

After the speech, Chamber President Mary Smith donated $250, on behalf of the Gurdon Chamber, to PARK.

I have really enjoyed Keith Jackson being here, she told the crowd. He came to Gurdon for free to let us know about the program. We just wanted to show him our appreciation and support for what he is doing with the at-risk teenagers. I can tell you that working with teens is not always easy, but it is rewarding when you see them do right.