Covenent House program helps turn lives around

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Catholic New York) - Vivian Greaves, a hospital intake processor, didn't know where to turn some 15 years ago when a series of events placed her life on a negative track.

She had stopped going to school in the 10th grade, wasn't living with her family, and had a baby daughter who was removed from her care. Desperate, she sought help at a Bronx family shelter but was denied admission because she wasn't on public assistance and because her daughter wasn't with her. "I just sat there on a bench and cried," said Ms. Greaves, now 35. At that point, she said, one of the shelter workers approached her and directed her to the Covenant House Crisis Center in Manhattan, saying, "I know they won't turn you away." Ms. Greaves said she got up, got on a subway, and went to Covenant House, the Catholic shelter and support network for homeless and runaway teenagers and young adults. "I believe that God was there for me," she said. "I didn't even know that Covenant House existed." Shortly after her arrival at the crisis center, Ms. Greaves was accepted into the Covenant House transitional residence program "Rights of Passage," a vocational, educational and life skills program which marked its 20th anniversary this month. In Rights of Passage for its full course of 18 months, Ms. Greaves got her daughter back from foster care, earned her high school equivalency diploma (GED) and began the training in computer and secretarial skills that led to the job she has now. Today, living in Brooklyn with her 16-year-old daughter and another one, age 10, she's a Rights of Passage mentor. She's also been recognized, along with another Rights of Passage alumnus, with an appointment to Covenant House New York's governing board. The appointments were announced at the Rights of Passage anniversary celebration and graduation ceremony May 18 at the program's headquarters on West 17th Street. Ms. Greaves and other alumni joined the more than two dozen 2006 graduates at the ceremony honoring the program that has helped launch some 3,000 young adults in its 20-year existence. "Being here from the beginning, and witnessing the accomplishments made by our youth throughout the years, reaffirms the reason this program was established," said Bruce J. Henry, executive director of Covenant House New York and founder of the Rights of Passage program. He said the program has worked over the years with more than 600 employers, who provide the entry-level jobs that lead Rights of Passage youths to independence. "We're very conscious that if they don't get the (work) skills to take care of themselves, they'll never be able to deal with the problems that brought them to Covenant House in the first place," Henry said in a recent interview at the Rights of Passage offices. Vivian Greaves, a hospital intake processor, didn't know where to turn some 15 years ago when a series of events placed her life on a negative track. Besides employment, the 12- to 18-month program offers vocational training and life skills counseling, which addresses questions such as workplace behavior, appropriate attire and dealing with authority. "Our kids are relatively disconnected human beings when we meet them," Henry said. "Nobody has taught them these things." Rights of Passage began in March of 1986 with five young men enrolled and expanded to accommodate 35 within the first year. Young women were accepted the following year, along with the program's first mother and child. In March 1988, Covenant House purchased the West 17th Street building, combined the male and female programs, and expanded its capacity." The program now serves more than 350 youth each year through the crisis center. Those accepted, said Henry, "tell us they're motivated and want to turn their life around." That was certainly the case of Tracy Jones-Walker, 34, a senior analyst at an investment bank in Manhattan, who also has been appointed to the Covenant House New York board. Having come to the United States from Guyana, she was estranged from her family at age 19, working in a fast-food restaurant and taking business courses when she was asked to leave a neighbor's apartment where she had been staying. "I was at my lowest point," she said. One of her teachers, learning the plight, took her to Covenant House. Accepted into Rights of Passage, she was able to reunite with the baby daughter that her family was caring for, hold down a job and go to school. "They gave me an opportunity," she told Catholic New York. "I couldn't have done it without the help of Covenant House."

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of Catholic New York (www.cny.org), official newspaper of the Archdiocese of New York,