It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

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Zandra Polard 0:34
Good morning Las Vegas. It's Zondra pollara. It's where I am. Thank you for tuning in. It is early in the morning, and my guests are back. I have Alex Bernal and Sharon still, we are continuing the conversation from last week. We were talking about gap intervention. Right. And we were also talking about foster parenting, parenting and a bunch of other stuff. So if you missed any part of that, you can go to your favorite social media platform. You know, we're on Amazon, Google. A bunch of them. So wherever is your favorite and typing, it's where I am with Zondra. All right. So welcome back.

Unknown Speaker 1:22
Thank you for having us again, part two,

Zandra Polard 1:24
part two. This is part two, y'all. So Sharon, we want to get some more information from you about services that you provide. We mentioned last week about the summer program. But you also do some things during the school year. Right? Yeah, so what's going on during the school year.

Unknown Speaker 1:42
So we have the opportunity, we go into Clark County School districts where our middle schools and high schools in so the way we pick our schools, basically, if they're close to our Clark County Recreation Center, so when we go in, we do educational things. I'm sorry, we do educational stuff with the youth in the schools, and usually what happens we meet with the social workers in the schools, okay. And they tell us what kids may need our services. And we do life skills, conflict resolution, things of that nature. And so it varies depends on what school it is some schools we go into, it might be their last chance before they get kicked out of the schools. Okay. And then we have schools that have all the kids together, 910 1112 together. And so we do those workshops with that group. It's basically what the school needs, and whatever they need, we try to provide that for them.

Zandra Polard 2:36
Okay, that's great. So you, basically you said you get with the social workers at the school, you'll deal with the at risk youth at that school. Right. So the kids, they're having consistent issues, problems with behavior. And they have an opportunity to work through some things, learn some social behavioral skills or whatever, right? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 2:57
And kids kind of like it because it's not math is not, you know, history. It's something you can come in to, and express yourself. Yes. And have that opportunity not to be right or wrong, but it's how you view things. And it's okay. Yes,

Zandra Polard 3:11
because a lot of times, I think they're just kind of bottled up and it's like, I can only do math right now. I can only do readings, and sometimes they need a few minutes break. Correct? Yeah. Okay. So, Alex, back to you. You were trying to explain some things to me that I wanted to capture on air. Okay. And so you were talking about how you deal with the different recreational centers within the county. Right. How does that work? So,

Unknown Speaker 3:41
one of the times that we've met, you actually came and visited me and you blessed us with your presence and energy at one of our food distributions over at Parkdale. Yes. How about you? If you think about it, Parkdale is a recreation center on the east Las Vegas area, small in the cut area. Like, you almost have to get lost to find it. Yes, but it's the best kept secret. And what happened was one of the things when I got there, you know, because I came from gi t. So when I got to Parkdale, one of the things was I had to go knock on the community's doors and ask them Hey, my name is Alex, what do you need from us? And they were like I said, I work at the Rec Center. They're like what rec center? Because they only know the swimming pool. A lot of never went into the Rec Center. Okay. So one of the things I asked was, hey, what do you need from us? They said food, they said jobs, real utility assistance, Renesis it they only had a couple who said ballet and karate. So what kind of person would I be if I turn around and give them karate and ballet? So I said, to look like a genius. All you got to do is listen to the people and give them what they want. So it turned into a food distribution. And at first people were like, wait a minute, we're not we're not social service agency. We're not why are we giving food we're a recreation. Well, to me to change a culture and to change a community. You have to Hear their needs, and give them their needs and interests and wants. So that's how we did the food distribution. And it turned out, not just giving out food, but we gave out resources. And not only that, I wanted to make sure that we call it food and groove. Because because we're as we're, as we're giving our food, we're groovin. Oh, and we wanted to have we had resources there. We wanted to make sure that I just don't want to give you food. I want to give you all the tools and resources, especially during that pandemic. Oh, yeah, people. People weren't working. So I made sure we had mental health facilities, hospitals, agency scuze. Me out there passing out information, we had a na out there passing out. I wanted to make sure that the people let the people know we're still here for you. Yes. So that's where that that part was when they're gonna Wait, that doesn't make sense. But then it started making sense when they're going. We are a community center. So we're here for the community. So we provided them those that food and resources. But what happened was, they started hearing like, wow, you seen the center over here doing this stuff? This is this is out of this is different. You put it on the map? You know, I think it was, you know, I would love to say I did you trust me. It took a commissioner. It took a director to trust me. Because again, when you go to a committee, you go to your direct and say, Hey, we're not gonna do any recreation. That's something that can be looking like, Wait, that's what we do. Right? But I asked them, can you trust me? Yes. Trust me on this. And luckily, we have Commissioner sec, bloom and my director, Dan Hernandez, they took a chance and say, Hey, we're going to trust you. And by them trusting me. We put Parkdale on and you had

Zandra Polard 6:37
a whole team behind you supporting you. I want to give a shout out to Lady akk. Who was always there? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 6:46
You know, I think that comes from when I worked at gi t, you know, a lot of that when I left and came over. They they were like, Hey, we whatever you're doing, we want to be a part of it. And I always feel like if you treat people, right, and they Well, you came back. That's what I said at the beginning. Yeah, you brought your energy. And so what that did was, again, showing that Parks and Recreation is not just recreation, we do so much more. So by doing that, other other centers and other community areas we're going, we want what they have, right, so how do we get that? So this position that I just received, which is you know, community Grant, thank you. Thank you, thank you appreciate that. And I got that position. In honor of my my mentor, my best friend, Melvin Ennis, who once had that position, it was his position. And he passed away a couple years ago. But he, that position he had was taken away during the recession. So that position was eliminated. So when they found that position, it was an honor for me to be able to carry on his legacy, she was a giving man out in the community fighting the good fight. So when I got this position, it was for community outreach. So now one of my roles is to recognize other communities see what they're missing? What did they need, and to be able to provide those services through through new directions and gi T, or through partnerships with Metro department, Juvenile Justice Department of Family Services, because as much as parks and recs can do, we can only do so much. But that's where we need to get our resources

Zandra Polard 8:16
at your community center. You don't know what is available, you got to go out and find out. Yes, yeah. But you also mentioned that you don't only deal with youth with gun charges, right? You're also dealing with youth. So

Unknown Speaker 8:33
I mean, you know, a lot of times we're on the air where we don't want the parents to say, oh, that's all they work with. Is this that population? No, we don't need them. They only deal with that. Yeah, no, we know, we deal with all, you know, because we recognize, first of all, we're the only center I think in Clark County centers that actually take in youth for community service, a lot of other centers from other agencies and other places. They tend to be scared, and don't want to deal with those kids. Right. Clark County Parks and Recreation, we'll take those kids, because those kids eventually are going to be men, or young ladies or women, we want to make sure that we give them all the information resources and all the attention and love and support and high fives and kudos to make sure those kids get where they're at. So the kids who have community service for those gun charges we have will take care of you. But also for those other ones who have 20 hours 40 hours, we have YouTube and well, I don't want his parents to go oh my gosh, I don't want my 20 Our kid to be over here with the kid with the gun charges. No, we got you. We're not gonna have you put your child in that situation. You know, we want to make sure that your children are safe. We want to you know, we want to make sure we're safe. We need to be safe too. So we that's one of the things too we want to make sure that that at at numerous sites in Clark County Parks, you can have your child come and do community service and not just for any chart that's court ordered. If we have kids that are have committee surface pool that they need for because of school credits. They're behind. So they gotta do community service, we have programs for them to to come in and get those credits also.

Zandra Polard 10:09
That's wonderful. Yeah, you know, when we're talking about the gun charges and community service and court ordered, my mental schema is like, I'm thinking of boys. But you mentioned the girls. Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 10:26
You know, when it comes to make a joke, sometimes, and I'll say, women are more violent than me. You guys do a better job hiding. But yes, they are young ladies with a gun charges, but majority of the boys we get our boys, you know, and and again, that's just something that we, you know, along. We just had a meeting yesterday, we both had actually had a meeting yesterday with Metro, and one of the things that we're trying to do is just try to come up with ideas and how we can get these guns off the streets, and how we can not only get those guns off the street, but also educate the parents on how to put their guns in safer places. Yes, and that's a and that's a partnership that we're trying to do with Metro. Also, Metro has been spearheading that, and along with the Nevada Partners that actually one of our ones, also that we've been doing. You

Zandra Polard 11:15
know, I was working with a team a few years ago, before the pandemic, with the mayor, dealing with veterans. And and you just made me remember the issue that they have with veterans not locking up their guns. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 11:33
you know, and a lot of times, those guns are in their cars, yeah. And the cars are being stolen. You know, I want to make sure parents understand that when their kids come into our centers to get community service, that we as a department want to make sure that we hire the best staff for your children. We want to make sure, you know, I want to make sure I get I get staff also that who's been in that situation before. I just don't want to, I don't want this a person who has that has book smarts, but they don't have street smarts. Or they don't have common sense smart. We want to be able to have that. And that's one of the things that I think has been successful for us for almost 30 years is hiring the right staff that that care for the kids that can get back in again, encourage them and give them great knowledge.

Zandra Polard 12:21
Anybody on the calendar, Mothers Against Drunk Driving,

Unknown Speaker 12:24
how about that they providing programs, they're actually providing educational programs for our teens. Because again, these kids drinking, drive and doing drugs and get in the car, we want to make sure we stop that we want to make it safe safe for them. And for the community. So we partner with mad. And again, they're coming to educate our kids and also feeding them they're doing what sometimes we got to put a carrot in front of a child. Oh yeah. So if you say, Hey, come on over here and come get this class. You

Zandra Polard 12:52
know what, if you feed them, they will come? Yes, feed them or gift

Unknown Speaker 12:56
them? Whatever it is. Sometimes you got to do those kinds of things. Oh, yeah. So we're very one thing about us in our department is that we're very welcoming. So if you're if you're a business owner, if you're a profession and you go man, I always want to work with this population always want to work with these kids,

Zandra Polard 13:12
and make a difference in someone else's life. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 13:15
we'll take it well, we'll listen. We'd love to meet with you. We'd love to sit down with you and meet you might be able to help us something that we're lacking. And we're we are humble enough to know that we don't know everything. But we do know that we need help. So if you ever want to get that come up here and volunteer and just drop some knowledge to our kids.

Zandra Polard 13:34
You know what we did not give it out last week, we forgot to tell you where you can find Parkdale. Sharon, can you give us the address and the phone number?

Unknown Speaker 13:42
Well, we're located our main hub is at Pearson community center. Okay. And we're 1625 East Carey Avenue Nome. Sorry, whiskey area. MLK and carry. And so we're there. That's our main how's it my number is 702-455-7067. Or you can reach the main center. It's 77024551220. All

Zandra Polard 14:11
right, and we'll give it out again, in case you missed it. As we were speaking, something popped in my head. And I want to ask you, when we see kids on the street selling candy, saying that they are selling it for their football team or whatever. Can you explain to our listeners what that's about? I know what it's about. But can you explain to our listeners what that's about and then I have a few more questions after

Unknown Speaker 14:38
I'm speaking from Clark County Parks and Rec or my speaking for myself. I

Zandra Polard 14:42
you can see from Alex Bernoff mountains were

Unknown Speaker 14:45
no i You Can't Knock the Hustle. Okay to me. You know, those kids are Selling Selling candies. If you got to me if I have $1 in my pocket and give it to him, because I prefer them to do that. Then knock someone over the head and try it or you know I break into my car while I'm in the parking lot of the store. And so I always love asking him questions, though, what team you play for? Who's your coach? You know, I like to make him sweat a little bit. Yeah, that I give. I'll give him the dollar. But no, I think it you know what I've seen it. I've seen it actually, where I'm on the east side, I see a lot of the kids that I see the kids that are at my center asking for money at the Albertsons grocery store. And it's like, can you give us a Dalek? And I'm like, what you're doing here? Oh, you know, we hungry. Oh, you know, we this, this and this. And also, we'll come back to the center, then they'll love to brag. Until all the kids in the center man we made $33 We went to McDonald's. Yeah, we went. So it becomes a it's they don't got the chocolate bars to sell. So they just they asked him for money. And again, I it's one of those things that you're on a fine line because you don't want the kids to continue begging. Right? You know, but again,

Zandra Polard 15:54
I can't stand a grown man asked me

Unknown Speaker 15:56
that. That's the one Yeah, I don't want him to grow up to be a grown man. Yeah, grown man begging. But again, they're asking instead of taking Yeah, so. So if I have it, I give it if I don't I say Man, y'all be safe. Be careful. You know, I'll see y'all whatever, you know, behave. You know, man, but

Zandra Polard 16:14
you know what? I hear what you're saying respect the hustle. Because I had a friend of mine who was explained to me that the kids were out doing snow cones at the park. Now that's a little different. That's not big. And that's entrepreneurship. They're making some money. They're earning the money. No.

Unknown Speaker 16:32
Yeah. But they're the same kid who's selling the candies at the at the Albertsons parking lot, or at the, but

Zandra Polard 16:39
when I brought up the out the the selling the candy, I was really thinking more of I thought that when they're doing that they have like a kind of adult pimp, like getting them to sell these candies. And they're taking the money, that the whole, this is for my football team is fictitious, and is to get money so that they can give it to someone else. There's

Unknown Speaker 17:04
actually kids who actually have made copies of certain AAU basketball programs, Team packets, and they'll falsify that and say, This is my, I played for this team. I've actually know the coach of one of those teams, and I call them up. So this year, he goes now this I mean, some kids are just using my name to get there, again, that it's almost like they're learning how to scam at an early age. Yes, you know,

Zandra Polard 17:30
and that's where I was coming from with it. But let's get back on topic, which is dealing with at risk youth, and how we can be of service to them. Sharon, can you please for those who have found their pen and paper and need that address and phone number again? Can you please give it to him, please?

Unknown Speaker 17:48
Yes, my name is Sharon still. I'm at the Pearson Recreation Center. And the address is pull out that card 1625 with Kerry Avenue. We're off, not Martin Luther King in carry. That's our main hub. And my number is 702-455-7067 If you have any questions or concern, or you can call the main line at 702-455-1220. Okay,

Zandra Polard 18:17
and we want to reiterate just a few of the things that we said last week. And again, like I said, you can always find it on your favorite podcast platform. It's where I am with Zondra. But if you don't have the time, we just want to let you know that you guys have a summer program. I know

Unknown Speaker 18:32
when our programs that we have over at the Pearson Recreation Center, their day camp program they provide is breakfast and lunch. Oh, that's different. Oh, yes. But we I have included any kids that are in our program that's going to be in our summer program. In our community service program. I make sure they have lunches so they will be provided lunch if they're in our program.

Zandra Polard 18:56
Okay, got it. Got it. Awesome. So if you're involved in the program, you know that you can get your lunch at the Pearson center. You know, we want to give all those resources for food. You know, kids are hungry. They eat a lot. Man,

Unknown Speaker 19:11
listen, they eat a lot. They drink a lot. Yes, they do a lot, a lot.

Zandra Polard 19:17
A lot goes in and a lot goes out. Yes. You're absolutely right. I have a My youngest is a 15 year old and man. It takes a lot, you know, to keep him well fed and hydrated. And my pocketbook. feels the pain every day. Anyhow, I want to thank you all again for tuning in. This is 91.5 Jazz and more. I have special guests, Alex Bernal and Sharon steel. They are community outreach service providers for Clark County. We're talking about gang prevention and gang intervention, sharing your little radio shy, but that's okay. I remember the first time I got on the radio girl, I was just sitting there. I didn't. I didn't say a word I was just in support of. And now here I am with my own radio show. So Alex, tell us about some of the success stories. Like, why did you do this and give us a good nugget of some great outcome? You've been doing it for 15 years?

Unknown Speaker 20:30
I actually I've been doing it for longer than that. Are you a foster kid? Yeah, I used to be one of those kids. How about that? Okay, so I was one of those ad rescue. You know, I grew up in North Las Vegas I went to the greatest Middle School of all time, Jim Bridger, middle school and greatest high school all time. Rancho High School, don't don't don't judge me on this. i She and he said, and I was always around at risk youth, you know, I was a good kid, you know, I was a mama's boy. But I allowed the, my friends to influence me, by the way I dressed and the way I acted. And, you know, I had good foundation. My mother was very, you know, took me to church and all those things. I was just hard hitting, I just made bad decisions, because I'm a bad friend choices. Yes. And so what it did was I got myself involved in the negative street behavior and got in trouble a lot and a lot and I broke my mother's heart many times and, and I wanted to quit, I wanted to stop doing the bad things. But I became addicted. I became addicted to behaviors, okay. And to it was addict approval addiction, okay, because I see a lot of these kids, they, they go, why you keep doing that, why keep doing, they don't understand that these kids need approval. So if they're not getting the approval from the mom or their father, they're gonna get their approval from the streets. And that's where I got my approval. So that's why I go hard. Luckily, because somebody saw something in me. He, they took me under their wing. And they taught me how to be a man taught me how to shake a hand and tie a tie. But it was in my 20s when I learned that Oh, Ma. And so when I got all that knowledge and wisdom, I said, Well, I got to spread this, I got to pass this ministry on to other kids. So that's how I got into working with this population and how I got so passionate about it was helping young men, many success stories, and of course, some stories that this weren't successful at all. But just having the kids come in, I have a couple I have a young man who got in trouble at school, Desert Pines a lot. I mean, all the time. And, and so I said, man, come on, man, you're better than that. You're an athlete. You know, he used to go to Walnut Recreation Center, and always get in trouble. And mom, you know, I feel like mom wasn't really involved in his life as much and but the Rec Center was his refuge as his places safe the safe place. And got him into playing. He was a basketball player, but I got him into playing football. And he got really good at it. And he didn't like it. But he was good at it. He accidentally became in his junior year, like the top 20, wide receiver in the country. his senior year, he became accidentally became the top three wide receiver in the country. He accidentally got to Arizona University, Arizona, has daily got a degree and accidentally got drafted by the raiders in the fifth round. Oh, he did his four or five years in the NFL, got his contract, and lives out in Texas has a norm of life of just working in a warehouse and living a simple life. But I think about having that Recreation Center, having that program, the Git program, the new directions program, those type of programs. Those Those things happen. Those are real stories. Yeah, those are stories of we, our staff, are encouraging kids, where again, we're cheerleaders, we're not over here, putting them down, we're putting them up, even when they're even at their worst times. We had, we had a we had a young man that was fighting all the time, all the time, at Canyon Springs it and I went in and the mom said they're getting ready to kick him out. And I said, Well, I'm gonna come and speak for you. But you can't talk. I had to tell him to be quiet. I need her to be quiet because she can she can get out she can go right. And I was like, Man, I trust me. I remember the system principal pulled up this big old book and had a big book of this young man's all the things he's done wrong. And he goes, he did this. He did this. He said I recommend him to being fired was fake. So I said, Okay, where's the fault? Where's the folder with the good stuff? And it it blew him away? Yes. Cuz no one ever asked him. That's right. And I said, of course you're gonna see all the bad and that's all you do acknowledge the bad, correct. So I said, Can you do me a favor, give him another chance. This young man is special. He won't ever get in trouble. Again. If he does. You call myself I'll come pick them up myself. And we'll do that. He goes. Graduates gets a degree. It's a and at his high school graduation that same assistant principal. I knew you could do When I was like me, so I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna hit you with this last story. And this story is the one I love. This story right here got me already goosebumps. So we're doing an intake once at Pearson, I'm in my cubicle and the my part time staff is doing this interview with this young lady. And he's asking a question, the young lady's being rough. Like he'd say, Tell me about yourself. She's real short, wimps, real nasty. Okay, just got an attitude. And something about the Spirit just told me get up and go, go see what's up with this girl. And I sat next to her kind of like how we're sitting at the round table type of thing across from each across from each other. And I sat next to her. She heavy hand, you can just go you can tell she's been in a lot of fights. Okay, so I say, so I'm talking to her and she didn't want give me your eye contact. And I know she had a scar on her arm. And I said, where you get that score? And she puts she hit her arm. She hit it. And so I asked her a question. You got your brother's shield? Yeah, she was she was real hard. So then after a couple more questions, where you get the score? And she wouldn't say nothing. So I asked him a couple of questions. And I'll say, what do you get that score? She started crying. And I told my staff to close the door locking. And I said, we get this girl. She said, I watch my daddy murdered my mom. Oh my god. She said, I tried to stop my dad. And he stabbed me in awe. And as innocent baby. How old were you? And she said I was six. She and she said, she said that. My mama was going to leave them. It was me and my little siblings. And we got in the car. But my dad woke up and he stopped us. And he begged my mom to come back in the house and he wouldn't go and do nothing. And he, he ended up going in. He talked her into getting back into the house. And we went into my room and we locked the door. And he opened the door. And he said I woke up in here my mom was screaming. And as I'm screaming for my dad to stop, he stabbed me. And I'm over here like the iron inside, right? And I said, Baby, did you get any help? Did anybody ever talked to you? She said I never had therapy. So here's a child at six, who witnessed her father murdered her mom. But yet we wonder why this girl has been fighting every year get kicked out of school? Yeah, so she's 15 years old at the time. And I'm talking to her and she's crying. And I said, Baby, you need help. She says you need therapists. I want what I call a good friend of mine. So as I say, hey, I need you like now. So she went and did pro bono with this young lady. I started working with her. She was behind on credits. And she was going to Kenya. And I said, Listen, we're gonna we're gonna do something. And this is something that what new directions I would do. So I said, we're going to be proactive on it, we want to see her succeed. So what we did was, we end up getting all the help resources. We provided her bus passes to get to night school, we got our backpack with snacks, paper pencils, we became her Uber, her bus driver, her her everything she can to graduate and she graduated on time. And and so when you ask, why do we do what we do is because of young ladies like that young man like that, that needs us. But we they need us, but we need them to, because we do this because it feels it feels us. And we're good at this. And so those are my stories, we got plenty. But the thing is, that's why every day I get up and I want to help people because I think about those kids. Because if we weren't there to help them. They would just be another statistic that it's not a good one. Absolutely. Thank

Zandra Polard 28:36
you so much for sharing those stories with us. Wow. You share.

Unknown Speaker 28:41
I think every kid needs a champion. Yes. They are not their behavior, the kids not. And we sometimes forget that. And so when they do come into our centers, we have to realize they're not their behavior, and every kid needs a champion. And so that's why, like Alex says, that's why we do the things that we do. Wow.

Zandra Polard 29:03
Thank you so much, both of you for coming in. Wow. It's where I am. Geez. You know, if you need resources for mental health, I have them on my website. If you need help, if you need therapy. It's where I am.com We've got a list on there. You can start there if you need to. All right. I'm here every week, every Saturday at 7:30am. I have testimonials. I have mental health professionals. I have sometimes a celebrity or two. You never know what you're gonna get. But tune in every seven every week at 730. And at least I will be here. All right. This is Andhra. It's where I am. See you next week. Bye

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