Tough love, tough standards turn around the lives of student workers
‘Wizard of YOP’ turns potential dropouts into scholastic stars

By MEL HYMAN
It may not be the most high-profile program in the state, but the Youth Opportunity Program at the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities has changed the course of many young lives.

And that’s the yardstick against which the 33-year-old program that helps high school students learn work skills and habits to prepare for professional careers should be measured, says PEF member Clifford Johnson, a YOP supervisor in western New York.

Participants are usually offered part-time jobs with OMRDD or the state Office of Mental Health, and many return to work as professional staff and PEF members at those agencies after completing their educations.
Spectacular successes
Students who make it through the rigors of Johnson’s supervision are stunning examples of just how spectacularly successful this life-changing program can be.

After completing YOP work at Roswell Cancer Institute, student Portia Birmingham racked up $92,000 in scholarships and financial aid this year to cover her undergraduate expenses at Canisius College.

All of the students graduating last spring from Johnson’s YOP group have moved on to college with substantial financial aid.

His students’ success speaks volumes for the value of YOP which, despite its solid reputation, has consistently had to fight off funding cuts.

“Thanks to our YOP staff members, such as Clifford Johnson, this has become a model program that provides the students with the support they really need,” says YOP Coordinator Norma Talavera.

“Fortunately, many state legislators in both parties have recognized the value of YOP and regularly come to its defense,” she says.

Typically, about 300 “at-risk” students ages 16 to 21 participate statewide in YOP during any one year. About 95 percent of the students finish high school and about 50 percent go on to college.

Only the best
Johnson is determined to get all of his students into college.

“They stay angry at me all the time, because I stay on their case and encourage them take the toughest courses in school and attend every day,” Johnson says. “I don’t accept any excuses.”

It’s a “tough-love” strategy that can bring out the best in students, he says.

“If you let them know that you believe in them and expect great things from them, they will do great things,” Johnson says with conviction.

Careers close up
Birmingham, for instance, joined the program when she was a sophomore at Hutchinson Central Technical High School in Buffalo. She began by working 12 hours a week in patient transport at Roswell Park. Later, she expanded that to working 20 hours a week — all the while maintaining perfect attendance in high school, where she was also active in sports.

Attracted by the apparent glamour of a career in science, Birmingham credits YOP for giving her the opportunity to get a first-hand look at what such a career really would be like.

In the summer after her junior year, she enrolled in a special YOP internship program at Roswell, where she worked alongside a doctor and studied flow cytometry.

As a result of that experience, she realized that she did not want to devote her professional life to medicine and science, afterall.

“That program helped me decide what I really want to take up is business,” says Birmingham, who is now pursuing a degree in management information systems.

She credits the encouragement and support she received from YOP as largely responsible for her getting the four-year, full-tuition scholarship to Canisius. The only things she pays for are her books.

“She worked hard for it,” says Portia’s mother, Vanessa Birmingham. “But YOP was instrumental in getting her to take her school work seriously, and especially with providing the recommendations she needed to win the scholarship.”

And behind it all was the patient, firm, steady hand of her YOP supervisor.

“I’m grateful to Mr. Johnson,” Birmingham says. “He really encouraged me to do well in school.”

Hard work for him, too
Johnson says it’s the satisfaction he gets from seeing kids turn out well that keeps him going after 40 years in social services.

“I had a tough time getting the schools to accept this program in the beginning, because they worried that the work would take too much of the students’ time or encourage them to quit and work full time,” Johnson recalls.

“Then, I had to get the cooperation of the employers. And I still have to convince parents that their children really need to take the tough courses in school,” he says.

“I tell the students and their parents, ‘Without the hard subjects, such as calculus and physics, you only get a mediocre education.’”

While he could have made more money working in a different field, Johnson says the satisfaction he gets from seeing a young person take their education seriously makes his work in YOP totally worthwhile.

“How do I feel when my kids graduate? I can only say it’s blissful. Although it makes me a little sad to see them leave.”