San Jose Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force

Day one of four-day seminar on Straight-A Guide (7:30 to 5:00 pm)

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Session 1: 8:00 until 8:50 (Introduction)

• Pass out name cards and make introductions
  • Get to know something about participants. (8:10)
  • Acknowledge the challenges of their job as interventionists and working with people who may not want to change. (8:15)
  • Explain my background. Some may know about me from previous speeches. Since I’d like to use the context of my journey as a teaching tool, permit me to elaborate.
    • Discuss growing up as son of an immigrant. (8:20)
    • Driving down the road, hear an ad for Scarface on radio.
    • See the movie. Make a choice. (8:25)
    • Describe era, what my thought process was.
    • Explain how I recruited others and efforts I made to distance myself. (8:35)
    • Talk about how little I knew on both buy and sell side of transaction. (8:40)
    • August 11, 1987. Guns drawn.
    • Facing life without parole.
    • Jail cell.
    • Lawyer’s guidance. (8:50)

Section 2: 9:00 until 9:50 (Jail 9:15 / Trial 9:30 / Socrates 9:50)

• You may be asking what, if anything, a person with my background can offer. After all, you’re working with a high-risk population. Many of the people you serve don’t want to change. Still, I’m convinced that lessons I learned may add some value to your courageous work. To explain why, I’ll ask you to indulge me through another hour as I tell you what happened after that day of my arrest, on August 11, 1987. Because in order to get the full gist of what I’ve learned, I’d like you have a better understanding of the process that I went through. If I can hold your attention through the story, I’d like you to question what I’m telling you.
  • Evaluating options.
  • Messages from others in jail. (9:15)
  • Trial
  • Operations continue.
  • Delusions influence response.
  • Perjury (9:30)
  • Convicted / bottom
  • Praying
  • Socrates
  • Is there anything I can do to influence future?

Section 3: 10:00 until 10:50 (Breakout session)

• Describe purpose of group discussion. Break into groups of 5-7. Looking for insight from group, based on experience.   Ask each group to assign a reporter and a presenter. We’ll discuss various challenges in the group discussions. Strive to learn from each other. In this first group break out, discuss how an interventionist could reach a character like the one I described:
  • Prior to his dealing.
  • While he was dealing.
  • After his arrest.
  • After his conviction. (10:25)
  • Whiteboard exercise
  • Have spokesperson discuss
  • Lead class through discussion

Section 4: 11:00 to 11:50 (Visualize 11:20, Plan 11:30, Execute, 11:50)

• Return to context of prison for purpose of learning. Facing decades inside. What reasonable outcomes could he expect?
  • White board exercise
  • Visualize (11:20)
    • Nonjudgmental
      • Discussion all options
      • Explore plan for different options (11:30)
        • What opportunity costs accompany each decision?
        • Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of plan
        • Execute (12:00)
          • How would he measure progress?
          • How would he assess effectiveness of plan?
          • How does progress influence decisions and prospective outcomes?
          • In what way would plan create opportunities or threats?

Section 5: Strategy that guided me (1:00 to 1:50)

Describe for class the deliberate strategy that guided me. Began with questions.

• Visualize (1:20)
  • Would it be possible to earn respect from law-abiding citizens?
  • What would prison culture expect?
  • What would citizens expect?
• Plan (1:40)
  • Write letters
  • Explain predicament
  • Ask for help
    • Story
    • Publish
    • Support network

• Execute (1:50)
  • Interconnectivity
  • Transparency
  • Accountability

Section 6: Straight-A Guide (2:00 to 2:50)

Describe how it began. Learning from leaders. Lee Nobmann’s influence and questions about work I chose.

• Walk through entire Straight-A Guide program and describe what each attribute means.
  • Values
  • Goals
  • Attitude
  • Aspiration
  • Action
  • Accountability
  • Awareness
  • Achievement
  • Appreciation

Section 7: How does Straight-A Guide apply to everyday life? (3:00 to 3:50)

• Explain how I learned this lesson from leaders in all sectors. Everyone can relate to the investment they made in personal growth. Once they made commitment to change, individuals could leave past and say never again. (3:10)
• Show video that illustrates work of success. (3:20)
• Group exercise: On piece of paper, identify five role models (3:25)
• Exchange cards with partner.
  • Explain reasons behind your selection to partner (3:35)
  • Group Takeaway
    • Call upon partners to reveal reasons behind choice.
    • Identify common characteristics or reasons for choice. (3:50)

Section 8: Case Study (4:00 to 4:50)

• 100 monkey story
  • Teach these lessons to others (4:10)
  • Case Study Exercise
    • Describe someone you’ve worked to help.