Sacramento Bee-"Youth credits Hood Corps for new focus"
By Ralph Montaño
July 7, 2005

Jimmy Haynie, 19, is a member of the Neighborhood Corps at St. HOPE Academy, 3400 Third Ave. in Oak Park.

Nicknamed "Hood Corps," the inner-city volunteer program seeks to educate and train men and women to become civic leaders through community service.

Haynie plans to attend Arizona State University in the fall.

The following is a conversation with Haynie about Neighborhood Corps and his progress in the program:

Q: Can you tell me a little about yourself?

A: I was born and raised in Oak Park with six other siblings, four boys and two girls. We all live in Sacramento. I graduated from Sacramento High School last year. I have three siblings that go to Sac High right now. I ran track and played football. My senior year, I was captain and MVP on the football team.

We moved around Oak Park a lot just trying to find a stable home. Right now, my family owns a home a couple blocks from here.

Q: How has Oak Park changed for you?

A: The major change for me would be the whole change at Sac High. (The high school reopened as Sacramento Charter High School run by the nonprofit St. HOPE Corp. in 2003.) Before I went there, most kids weren't college bound or ready for college. By being a part of the whole change ... I saw that it was a major change. It's broken up into five small schools, and I graduated from the school of business. That's a huge impact on Oak Park, and I think that the projects going on here (at St. HOPE Academy) are very important in the community.

Q: How did you get started at St. HOPE Academy?

A: I did volunteer work over here my senior year. I saw the past Hood Corps class run a marathon in San Francisco while I was here volunteering. I just thought it would be cool to run a marathon.

Weeks later, Lori Mills, she works here (as director of special projects), she told me about all the opportunities that are here for me. I thought that I wasn't really prepared for college, and this was the opportunity for me to get hands-on experience and get prepared - you know, the whole college process - filling out applications early and working on scholarships.

At Hood Corps, we live by five tenets: practical theology, which means that every Sunday we go to different churches in our community; simple living, being humble; physical training, our goal was to complete a marathon, and we did; personal development, which is a big focus on college preparation; and ... civic leadership, which (involves) our group projects.

Q: What else have you done with Hood Corps?

A: We just finished an Oak Park cleanup with the Oak Park Neighborhood Association. We're at Sacramento High School because I want to give back to the high school before I leave. Right now, I'm manager of the 40 Acres Art Gallery. We're getting ready for our new exhibit, "HairStories," which opens July 9, on Second Saturday. Also we're working with the high school group. We just started this program called the Apprenticeship Program that is similar to Hood Corps. It helps high school students get ready for college, and it's also giving back to our peers.

Q: Speaking of college, you just came back from Arizona State University? Tell me how that went?

A: It went well. I went there for orientation. I'm very excited. I'll be the first person in my family to go to college. I'm kind of starting something big, so my brothers and sisters can follow me.

I'm going to major in business and try to get involved in economic development. I want to come back here and help out in any way possible.

Q: Tell me about your living situation with Hood Corps. You live in lofts?

A: The 40 Acres project has upper rooms and the fellows live upstairs. It used to be called the Woodruff Hotel, and they had 44 rooms and a lot of illegal things going on there.

St. Hope came around and revitalized it, and now there are 12 rooms. They're pretty nice-sized rooms. We have students from McGeorge (School of Law) and we have teachers who all live up there, along with the Hood Corp fellows. There are four fellows actually, three of us are recent graduates at Sacramento High School and one is a dance teacher at Sac High.

I think it's important that we live in the upper rooms because we want to help out our community so we should live in it.

We'd come down in the morning and we'd run our neighborhood because we were training for a marathon. We'd get up at 4:45 every morning and run.

Actually, we are done now because we ran our marathon in San Diego a few weeks ago. We trained for 10 months. That was one of the most challenging things I've done in my whole life. We all were very happy once we crossed that finish line.

Q: Your folks live a couple blocks away, so did you go home a lot for dinner?

A: No, not really. Being part of the Hood Corps is kind of like being in college in a way, so I needed to have that mind-set. Once I leave, I'm not going to see them because I'll be in a different state.

Q: Hood Corps has been a positive experience for you?

A: It really has. I'm thinking if I hadn't joined Hood Corps, I don't know where I would be right now. Most likely I'd be at a (community college) or involved with the wrong people. I don't know where I'd be. They got me focused and ready for college. I feel prepared now. I'd recommend this for anybody.