Many people believe that teen-agers who drop out of high school or fail to advance to the next grade or have babies while still in school are doomed to unproductive, unrewarding lives. Most will never make much money, maybe not even enough to feed themselves. Some will turn to drugs, theft or other crimes to make the money they need to live.

Many programs are trying to break this trend. Eastside Community Investments operates one. Youth Build is a school and work program that allows dropouts to earn money and work toward their high school diplomas at the same time.

Most of the Youth Build jobs involve construction or child care. One group of participants, however, wanted to do something different. With a grant from the city's Youth As Resources program, seven members performed their work commitment by painting over the graffiti on many garages and buildings in their neighborhood.

These teen-agers and young adults called themselves Alley Rats. Children's Express talked to three of them during a party to celebrate their graduation from the program.

Background

ANISHA GRAY, 19: I have two kids, a boy and a girl. I had dropped out my senior year because I had gotten pregnant with my first kid. It took a lot out of me, I mean a lot. But after I did, I didn't give up. I joined another program called Youth Works. (But) it didn't work out, mainly because I ended up having two kids.

I'm in the Youth Build program to get my high school diploma. All I do is spend my time with my kids and go to work and go to school.

AMBER McNEIL, 19: I have two children, a boy and a girl. Before I started the program, you didn't have to drop out of school. They came to me at Manual High School because I had kids and I was still living at home with my parents.

At the time, they offered a chance to be on your own but be secure. . . . And you could also make money and go to school instead of killing yourself trying to work a regular job and go to school, too.

DUSTIN HAWN, 21: I dropped out of high school because I flunked some of my classes and I couldn't make them up, so I just dropped out.

The program

AMBER: I chose to be an Alley Rat because I wanted to get involved in my community. I've lived on the Eastside or the Near Eastside for seven years, and I like it here, but every year I see it get worse. I was starting to get the feeling where I wanted to move out of it, and then my feelings kind of changed, where I wished I could change it.

I know I can't change it, but I can make it a little bit better.

ANISHA: It's hard nowadays to try to take care of two kids and try to go to school and work all at the same time. But by them paying you, you don't have to be all rushing as far as trying to get our homework done. We have time after school to get some work done.

AMBER: You don't have to run from school to work to the kids. . . . At the end of your day, at the latest 5 o'clock, you can go home to your kids and plan to eat dinner with your kids and spend time with them, then go to bed.

The school

ANISHA: As far as the classroom atmosphere, it's not 30 people in one class, and you don't have to run up and down hallways trying to make it to the next class. It's one room. It's real laid back.

AMBER: A lot of people in (the) school are in the same situation you are. They're having a hard time living. You can all relate to each other.

DUSTIN: You work at your own pace in school around here. The teachers help you more. They can spend more time with you.

ANISHA: Regular school didn't have real strict attendance like here or at a job.

AMBER: At 9 o'clock they're starting to call people. "Are you out of bed? Are you sick? What's wrong with you? Why aren't you here?"

ANISHA: And you have to have a definite excuse.

The work

DUSTIN: It started back in April of last year. Somebody from Youth As Resources came to us with the idea of getting involved in the community to make it look better in certain ways and help people out who couldn't afford to get stuff done.

AMBER: We agreed to paint 24 garages within four weeks and to cover up the graffiti in the neighborhood, you know, to make it look better.

ANISHA: We only did it for the elderly or low-income housing.

AMBER: When you go down that alley, you're like, "I painted that garage" or "I did that." It makes you feel proud.

ANISHA: It makes you look at your neighborhood or the street you live on or even just like the house next to you. . . . I have two houses next to me and before, I would get my grass cut and wouldn't think about theirs. But now I've started having the man who cuts our grass come every two weeks and cut everybody's grass.

I live in this community, and I like to see clean, white garages and trash picked up. It make you feel better about where you live.

Perceptions from public

AMBER: A lot of people thought that we were on probation, doing our community service time and stuff.

ANISHA: A lot of people think that we're . . . the people who put the graffiti on the garages, but we're not. And I think that it proves a point that not all teen- agers or young adults are bad.

DUSTIN: It has helped us to get to know our neighbors a little bit better.

AMBER: One of the guys on the first garage we painted, he remembered me and he patted me on my back and said, "This is a good girl. This is a good kid. She does stuff in her community."

People in business start looking at you as a responsible person. You start to get a good reputation.

ANISHA: Painting is not hard. It is fun.

AMBER: All my friends say "Painting garages?" you know. But I was like, "Yeah. And you know, if we could sweep the garages, when you go down the alley you wouldn't have all them nails in your tires." And they're like, "Yeah, that's true."

On being teen moms

ANISHA: I love my two kids more than anything in this world. The thing is I have a real bad problem - people look at teen parents like they done just ruined their life forever. I feel hurt that I brought my two kids into something where people think, "Well, she's not taking care of them."

I did mess up in the past, but you know . . . my kids, they make me be responsible.

AMBER: I don't regret my kids, OK. But if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have children at all because of the way the world is today. Sometimes when I see time taken away from my kids, or my kids can't have what they need or what they want or whatever, I feel guilty for bringing them here.

I was 14 when I had my son. I was still a baby myself. But it made me so mature that now, especially at graduation time when I look at all these teen-agers, it makes (me) feel older. It almost brings tears to my eyes, like why did I mess up, you know.

EDITED BY: Aaron Shackelford, 16; Melissa Adams, 14.