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Among the issues discussed that evening was late-night rowdiness at a local skating rink, and Cory was the first to speak. The rink's owners, he argued, must be persuaded to open and close earlier, with police present. "I've had my personal problems with the police," he said, "but I know if I'm being chased down by a Blood or I'm about to get robbed and the police come, I'm overjoyed. There will be people who won't like it, but the majority will." Former gang members who now work for Youth Force, he suggested, should bring their newfound conflict-resolution skills to the rink. "If you want full participation," Cory insisted, "you need to reach out to the gangs themselves. Just about all gangs began with a positive purpose. If you go back to the positive origins, you can enlist them for a positive purpose."
Back in the Bronx homeless shelter where he lives with his mother, his half sister and her father, Cory slept well, as he has since he got his high school-equivalency diploma last year and hooked up with Youth Force. The group has reintroduced purpose and structure into his life. Although Cory never knew his birth father, he began life in a comfortable home in a middle-class neighborhood. But the family became mired in a succession of financial and legal difficulties that dragged Cory into a world of trouble. Often left to his own devices, he dropped out of school, dabbled in drugs and had brushes with the law.
Although something in his character allowed him to mend his ways, Cory likes to credit Youth Force with giving him new direction. "It's a place where you can dream," says Cory. "There are things that you never thought possible that you can do. I'm only 17, yet I'm having meetings with lawyers and the probation department. Windows of opportunity have opened up to me. And I can use my past experiences to help younger youth not fall like I did."
Cory is looking out lots of windows these days. As a tenant organizer, he acts as a liaison between renters, police and building managers to improve security and make repairs. At the South Bronx's Spofford detention facility, he provides leadership training to juveniles awaiting trial. At John Jay High School in affluent Westchester County recently, Cory introduced "Busting Stereotypes," a series of skits that show how one can make false assumptions about people. A homeless kid from the South Bronx, Cory himself is as powerful a symbol of misplaced assumptions as anyone is likely to find. --Reported by Megan Rutherford/New York