Men in St. Paul's Ujamaa Place program are at bottom, but looking up

Ronnell Roberson has been shot five times and knows too well what prison life is like. But until recently, the 27-year-old former gang member and father of two had never stepped foot inside a history museum.

"As many times as I drove past it in a car or by bus, I did not know that someone like me could go inside there," Roberson said of his trip last month to the Minnesota History Center on Kellogg Boulevard in St. Paul.

Most of us don't think such a visit is a big deal. But for men like Roberson seeking a serious change in their lives, walking into such a place and learning about history and family genealogy is a milestone, an "aha!" moment.

That's one of the reasons he's sticking with Ujamaa Place, an ambitious project in St. Paul that has gained support from an array of people in the Twin Cities' civic, business and faith-based communities. Ujamaa translates to "extended family" in Swahili.

The year-old effort, in a "gang-neutral" site off University Avenue West and Fairview Avenue, may be the last hope for hard-core cases like Roberson.

"It focuses on folks in our community that are at danger of becoming a lost generation of men," said Bill Svrluga, a longtime Twin Cities civic figure and Ujamaa board member who runs a nonprofit consulting firm.

"These are young men with little or no education, from families without fathers or parents; many have gone to prison, and there's really no place for them left to go to become productive members of society," Svrluga said. "They are at the bottom of the ladder, and many end up in jail or dead by 35."

The effort, which officially opened in January, exclusively targets males, predominantly African-American, 18 to 31 years old. Most of the 30-member clientele never finished high school and are chronically unemployed. Roughly 60 percent have criminal histories.

The statistics in recent decades on such men - caught in a cycle of poverty, drug addiction, joblessness, homelessness, violence and criminality - are a national concern:

In 2004, fewer than 8 percent of young African-American men graduated from college. The unemployment rate for young African-American men is more than twice that for young white, Hispanic and Asian-American men. The percentage of young African-American men in prison is nearly three times that of Latino men and nearly seven times that of white men. The homicide death rate for young African-American men is three times the rate for Hispanics, the population group with the next-highest homicide mortality rate.

Roy Barker, the nonprofit's executive director and the driving force behind the effort, might have the toughest job in town. But the 58-year-old Bethel College graduate and others believe it can be done. How? Through a holistic approach that includes completing a high-school diploma equivalency and other training; stable housing; and parenting, life and employment skills.