Taking the Risk Out of At-Risk Kids

If you spend a few hours with Jack Fleming, you’ll swear you’ve just met the real Superman. A human whirling dervish, Fleming is usually always on the move. About the only time you’ll find him sitting down is when he’s driving from one project to another. Then, this slim, energetic dynamo can’t stop talking about his chief interest.

“My passion is vocational education,” Fleming declares. “Twenty years of quality vocational education allowed me to become the builder and developer that I am.”

Fleming is a man driven to help others. You can hear the passion in his voice and see it flashing in his eyes. That fire pushes him far beyond the point where most people would sit down and take a breather.

Born in St. Louis, Fleming studied cabinetmaking at a technical school before traveling to California when he was 16. He found work on construction sites, ultimately earning his contractor’s license and becoming the youngest general contractor in California when he was just 25.

For years, it had been Fleming’s dream to teach at-risk kids a trade. He wanted to “create taxpayers out of juvenile delinquents,” but red tape had curtailed his efforts. Then he met Ellie O’Toole, an energetic woman from Gardnerville, Nev., whose own mission was to build housing where low-income senior citizens could live independently. Unfortunately, she did not have the money.

Enter Fleming, about to retire from his development business in California. He and his wife moved to Nevada to work on O’Toole’s project, and he soon discovered a way to accomplish his own dream of helping at-risk kids at the same time.

The China Spring Youth Camp, outside Gardnerville (pop. 3,357), is a “last stop” community for delinquents. If a kid doesn’t make it at China Spring, the next stop is usually prison. Fleming’s idea was to teach carpentry to the young people at the camp, who then could become a work force to build housing for O’Toole’s low-income seniors. The state granted the necessary funding, and the tandem dreams were off and running.

Fleming’s youth force proceeded to build modular units that will become pieces of the buildings for “Ellington Manor,” otherwise known as Ellie’s dream, in memory of the now-deceased O’Toole. Not only are Fleming’s young charges learning valuable skills, the state also pays them a modest wage, while they earn college credits from learning on the job. Fleming, who acts as a facilitator between the state, the school, the teachers, and the kids, takes nothing for his efforts.

“The kids get valuable skills they can use to make a decent living, and we get the buildings,” he says. The win-win situation with China Spring has spawned similar programs, thanks to Fleming’s unceasing energy.

The Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada now sponsors classes at Western Nevada Community College in Carson City, teaching tribe members welding, heavy equipment operation, and more. Fleming arranged for the classes to work on a new Head Start building for the tribe. Most of the materials are donated, and as with the China Spring project, the student labor force is paid a stipend (dispensed by the tribe), while college credit also is extended.

When students finish the 5,100-square-foot Head Start building, more work awaits—beginning with restoration of the nearby historic Stewart Indian School property. Fleming already has the permits and programs in place to renovate the beautiful old stone buildings. After that, he hopes to save a huge historic barn in the middle of downtown Minden, Nev. (pop. 2,836).

“This is the most exciting time in my life,” says Fleming, the man with the large “S” on his shirt who makes a difference in the lives of others. But this Superman doesn’t need superhuman powers—just a superhuman desire to give people a hand, so they can help themselves.

Sherril Steele-Carlin is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

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