Russians visit Village Network, find similarities in countries' methods

By BRYAN SCHAAF, Wooster Daily Record Staff Writer

WOOSTER -- Six Russian social service workers traveled halfway across the globe to Wooster to gain an American perspective on how to better address the needs of youth.

And what the group found was how strikingly similar the two countries' methods are, particularly the public/private partnerships aimed at preventing and rehabilitating child offenders.

Taking advantage of a federal grant funding their trip, the delegates chose to visit Wooster because of the presence of The Village Network, a 64-year-old rehabilitation and treatment center for children.

"In our country, the government is responsible for treatment programs similar to (Village Network,)" said Aleksey Lvov, head of the department of youth development in Cheboksary, a town of 1.5 million located 373 miles outside of Moscow. "My primary responsibility is prevention of drug issues, sex crimes and other wrong doings."

Lvov said one major initiative he's undertaken is educating parents on how to better monitor their children to keep them away from pornographic materials, which he said he's found often leads to sex offenders.

"That's the motivator we believe," Lvov said during Monday's visit. "It's so easy for any child to get access to dirty pictures and movies on the Internet. There are a lot of parents who are neglectful and have no idea what their kids are doing on the Internet, so we teach them how to make certain sites inaccessible for children."

The delegates spent time questioning Village Network employees about the inner workings of the facility, with a particular interest on drug prevention and correctional techniques.

Doug Brown, residential director, explained in America research has shown between ages of 12-13, 3 percent of the population used some form of controlled substance. By the time the students reach ages 16-17, the percentage jumps to 15 percent of uses over the past 30 days. That usage peaks, he said, between 18-20, where 21 percent of all people have used drugs or alcohol.

When asked what drugs are most popular, Brown said marijuana is extremely accessible, although law enforcement has seen an influx of heroin in the past two years.

Natalya Mamontova, who serves as executive director of the Women's Social Democratic Congress in Moscow, said a number of anti-drug campaigns are also under way in Russia.

"The attempt is to show young people about the terrible things that might happen if you abuse drugs," Mamontova said. "They try and come up with catchy slogans to prevent some people from using."

Multiple members of the delegation said the use of celebrities in youth fundraising and foundation initiatives have been successful.

In addition, Irina Pechkovskaya, director of a community initiatives agency in Siberia, said getting youth involved in volunteer activities is successful. She said the government provides children without parents or who have been removed from their parents with toys, food and clothing, but her organization gives them an outlet to meet other people.

Mark Poeppelman, executive director of Columbus International Program, said the trip was funded by Open World, which is backed by the Library of Congress and is intent on promoting international understanding and cultural exchange.

"These people are from different parts of Russia and are primarily state workers involved with developing youth programs, thus why we're here," Poeppelman said. "It's all about youth programs, from your average proactive program to intervention. This is about coming up with ideas. They're charged with action planning when they go home, and will be implementing some of these ideas. ... They're a product of a different system coming out of the Communist era, but there are good ideas that can come from both sides. I think sometimes they're overwhelmed with our government with the federal, state and local levels, but I think we learn as much from them as they learn from us."

Prior to visiting TVN, the group met with Wooster Parks and Recreation Manager Chuck Malta, Mayor Bob Breneman and Wayne County Commissioners Scott Wiggam and Jim Carmichael to discuss the city's parks program.

"It was fascinating to be a part of it," Malta said. "These are young, interested civic leaders in Russia. They were asking about how we're able to get donations for the parks and about our volunteers."

Malta told the group about Oak Hill Park, as well as Scots in Service, Rotary, Kiwanis and for the most part, these organizations come to us looking to help," Malta said. "People want to jump on the bandwagon of something that's going to be successful. That's just the way it is in Wooster."

Reporter Bryan Schaaf can be reached at 330-287-1645 or e-mail bschaaf@the-daily-record.com.