Juvenile Court candidate seeks to unseat Yolanda King

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Desiree Cook-Calvin said she ran for Juvenile Court because she wants “to be a part of the solution to the problems our city is facing with youth and in addressing juvenile delinquency.”

“My neighbors and friends are weary of watching young people drift into a life of crime and tired of seeing our children lack the safety they need to mature and grow – it’s time to do something,” she continued. “I’ve attended too many funerals for children and young people, and had to tell too many of my friends at church that ‘it’s okay.’ But it’s not okay; it’s not normal to bury a child. I believe God will heal the hearts of the parents, but we should not accept the reality of burying children for even one more day; we must work to turn this around.”

Her own life story impressed her of the importance of this task. “I’m the seventh of nine children from a working-class background. My parents worked hard and stressed that we should work hard. That also impressed upon us that we must have a commitment to giving back to our community and to making it better, that we must have a commitment to family and God. They taught me to be determined, to work hard to be successful, and to be involved as part of the solution to my community’s problems. That is the spirit in which I want to serve as a judge.”

She runs on three principal planks. “Accountability. Parents and youth both must be held accountable when the young person comes before the court.”

“Partnerships. The court has to respond to the budget cuts in programming by working together with community organizations and schools for prevention, creative programming and meeting the needs of at-risk youth.”

“ [And,] Dropping Out. We must aggressively address the high school dropout rate. The court should work to prevent crime, and there’s a strong correlation between dropping out of high school and committing crime. Partnering with universities, law schools, and NORDC, the court should work to keep kids in school and out of the court system.”

This article originally published in the October 27, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.