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LIFE OR DEATH Founded in 2001, Nativity School of Harrisburg is part of a larger network of Catholic-based Miguel Nativity schools around the country that were founded to offer hope and to break the cycle of poverty in inner cities. Nativity School of Harrisburg, although faith-based, is non-denominational. Students are taught facts about many religions, the history of the Bible and passages from the Bible. e goal: to give boys from hardship something to believe in. As a father figure to many of the boys who come from fatherless homes, Muhammad stresses the need to give them a loving and nurturing relationship. "I've always looked at it like 'never forget that they're children, but treat them as adults with a lot of respect,'" he said. "I like to have fun with them … but at the same time, I'm stern with them." When he first arrived as principal at Nativity, Muhammad was looking for boys to attend the school. "We had one, a fifth-grader sitting in his living room when a bullet shot through his window and hit him in his mouth. e next day DJ [Demond Bates, Nativity dean] and I found him," said Muhammad, who has, for the past 12 years, also worked as a relief houseparent with his wife at Milton Hershey. "He was too young to enroll, but we stayed with him, communicated, and in sixth grade, put him in the school. Now, he's soon to graduate from Milton Hershey School." e streets still call out to Muhammad. He galvanizes other men to canvas the areas like 16th and Market streets where they see all kinds of activity. "We give them a smile, give them some encouragement," he said, of the men on the streets. "at breaks those walls—those tough guy walls. You're not worried about their humanity because once you tap into their divinity, you break those walls." He's breaking down similar walls at Nativity, finding boys who want to be educated, getting boys who are scarred by life to trust and believe and adding educational programs. To'Ron James, a Nativity graduate and recent graduate of Trinity High School who will attend Bloomsburg University this fall, confirms that Muhammad instilled trust in him. "He did have a powerful message for us—it's either life or death," James said. "You're either going to do the right things or you're going to do the bad things. at still hits me to this day." At the same time, Muhammad is working to build new programs based off his ideas about humanity and finding solutions to problems. He hopes to start a conflict resolution center in Harrisburg, separate from his work at Nativity. He is talking with local community groups and leaders who are seeking the same thing—"to make our community a safer place to live"—to start such a center. A NEW SPACE Nativity School of Harrisburg, long located in the Camp Curtin YMCA, hasn't had the space to help as many students as the school's leaders would like, but the purchase of a building at 2101 N. 5th St. this spring changes everything. While the school gets more than 40 applicants a year, it has only been able to accept 15 boys. With the new building, which also houses Zion Assembly church and Tri-County OIC, Nativity leaders hope the school will be able to continue to grow and serve as many as 200 students over time. ey also hope to add a fifth-grade class. Nativity's board had been looking at properties for years. ey wanted a building with a gymnasium and classrooms. It was a complicated search that continues to involve big fundraising campaigns. But when the Zion Assembly congregation, which was too small for its big space, decided it wanted to support the Nativity mission by selling to the school, the dream finally became a reality. e location helps Nativity achieve another dream, too—to continue to work together with the Camp Curtin Y, along with Homeland, to help to improve and make a difference in that neighborhood and in the city as a whole. Why just boys? Nativity started with just a student or two who had come from juvenile detention. Over the years, the focus changed from rehabilitation to education and the need to build strong families. "A lot of the households don't have father figures, and it affects them in school and in their lives," said board Secretary Sheri Phillips of Nativity's mission. "Nativity gave them a place they could go and learn and feel a family atmosphere." For now, Nativity hopes to expand the number of boys it can serve and to continue to celebrate the successes of its graduates. More and more of the boys are graduating from high school then continuing their education at colleges and trade schools. Many of them return, wanting to give back to the school that helped them break the cycle of poverty. "My desire is to open a conflict resolution center that community members can come to—a place to resolve conflict and learn conflict resolution skills," he said. "e goal is obviously to help to lower the killings and the shootings in our community and teach our children how to use their verbal skills to de-escalate. It's a way to prevent physical altercations—let's come talk and resolve this without the bloodshed." To learn more about the Nativity School or to donate to their building campaign, visit www.nativityschoolofharrisburg.org. A Nativity School student. Lavelle Muhammad teaches a class.

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