St. Paul partnership brings trust, opportunities to troubled Karen youth

Last year, fentanyl addiction ran roughshod over many Karen students at St. Paul’s Humboldt High School.

Staff often found drug paraphernalia in students’ backpacks. Youth were sent to the principal’s office almost daily for issues relating to addiction, and one student overdosed in the school bathroom. But after years spent crafting a partnership between the school, police and two nonprofits, officials have formed a blueprint to fight addiction and gang influence on youth in the Karen community.

As Humboldt High School’s social worker, Kati Vaudreuil walks the halls to start her day, voices sometimes squawk through her walkie talkie in efforts to thwart trouble. Other times, Vaudreuil hugs students and asks how they are doing. District data shows a third of Humboldt high’s students are Karen (pronounced Kuh-ren), the highest percentage in St. Paul of the ethnic group native to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. So when gang influence and fentanyl addiction struck an unequal number of Karen youth, Vaudreuil turned to the community for help.

“We said ‘we really need someone from the Karen community to help us,’” Vaudreuil said. “We started with KOM [the Karen Organization of Minnesota]. We got a partnership going, and it’s been like five years. We’ve had a few different case workers, but we couldn’t do it without them.”

Police learned last year of the alarming rate of fentanyl and methamphetamine use among the Karen teens, which fueled an escalating dispute between two gangs in St. Paul. As the Star Tribune reported, authorities and advocates found that historical trauma and a lack of resources leave Karen youth vulnerable to drugs and gang influence. Some youth were forced to use drugs at gunpoint. Many Karen parents who escaped persecution in Asia reported “extreme” depression because they don’t know how to help their kids.

Say Klo Wah, a case worker for the nonprofit KOM, began work at Humboldt last year. Vaudreuil and faculty assign Karen students to Wah, who works nine hours a week checking on those students and their families. Last year Wah frequented the school’s office to speak with troubled Karen youth. Many skipped class, and he drove students to the hospital to prevent an overdose “almost every day.”

But Wah believes the situation has improved. Overdoses are now rare. He has befriended many Karen students and their families, whom he sometimes checks on at church. And Karen students trust him with information they won’t share with school therapists. He credits KOM’s partnership with Humboldt for the improvements, and said many other schools don’t fare as well.

“Now we don’t have emergency cars coming in,” Wah said. “It’s a lot better. Less stress too.”

The St. Paul Police Department started working with Humboldt two years ago to prevent violence and educate staff about gangs. That changed as fentanyl gripped a growing number of students last year. For guidance, the department leaned on officer Jim Lee.

As a Hmong man, officer Lee shares experiences with Karen students which earned their trust. Lee’s parents moved to St. Paul in 1979, still unable to speak English. The couple raised Lee and seven siblings but lacked the resources to help him in school. Lee wants that to be different for Karen students.

Every Tuesday and Thursday through rain or shine, Lee shuttles at least a dozen Karen students from Humboldt High School to the nonprofit Urban Village across town. He connects with them while driving, asking about the students’ grades and summer plans. When they struggle, he refers them to city resources for help.

“I didn’t have somebody like me to help [them] out, so I’m trying to give [them] this,” Lee said. ”I think that it’s mostly the Urban Village that’s helping them out. I tell them, ‘I’m just your ride there, man.’”

The Urban Village, a St. Paul nonprofit aiming to empower Karen and Karenni youth, partnered with Lee, KOM and Humboldt last year. Many students visit the nonprofit to spread homework across tables, circling Lee and other tutors for help. Others roam the space to hang out, playing video games under the Karen flag or laughing near Karen-themed art. Sometimes Lee and other tutors take the students roller skating or fishing. Organizers believe the space has become a release for youth who need structure to reject drugs and violence. And the partnership formed between the organizations could be a model for others.

“We’ve been around for the last 12 years … we know what’s working and what’s not working, and this is working,” Urban Village director Jesse Phenow said, crediting Lee and other officers. “This is the type of work that actually makes a difference for people in our community, and I can’t applaud that enough – especially within the context of knowing what policing has been [like] for marginalized people and communities of color.”

Despite the improvements, more help is needed.

Phenow said the number of Karen students visiting the Urban Village has doubled since last year. They need more tutors to help the growing number of students and to support five other tutors comprised of volunteers and Bethel University students. Transportation is lacking, often forcing Lee to ask for help shuttling students to the Urban Village and their homes. And fewer resources are available to Humboldt students who dropped out. Humboldt social worker Vaudreuil and other staff worry that, without help, those youth are “going to end up dead.”

“When I first started I was like, ‘I don’t want to give up on anybody.’ But as I continued working I feel like I can’t really save everybody, only the ones who are willing to change,” Wah said. “I can’t take away their addiction. I wish I can, but that’s the reality.”

Many of Humboldt’s Karen students are more than willing. Students Eh Htee Kaw and Sonram Poowang were known to skip class last year, but they attend school consistently now. Poowang plans to develop his art skills this summer, and Kaw wants to join the police.

After Wah spoke to them, another Karen student entered his office to hang out. Wah got to work asking about school, jobs, and the student’s life.

“What’s up, bro?” Wah started, “How can I help you?”