YOUNGSTOWN Retired city supervisor wants to take his wisdom back to the streets, kids

The retired streets chief is headed to a second career helping inner-city kids understand life's possibilities.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Some people mark their 50th birthday with dramatic life changes.
Calvin Jones certainly has, but in a more meaningful way than most.
Jones retired as head of the street department Feb. 28 after 32 years working for the city. The next day -- his birthday -- Jones interviewed for a job in his second career: counseling.
The interview anticipates his master's degree in community counseling from Youngstown State University, which he started working toward full time in January.
Jones wants to work with inner-city, junior high school-age youths, guiding them to the right paths in life.
"I want to be a good example for children," he said.
The base for that dedication to education and youth was formed 30 years ago.
Dream deferred: Jones started as a laborer in the street department at 18, on the afternoon shift a few months before his 1970 graduation from The Rayen School. Meanwhile, his father urged him toward college.
Jones planned to stay with the city four or five years, long enough to get his college degree and move on to "become some big executive."
He attended YSU for 18 months, but in the meantime married his wife, Rubie, and they had the first of their four children. Eventually, juggling work and a young family became more than enough, and he set school aside.
Nonetheless, Jones never forgot his father's dream for him: getting the degree.
Ten years ago, he returned to YSU and finished a degree in business administration.
"I always wanted to demonstrate to my [children] ... to show them ... that dad went to school and worked and got good grades," Jones said.
Rewarding work: Jones' work with children other than his own came via 15 years as a little league football coach, which he called "intensely rewarding."
Often, several of the kids he coached would stay at his house overnight before a game. It was a break from the otherwise difficult circumstances they were growing up in.
"It was like a ministry," Jones said.
The reward comes when those same youths approach him today, successful and married with children of their own, Jones said.
Despite his interests in kids and education, there was a career in the street department to manage.
Promotions over the years left Jones with a variety of experiences. He moved through the ranks to construction foreman and became second in command of the street department in 1996.
Mayor George M. McKelvey named Jones the department head a year later.
Jones could have retired a couple years ago, but pledged to stay through McKelvey's first term.
Even so, he started thinking about his dream job then. He thought about education and how much he enjoyed kids.
Lessons to teach: Today's inner-city kids -- black males especially -- need to know early in life that there are alternatives, Jones said. Too often, they can't see the successful lives available to them if they hard work at school and stay out of trouble, he said.
Jones wants to use his life and second career as an example.
"Show them the possibilities that are out there," he said about inner-city children. "If you can spur that imagination, there are things they can do that you haven't even conceived of."
rgsmith@vindy.com