The Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence held a three-day training session recently at Providence College. Rasheed Goode of Providence, above, spent eight years in federal prison and is hoping to be one of the new street workers.

The Providence Journal Frieda Squires

PROVIDENCE — Rasheed Goode, a convicted drug dealer, was deep into his eight-year sentence at the federal prison in Ray Brook, N.Y., when he saw a story in The Providence Journal about an old rival from his days on the streets of Providence.

Goode said a copy of the paper was always floating around the prison, which is located in the Adirondacks and home to many mobsters, bank robbers and drug dealers from Rhode Island.

Goode read about how André “Ajay” Benton had left his criminal past behind and had become a crusader for peace as a senior street worker at the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence, based in South Providence.

“I was stunned!” he said. “I was like, ‘Ajay changed?’ I couldn’t believe it.”

Now Goode, 31, who was released from prison last year, is hoping to follow in Benton’s footsteps. He is among 10 new street workers — 5 full-time and 5 part-time — whom the institute has hired to quell gang and youth violence in the city’s worst neighborhoods.

The newcomers underwent three days of training last week at the Feinstein Academic Center on the Providence College campus. The seminars were steeped in the philosophy of nonviolence and building partnerships with schools, social-services agencies, the police and neighborhood residents.

They also learned that the job can be dangerous, and how to deal with hostile scenarios, such as being stuck in the middle of warring gangs.

One of the guest speakers was Sgt. John Carvalho, of the Police Department’s Youth Services Bureau. He told the street workers to develop relationships with school administrators and guidance counselors who can quickly identify the students living on the edge.

THE POLICE know all of the street workers. Often, a patrolman who sees a potential problem brewing with a gang of youths will contact a street worker and ask him to talk to the teenagers.

A troubled teen might be more willing to talk to a former gang member turned street worker than a police officer.

“I hope to see all of you in and around the schools,” Carvalho said. “We want to create a better academic environment. You can really have a positive impact on a lot of these kids’ lives.”

The new hires bring the total number of street workers to 17, with 8 of them full-time, 6 part-time and 3 managers. Two of the street workers will be assigned to Central Falls. Cranston officials have applied for a $40,000 grant to hire a street worker through the institute to tackle the growing gang problems in their community.

One of the new hires is Laotian and will work in Smith Hill, home to the Laos Pride, a well-established street gang that is regularly involved in street violence. Three other street workers are fluent in Spanish.

The institute’s executive director, Teny O. Gross, said that during the interviews the institute was looking for candidates with an understanding of the “street culture,” a sense of justice and the drive to change the world they live in.

The street workers will be assigned to an experienced supervisor who will train and work with them for the first 45 days, and they will remain on probation for 90 days. The full-timers are paid about $28,000 annually, while the salaries for the part-timers has yet to be set. They will each work 24 hours a week.

Gross said that the city gave his organization $100,000 from an allocation under the federal economic stimulus program to help pay for the new hires. He said that he needs additional funding to keep them on board on a more permanent basis.

As the street worker program has gained more attention, Gross said more people have come to them seeking help. He will soon meet with the Rhode Island Foundation, a philanthropic organization, and other potential donors in an attempt to secure steady funding.

Gross said that he’s ecstatic to have the largest force of street workers he has had since he formed the institute in Providence about eight years ago. Until now, the peak number of street workers was 13, in 2006, and there’s no question, he said, that reinforcements are needed.

DURING THE FIRST seven months of this year, Providence had one murder and 13 people wounded in gang-related shootings, while, in Cranston, 4 people were shot in gang feuds. Meanwhile, the police say there have been scores of drive-by shootings in which no one was struck.

In the past, the institute has had a woman or two on the payroll, but now five women have been hired as street workers. Gross said that they can help girls and young women deal with problems such as teenage pregnancy, abusive boyfriends and other issues.

“Half the population of the city is women,” Gross said. “Women’s needs are not being addressed.”

Shawndell Burney, 34, of Providence, is one of the new hires. She knew nothing about the institute until her younger brother, Albert “B.J.” Burney, was shot and killed in June 2003 outside the Century Lounge in South Providence.

The police believe that Burney, once an outstanding basketball player at Hope High School, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shawndell Burney said that the institute’s street workers helped her deal with her grief and she was grateful for their ongoing support.

Burney said she worries about her son, Devin, 14, and daughter, Daveena, 7, growing up on the South Side, and she feels that she can make a contribution.

“I’m not nervous,” she said. “I know a lot of the kids in the community and I know a lot of their parents.”

She also knows that the streets are a lot tougher than they used to be.

“Young people have no respect for themselves or adults,” she said. “It’s kind of scary.”

The full-time street workers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to deal with a wide range of social problems among troubled youth. They respond to murders, shootings and beefs between rival gangs that threaten to erupt into full-blown wars. Police chiefs, judges, probation officers and social workers have all credited their work in tough neighborhoods.

The street workers also organize youth basketball games, urge young people to stay in school and help them get jobs.

Many of them are convicted felons and several have served time in prison for murder. Those experiences give them instant credibility on the street, especially among impressionable teens or young men who want to be tough.

Since his release from prison, Goode has worked as a roofer and spent his free time volunteering with young people as a basketball referee and mentor. He feels that he has turned the corner and he wants to make sure young people don’t make the same mistakes that he made.

He’s hoping to work in the troubled neighborhood where he was raised — Mount Hope on the East Side.

“I was part of the problem for a long time, and I did a lot of prison time,” he said. “I would like people to say, ‘He came home and got his life together.’ ”

bmalinow@projo.com