SAN ANTONIO — Natalia Flores says she feels at home at Rhodes Middle School on San Antonio’s West Side. She’s noticed the similarities between the school and her hometown of McAllen. 

“There was a sense of community, but not as close as there is on the West Side,” Flores said. 

In this barrio, the average annual income is $26,000, and it's a place where children inherit generational trauma. 

“They are just a bad kid, they are just a bad kid. It’s like no, they are making bad choices and we need to understand why they are making those bad choices,” Flores said. 

Part of the issue is the trauma manifesting itself in acting out or lashing out on peers. Usually around this time, Rhodes Middle School has a triple-digit number of fights. They’ve had 85 so far this year. This progress can be credited to Empower House, a nonprofit that uses restorative justice. 

“It’s a framework that works with repairing relationships in communities, because just letting kids home for suspension and bringing them back, we are not addressing the core problems,” said Flores, who is a restorative justice specialist. 

Studies show that suspended youth are likely to be held back a grade, drop out of school or become teen parents. They're also eight times more likely to be incarcerated — a pipeline that this program wants to dismantle with compassion. 

“After they came back from whatever their discipline was, we do a resolution circle. There’s a reason for it,” Flores said. “It doesn’t come out of nowhere. We make sure that their truth is spoken.” 

Child therapist Kimberly Nguyen says this approach is vital for middle schoolers. 

“Kids, they need to externalize a feeling or an intense emotion like it doesn’t own you and then you can look at it in a different way,” Nguyen said. 

Then they can have empathy toward themselves instead of telling themselves that they are a “bad kid.”

“If they are getting negative commentary all of the time of who they are as a person when they are developing identity, it’s going to definitely affect them and be that ‘you know what, no one cares about me so why should I even go to class’?'” Flores said.

Now the students have a safe space and teachers are seeing results in real time for a program that’s only been around for nine months. 

“I think the main thing is how resilient these kids are, and just all the life experiences that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. I’m just honored that they are willing to share that with me. I know it’s not easy, especially with an adult,” Flores said.