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Mr. B, Barry Addison, at his desk at the Alpha School in East New York.

Mr. B has a very full desk.

Mixed in with pens and paper clips are four knives, two packets of marijuana, and two shining gold bullets. The drawer behind that one is overflowing with bandanas: dozens and dozens of red, blue, pink, and orange gang flags that Mr. B has confiscated.

These are the souvenirs you accumulate running Alpha School, an alternative program in East New York where 17-21-year-olds can earn GEDs, get treatment for drug addiction, and find a place to hang out in peace.

As he hugs everyone who crosses his path, there’s clearly nowhere else Mr. B, whose full name is Barry Addison, would want to be. But the combination of state budget cuts and a dispute over Alpha’s enrollment figures means that, barring an eleventh-hour change, the program’s doors are closing in seven days.

He was notified in mid-May that the program is losing all of its $367,000 in annual funding from New York State’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

“We’re toast,” he said. “It’s going to devastate a whole community. There’s no other prevention services in this neighborhood except for in the schools, and these are the kids who got kicked out of the schools.” (more…)