With time to fill, making use of kids’ and teens’ summer, especially after the tornado
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - The arrival of summer sees kids and teens with time to fill.
There are groups in the St. Louis region working to use that time to make a difference and make sure the impacts of a natural disaster are addressed.
Take a conference room quickly filling with teens, hopeful to make a good first impression. Robert Davis, among them, as he searches for a job.
“Figure out what I really want to do in life. I’m looking for an office position, office istration, if I could,” said Davis.
SLATE Missouri Job Center is putting teens and young adults in front of local employers so they can land jobs for the summer and longer.
SLATE Missouri Job Center Youth Build Coordinator Carlos Ball said, “Young people, they have that space between school, they have that time. We want to fill that with employment. That way, they’re getting the skill that they’re needing before moving on to the next grade. Just give them that opportunity to make some money, to assist their families, and assist themselves.”
SLATE Missouri Job Center Youth Program Manager Joi Jones said, “They’re ing their entire family by providing this paycheck through us. This is changing the entire trajectory of their family. This might pay a light bill. This might pay for clothes for the new school year. This is going to truly help. This is why we’re extremely intentional about the connections with worksites as well.”
SLATE has programs to prepare teens with the skills to get in front of employers.
The agency is also retooling one of its programs to provide teens with employment ing the tornado response.
Connie Johnson, Executive Director of SLATE, said it goes beyond that.
“There’s a vast need for summer employment for our youth. I would say that right now, it’s been compounded by the fact that we’ve had the tornado. There are many youth who are going to need jobs now, more than ever before. So our plea is for more employers to want to hire these kids,” said Johnson.
She added, “If kids are busy, then they’re not on the streets. We want to take the kids off the streets and into meaningful work experiences and jobs that could not only last for the summer but maybe result in long-term employment.”
It’s not just teens but younger kids needing a place to go.
Located in The Ville, Northside Youth and Senior Service Center is working on the tornado response along with its daily mission.
Northside Youth and Senior Service Center Executive Director said, “Since the tornado, one of the things that we wanted to do was make sure that we were connecting folks with vital resources. For our older folks, we are the largest provider of home delivered meals in the city of St. Louis, northside, so we already had a long list of clients that were already dealing with mobility and connection to vital resources.”
Northside Youth and Senior Service Center Director of Youth Programs Dominic Avant said, “Providing our services to our aging community, aging adults, as well as our young children. We bridge them together because oftentimes, those are the two groups that get forgotten about. Our seniors and our kids. This is what our agency is all about, to , to pour into them so that they can live a successful and thriving life.”
“Kids are resilient; however, kids still have feelings. Kids are still trying to process things. As the villagers in the village are here to make sure that they have everything, so that they can thrive and be great,” said Avant. “The biggest has been a place, a safe place in the community for their kids to be engaged and have some as they navigate through these hard times.”
In meeting the needs of kids, Avant said it helps the whole family.
He said, “We’re here to cater to the whole family, right. Not only is this a break for the kids, but it also gives the parents a break to be able to focus on things that they need to get done at home and even work, because you have to have funds to rebuild. We want to be that service provider that can share this load with them. That we’re in this together. We’re a community.”
Carolyn Jones, Director at Williams Academy, also expressed serving kids and families impacted and displaced by the tornado when speak with First Alert 4 earlier this week. Williams Academy offers a summer camp in addition to childcare, and it prioritizes exposing kids to experiences in St. Louis through field trips and other attractions like the Arch.
Jones said, “They are trying to do life, and so, we’re trying to do what we can to make sure the children can have a good, fun summer.”
When this summer is over, the hope is that it will be a successful one for kids and teens.
Davis said, “Still have a long way to go and I know there are a lot of other potential candidates that will get jobs.”
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