The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence (ISPN) is offering summer employment opportunities to neighborhood youth and we need your help. Through our Beloved Community Summer Program, we supply jobs for 30 young people. So far, we have raised $30,695, enough money to offer our program to 20 youth, and we are asking you and other members of the community to help us find additional funding to reach our goal of 30 participants.
According to an analysis by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, the annual teen employment rate tumbled from 45% in 2000 to 37% last year — lowest since the figure was first tracked in 1948. Jobs losses for teens are more dramatic than in the early 1980s' recession, and this summer is expected to be the worst since the end of World War II.
Says Andrew Sum, the Center's Director, “Teenagers are facing the worst summer job market in decades despite signs more companies are starting to hire. Kids are doing worse this year than last; the job growth hasn't filtered down. If anything like this happened to the adult workforce, you'd call it a depression. It's that severe."
ISPN’s program will run from Tuesday, July 5th, through Friday, August 19th. Our participants spend Mondays through Thursdays at their respective job sites, gaining professional or trade skills. On Fridays, the group convenes for life skills training sessions on topics including nonviolence, leadership, diversity, substance abuse prevention, job readiness skills, and their “Plan for Life.”
Members of our Beloved Community work force are matched with ISPN’s Nonviolence Streetworkers, who help them develop goals for personal and professional growth. Streetworkers check-in on a daily basis with site supervisors, to ensure their satisfaction, and with the youth, to support their work objectives. The Streetworkers guide the youth, as they work to meet their individual goals, and continue to serve as mentors to these young people through their academic years and beyond.
For just $215, you can sponsor one week of work by one young person. For $1,500, you can sponsor one young person for the entire seven-week program. All donations are tax-deductible, and go directly to support the program. I urge you to make the largest donation you can to help shape the lives of these young people. This small investment in a child’s future will yield a community of riches for all of us.
Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, or need more information on any aspect of this program, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached at (401) 785-2320, or email at teny@nonviolenceinstitute.org.
Choose Peace.
Teny O. Gross
Executive Director
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