Businesses urged to give jobs to youths, providing alternative to violence
City officials and a group dedicated to nonviolence say meaningful work for youths this summer can curb gang activities.
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Providence Journal
BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- Police Chief Dean M. Esserman said the best way an American police chief can protect children is to invest in them, not arrest them.
At a news conference yesterday aimed at hiring teenagers for summer jobs, Esserman, who is recovering from colon cancer, told the gathering that he routinely asks groups of children, "Who loves you?"
Then he tells them, "I do."
Mayor David N. Cicilline and members of the Institute for the Study & Practice of NonViolence gathered in South Providence yesterday to urge local businesses to hire teenagers for summer jobs. Aramark, a food service company, has hired 15 teens to perform a variety of tasks this summer.
The Center for NonViolence, run by Teny Gross, is paying 42 teenagers to work for local nonprofit organizations this summer. The Beloved Community Summer Jobs Program is designed to curb teen violence by finding meaningful work for youngsters. Students work 20 hours a week and spend six hours learning nonviolent strategies and job-related skills.
Cicilline praised the institute for putting adults on the streets 24 hours a day. The street workers, as they are called, talk directly to teenagers about alternatives to gang violence, mediate disputes, provide crisis counseling in the wake of violence and help youths negotiate the court system.
"The street workers are one of the most powerful tools that exist in the prevention of street violence," Cicilline said. "Their work is being recognized around the country."
"What I keep hearing from people is we need to invest in our kids," Esserman said. "I discovered the Institute for Nonviolence and I'm glad I did. We have a partner out there on the streets."
Sister Ann Keefe, whose parish, St. Michael's, started the institute six years ago, urged businesses to sponsor a teenager or hire one for a summer job.
"Every business should be thinking, 'Are we challenging our children or are we pushing them?' "
P.J. Fox, the institute's operations manager, said that 100 teenagers are on the waiting list for summer jobs, which are open to youths between ages 14 through 19. His goal is to one day find jobs for most of the city's youths.
"I'm struggling to place 42 kids," he said, adding that the program begins on Monday. "We have a strong success rate. Only 8 to 10 kids drop out."
Asked why the news conference was held after the end of school, Fox said the institute was trying to accommodate the mayor's and Gross' schedules.
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