Sunday, May 13, 2007
By Andy Smith
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence, based in Providence, plans to provide 60 summer jobs for Providence youths as part of its Beloved Community Summer Jobs Program this year, up from 45 jobs last year.
What’s the connection between employment and nonviolence?
P.J. Fox, operations manager for the Institute, said employment is an effective way to reduce violence.
An April 10 letter sent to members of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce asking for support, signed by Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman and Teny Gross, executive director of the institute, said that statistics show July and August are the most dangerous months for a young person in Providence.
Fox said the jobs program, which begins July 9 and runs through August, is open to any city resident between ages 14 and 19. He said the teenagers work 20 hours a week, Monday through Thursday, at one of the companies or nonprofit organizations which have signed on to the program, such as Aramark, LifeSpan and the Olneyville Boys & Girls Club.
On Fridays, the participants take training in nonviolence and professional development, covering such areas as nutrition, handling money and appropriate behavior in the workplace. The name of the jobs program comes from a belief by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that all of us live in a beloved community.
“For a lot of these kids, it’s the first time having a job,” Fox said. “This program is designed to prepare them for future employment.”
Fox said the institute asks employers to provide mentors for the new employees to help them adjust to their summer jobs; ideally, the mentors would maintain an interest in the youths throughout the year.
In a letter written to Gross, Anthony Malagrino, of Aramark, which provides grounds and buildings maintenance for the Providence schools, said the program had benefits for his company that went beyond public relations.
He said the young employees accomplished small but valuable projects for the company that would either have cost more money or gone undone. He also said the program helped Aramark’s own training by requiring employees to describe and demonstrate their jobs to the summer employees.
Malagrino said Aramark used about a dozen teenagers from the institute’s program last summer, and planned to do roughly the same this year.
In addition to job opportunities, Fox said the institute is looking for corporate money to help run the program. He said the summer jobs program costs $77,000 to operate. “I’m fighting every day to get that,” he said.
So far, though, the institute has raised less than half that amount from outside sources. But Fox said the summer jobs program will continue, no matter what.
Deadline for applications is Friday. Anyone interested in the program should contact Fox at the institute, (401) 785-2320.
My name is Scott P. McDuffie and I practice nonviolence. In graduate school at North Carolina State University, I wrote a thesis on James Lawson entitled, "James Lawson: Leading Architect and Educator of Nonviolence and Nonviolent Direct Action Protest Strategies During the Student Sit-in Movement of 1960." It is availiable for free through NC State's liberary website. I wanted to make this information avaliable to your group. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Keep up the good work!
Scott
Posted by: Scott P. McDuffie | December 26, 2007 at 11:07 PM