Hill Cooperative Youth Services, Inc. Omar Xavior R. Ford Program Coordinator/21 Futures
Report on Empower New Haven Grant Jan-April 2002 •
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Location, dates, and times of sessions o Beginning January of 2002 Hill Cooperative Youth Services at 158 Carlisle St, New Haven CT. will hold job readiness training for youth 1319. o We are open Mon-Fri, 6:00 pm –10:00 pm. Focused workshops are held 7:00 pm-8:00 pm each day, i.e. “Job Readiness”, “Resume Building”, “Conflict Resolution”. Young people have access to computer lab between 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm Update on outreach and recruitment strategies to at-risk youth population o New Haven Family Alliance: During the first two months of the recruitment period, I found it somewhat difficult to locate participants. I located several programs that serviced “at risk” youth in the hopes of recruiting some of their youth. I contacted The New Haven Family Alliance seemed to provide exactly what I needed. I met with two of the staff members to explain the program. The staff, after reviewing the information I provided, felt that the program was something that the youth they service would benefit. The first meeting with the youth was and scheduled held at 32 Jefferson St. “L.E.A.P.” office and only 2 youth had attended. I got an explanation as to why there were only 2 youths. I decided that I would pass the information to the 2 youths that were there and do a full presentation the following week. The next week, I went to the above location, prepared to do my presentation. I waited for almost an hour before I got word that they would be late. By then, time was up for out workshop. I decided that this was a wasted venture and began to seek alternative programs that would supply the needed youth. o Community Builders of Church Street South: I met with the Community Builders and presented the program as I did for the New Haven Family Alliance. Staff from the Community Builders reviewed the information and felt that I would be a beneficial program for the neighborhood youth. Together with the staff of Community Builders a schedule, and start date. The program was to take place onsite in the Church St South community room. Youth already enrolled in the course at Hill Cooperative helped me “flier” the Church St South neighborhood as well as set up the area in which the sessions would take place. o Douglas House: Not wanting to repeat the same kinds of problems I had encountered with New Haven Family Alliance. I did a presentation to the Douglas House. The youth at the Douglas House, I felt would greatly
benefit from a program. These youth, according to the grant, were exactly what I was looking for. I made the presentation as I did with all the other agencies and the Douglas House staff was very interested. We set up a start date and I invited the youth of the Douglas House to attend a movie screening with the members of 21 Futures to see the “Rookie”. The date scheduled for the classes to begin, I go over to find out if there are any last minute changes only to find out from the director of Douglas House that they were closing. That same day, I found out that the youth in the Douglas House could not participate in the grant anyway do to the zoning conditions of the grant. I don’t know the exact reasons beyond that, but when I visited the Douglas House, the youth I spoke to all lived in New Haven. After all of these set backs, I became frustrated with the recruitment process and began to re-read the “contract”. The term “at risk” didn’t just pertain to youth that are in programs like the Douglas House and New Haven Family Alliance who are already receiving some for of service. The term “at risk” applied to ALL New Haven youth who come from a single parent, lowincome family. I decided that I needed to look within the youth that attend the 21 Futures program as participants. The members of 21 Futures fit the “at risk” profile just as the youth of the Douglas House and New Haven Family Alliance. A meeting for ALL parents of our members was held and the “Job Readiness” program was introduced to the members as well as their parents. Parents and youth signed a “letter of commitment” to insure full participation in the program. •
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Update on the establishment. Innovative connection with the private business sector for placement o Cyclone Micro Systems: I have been contacting area business to begin setting up internships. I talked with the president of the company and we discussed allowing successfully completed participants of the program to seek internships within Cyclone Micro Systems. Outreach done to attract businesses Number of individuals employed and a list of business participation o To date: 7 youth have been hired at various business locations including Hill Cooperative Youth Services, Burger King, and the UCONN Extension. Assessment of improvement in basis competencies in math, reasoning, writing, compatibilities, clear speaking, and listening skills o Each youth participating in the program fills out an “assessment” form. o Each youth participating in the program has to provide current copy of their report card. Based on their report cards, we can assess what basic skill the youth possesses as well as what basic skill the youth needs help to
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improve. As well as report cards, we have outside consultants to provide conflict resolution skills, decision-making skills as well as other employability skills. Attendance at educational activities o Each youth is required to sign in daily. The scheduled workshops rotate on a monthly basis and include computer literacy classes. Individual Evaluation of youth participant employment/apprenticeship placement o With the next report, it will include a 90-day evaluation for the youth employed and progress report for the other participant of the program. List of referrals and dates of all EZ resident participation Employment site salary o Hill Cooperative Youth Services (6 youth) and Burger King (1 youth) pay minimum wage. Hours of employment placement o Hill Cooperative Youth Services workers are hired to work 20 hours a week. Burger King schedule varies. Length of employment to date o Youth Currently working at Hill Cooperative Youth Services have been employed since Jan of 2002 and new staff members added in May of 2002.