Parents showed up at a public meeting Wednesday looking for summer jobs for their teens. They found out the deadline for the city’s biggest teen summer job program, Youth at Work, has already passed. How come “nobody heard about it” before? Dwight parents like Marissa Samuel (pictured with her 8‑year-old daughter, Riquee Toney) wanted to know. But after hearing about a range of programs, they came away with new ideas.
“Meet the Parents Night” came thanks to Dwight activists Mark Griffin and Greg Smith, the founder of the Dwight “parent patrol“, a small group of parents who walked down nighttime streets during last summer’s spike of youth violence, talking to kids who were roaming around unsupervised.
“It does my heart well to see the parents out tonight,” he told about a dozen parents at the Dwight School Wednesday night. “That’s the point. We met a lot of your kids and we talked to a lot of your kids” last summer. The kids had nothing to do. “This summer we want to focus on jobs and programs.”
So Smith coralled all the youth programs he could think of into one room and encouraged parents to take interest.
What deadline?
Some were taken aback to hear the Youth at Work summer program deadline had passed. The program targets just the age parents are worried about: 14 to 19 years old. It sets kids up with first-time job experience. Last summer, the program drew a mountain of applications —‚Äù 1,800 —‚Äù and served 470 kids, said youth activist Gina Calder, speaking on the program’s behalf.
This year, the mayor wants to expand the program to serve 1,000 kids, she said. That is, if state funding comes through. Students are visiting the state Capitol Thursday to push for a bill that would get more state funding for teen summer jobs, with a big piece for New Haven, said Calder. Otherwise, Calder wasn’t sure how the mayor could reach his goal of 1,000.
This year, the Youth at Work program deadline, April 14, passed without any of the Dwight parents in the room hearing about it. How did this happen? Applications came out in March and were only advertised over school announcement systems. Interested kids had to make the effort to go to the school guidance office and bring home paperwork. Parents weren’t contacted directly, and some never found out.
“I go to PTOs and everything and this was not brought up,” said a disappointed Wandra Spell (pictured), the mother of four teenage girls at the New Haven Academy. “They didn’t mention nothing about no summer jobs. “
She said she tried to get her kids jobs with the Community Action Agency last year, but wasn’t successful. “A lot of the kids that got summer jobs was the kids who got summer jobs last year.” So her kids spent the summer babysitting. “I wanna see them busy —‚Äù something to do.”
Calder, who chairs a Dwight Youth Concerns Committee, said she learned a lesson Wednesday. There’s “a little too much responsibility on the youth.” There needs to be direct communication between the school board and parents. But Calder was certain there would be way more applications than spots available anyway. The bigger problem is creating more programs for the youth who don’t get in.
Dwight Central Management Team Chair Curlena McDonald took the Youth at Work example as a call to action. “There is a disconnect. The dependency is that your child is going to hear the information they need and pass that along to you. All the information doesn’t always get out there.” A no-nonsense activist, she urged the room to “mobilize,” so that when a deadline passes, the word gets out. She urged parents to take a stronger role: “I keep hearing people say there’s nothing for youth to do —‚Äù that’s not true. I will say there’s not enough —‚Äù that’s the problem.” But finding a program depends on parents’ efforts. “You gotta get the right hookup.”
What’s out there.
Here are a few programs speakers had to offer.
The city parks department showed up with a full schedule —‚Äù 14 day camps and four specialty camps serving about 3,100 kids per summer —‚Äù but didn’t offer much hope to those who couldn’t afford the cost. The city charges $135 for six weeks, with scholarships available on a “first come first serve basis.” Recreation Coordinator Roxanne Hayes said the city offers half-price admittance for families in need, with extra discounts for families with three or four students. But there’s “not a lot of scholarship money available.” How much exactly? She didn’t elaborate. “Not a lot. Not thousands of dollars.”
Summer jobs, however, are still available for camp counselors, lifeguards and seasonal workers with the parks department, said that department’s deputy director, Bill Dixon. The work isn’t exactly tailored for teens, and returnees get preference. But the city hires kids as young as 16, and applications are still available from the Human Resources Department in City Hall. “the deadline passes when I get all my positions filled.”
Here’s a cheaper alternative to city parks camp: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Whalley Avenue is holding a summer camp for ages 9 – 14, from July 5 to August 11, for only $10 per week. Contact them at 865‑0141.
Other summer offerings —‚Äù at the YMCA, the Community Action Agency, and listed by neighborhood, will be released in the mayor’s comprehensive “Youth Guide,” which parents got a sneak peak at Wednesday.
A new, year-round college prep program called Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Programs, Inc. caught several parents’ eyes. It won’t be a solution for this summer. But for $125 per year, the program takes high-schoolers with “the vision and passion to go on to higher education” through SAT prep, college visits and interviews, according to founder Chaka Felder. The program, in its first full year, has 57 students from around the state, 42 of which are from New Haven. The program is all-volunteer, self-funded through lots of fundraising.
Wandra Spell liked the idea. So did Marissa Samuel (pictured at top of story). They walked out with a stack of papers and more hope for activity-filled summer months.