Choosing Green Path to Jobs
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/oct/01/choosing-green-path-to-jobs/
October 1, 2009 in Washington Voices
Choosing green path to jobs
Program provides income, skills for youths
/ dch...@juno.com
�The West Central Farmers Market is in front of the Book Parlor at 1414
W. Broadway Ave. and is open Saturdays from 10 to 11:30 a.m. through
October. For more information, call (509) 328-6527.
�Project HOPE welcomes donations and volunteers. For more information,
visit www.projecthopespokane.org/ or e-mail to Patrick Copeland Malone
at pcm...@hotmail.com.
Summer jobs are hard to come by for young teens. Paper routes are scarce
and often taken by adults with cars. Fast-food restaurants don�t hire
anyone under 16, and day care centers have reduced the amount of
baby-sitting jobs available. Yet 14-year-old Dave Howell not only earned
income this summer, he also gained job skills that will serve him well
throughout his life.
Howell joined Green Collar Jobs Service Corps, the youth employment and
work force development component of Jobs Not Jails.
�I did three kinds of jobs,� he said. �I learned farming, lawn care and
marketing.�
Jobs Not Jails is the youth entrepreneurship and employment initiative
of Project HOPE (Helping Our young People Excel). According to its Web
site, the goal of the organization is to inspire and organize a variety
of worker-led and worker-owned/managed enterprises that will create a
�green pathway out of poverty� for youth in the West Central neighborhood.
For Howell, it was an eye-opening opportunity. �I enjoyed lawn care,� he
said. �I worked the weed whacker. I was the only one who�d wear long
pants in 100-degree weather.�
Project HOPE and its components are the brainchild of West Central
neighborhood activists Patrick and Connie Copeland Malone.
They created the organization in 2007 after being approached by Spokane
Public Schools.
�The school district was looking for community partners,� Malone
recalled. �One of the first things I recognized was the need to create
an alternative to street life.� West Central had long been plagued by
gang activity.
Simply put, if the community didn�t want youth prowling the
neighborhoods, looking for trouble, then healthier, more beneficial
pursuits must be found. Initially, Project HOPE partnered with Salem
Lutheran Church and offered God�s Gym � weekly basketball nights for
neighborhood youth. But Patrick Copeland Malone quickly realized a few
hours of gym time a week wasn�t enough to keep kids out of trouble.
�There was a fundamental economic issue that all our good works and
prayers weren�t impacting,� he said.
He believed young people needed to actively invest in their West Central
community and become a source of solutions instead of the cause of problems.
When the Copeland Malones and a team of volunteers created Riverfront
Farm two years ago, they found a way to get neighborhood youth involved
from the ground up � literally. The farm is actually several urban
gardens clustered around a renovated farm house on West Boone Avenue.
Last summer Project HOPE launched Green Collar Jobs and trained and
employed five area teens. This year, volunteers raised enough funds to
train 17 youths ages 11 to 15. And thanks to federal stimulus money, six
young people ages 16 to 24 were added to the program. They rotated among
lawn care, gardening and marketing teams.
They learned more than just job skills. Board member and volunteer
Andrew Larson said every Friday was class day. Subjects ranged from
basic first aid to food preparation. Larson, a chef by trade, taught a
cooking class at the farm house.
Larson laughed as he recalled the reaction of the young people when they
first ventured out into the gardens. He said, �One girl said, �Wow!
That�s lettuce?�� Many of them had never seen food growing.
�They learned the connection,� Larson said. �Yes, your food comes from
the ground � yes you can grow it.� Thanks to Larson, they also learned
how to prepare it and then got to sample the delicious flavors of
freshly roasted herbs and vegetables. �They just got so fired up and
excited,� Larson said.
The youths also learned basic retail and marketing skills when they
worked at the West Central Farmers Market. That�s what 15-year-old
Allyson Asher enjoyed the most. �I liked using the cash register and
talking to people,� she said. �I got a better understanding of the
neighborhood. The people here are really nice � it�s not such a bad
neighborhood.�
During their lawn care rotation, the youths mowed and weeded for
low-income, elderly or disabled residents. �We got up to doing 12 lawns
a week by the end of summer,� said Patrick Copeland Malone. �The kids
did a great job � people were pleased.�
Watching the teens work hard to beautify the area had a positive effect
on neighbors who�d grown leery of teenagers. �There can be a reluctance
� a sense of fear,� Patrick Copeland Malone said, describing the
attitude of some adults. �In a small way, by gardening, weeding and
mowing lawns, we can bridge that gap.�
In addition to making a difference in their neighborhood, the teens came
away with important employment skills. Larson said, �They�ve got a head
start as far as the job market.�
Green Collar Jobs site supervisor Daniel Henry agreed. He said the
youths were expected to show up on time every day, wearing their Green
Collar Jobs T-shirts. Failure to meet expectations resulted in docked
pay. Henry sees lasting value in teaching kids the benefits of hard work.
�This kind of thing can be duplicated in other neighborhoods throughout
the city,� he said. �Our kids, our community and our society will benefit.�
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
(Wait for the new edition: http://hplmythos.com/ )
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"From the point of view of the defense of our society,
there only exists one danger -- that workers succeed in
speaking to each other about their condition and their
aspirations _without intermediaries_."
--Censor (Gianfranco Sanguinetti), _The Real Report on
the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy_