Teens Earn While They Learn
We knew Summer 2020 was going to look very different from past years. A typical Y.O.U. summer is 2,000+ teens employed at establishments throughout the city and suburbs, working closely with their worksite supervisors and job coaches to build hands-on job skills. However, due to strict social distancing requirements, many Y.O.U. employers were unable to host teens this summer, and some families did not feel comfortable sending their children to a physical workplace.
How do you teach job skills when there is no place for a young person to work? You go virtual!
Y.O.U. staff identified two tools, Hat & Ladders and Project Based Learning, to bring the work to the teens. Hats & Ladders is a self-paced online tool where students explore their interests and strengths, discover potential careers, and engage in real world experiences. In addition to playing Hats & Ladders, these four cohorts of 20 or so teens met daily via Zoom with a job coach to work on projects, build teamwork, and discuss job-related topics, all while earning a paycheck.
Job Coach Kylie’s group focused on civic engagement and leadership skills. Each teen was tasked with identifying a problem in their community. They brainstormed about ways to find resources and how to get their message out into the community. They each came up with an elevator pitch and created ads to educate others about the problem.
Alexavier Flowers identified killings and violence, poverty, police brutality, and racism. He wrote, “Racism and slavery are the root of all these issues. We were never given equal opportunity, so there are many communities that aren’t able to grow economically, causing poverty.”
One 14-year-old thanked the group for providing a safe space to discuss these issues, something she doesn’t do with family or peers. Rmonie Crenshaw said, “I’m proud that I can do something with confidence because I’m really shy. I learned that you just have to trust yourself.” Alexavier also learned new things about himself. “I have learned that I am a good writer. I learned I am capable of taking charge and being a leader.”
Job Coach Dan surveyed his teens to find out how they wanted to develop over the four weeks. The number one skill the teens wanted to build: communication. “Professionally I would like to understand people better, so I would like to grow in how to communicate to people.” “Sometimes the way I communicate can come off harsh or very blunt, and I honestly want to try and fix it so no one is taken by offense.”
Dan treated his Zoom meeting like it was a worksite. They had to attend every day and log in on time. His teens worked as a team to identify a problem and its solution. They researched the cost, resources to cover the expense, and the people to help execute it. Littering and homelessness, for instance, could be abated by reverse vending machines. Insert recycling into the machine, which spits out a ticket to be used for bus fair or as a cash voucher.
The job coaches also felt the online job experience prepared their teens for remote learning in the fall. In addition to securing devises they could keep from PCs for People, the coaches helped them get comfortable with Zoom and computer-based technology. As one said, “They know how to type on their phones, but using a computer keyboard is a completely different skill set.”
A few thank you notes from the student…
Shawn'Nay to Dan: “I just wanted to say thank you for always encouraging me to do better and to push myself every day to work harder to achieve my goals and always helping me become a better employee. I don't think I would've done this without your help. You’ve always been such good job coach making sure that I understand the topic and going that extra mile to help me out. I really appreciate that because I can push myself every day and follow my dreams because I have confidence in myself and believe in myself now.”
Amora Glover to Kylie: “During this Y.O.U summer job I have been opened to many experiences and learned many new skills. I have done my best to complete every assignment and participate in many discussions relating to my project and other world issues going on today. During this whole process I have had help from mainly my job coach and from my mom. I would like to say thank you firstly for my mom for giving me great ideas for my project. She has tried her best to keep me on track about it and giving me ideas. I would then like to thank my job coach for teaching me and giving me this experience virtually. I understand that this summer was really hard for Y.O.U. due to the coronavirus, but It ended successfully either way.”