Youth employees are a regular feature at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where they are fortunate to be part of a well-planned series of internship experiences with hopes of eventual full-time employment. This system has been working for many years, with dozens of YNHH employees hired and still on the job after starting out as summer workers.
Youth workers learn about themselves and the world as they work at the Bradley Home in Meriden. “When we started working, we had no idea there were so many rules; rules to keep yourself and others safe. But now we know exactly what we’re expected to do when we come in”, says one youth worker. In addition to routine chores, these youth are friendly to residents, while being responsible for cleaning the Bradley Home.
These Youth @ Work members have learned to function as a team to make Hamden’s Miller Memorial a better place. Though they are each responsible for their individual tasks; cleaning, preparing food for the residents, and general maintenance, they’ve learned to work cooperatively to be successful. Together, they’ve completed large maintenance and cleaning projects and still found the time to participate in individualized recreational activities with the elderly residents who dearly enjoyed their company.
Painting is a basic skill that lasts a lifetime. It also teaches patience, and with luck, accuracy.
Every year, Meriden’s Girls Inc. recruits strong, smart and bold youth as camp counselors for dozens of children. Daily activities under their supervision include swimming, arts & crafts, gym, and team sports. The goal is to have all of the children develop better interpersonal skills and be respectful. The experience is so beneficial and meaningful to the kids that many aspire to become a counselor in future years so that they can give back what they’ve learned to a new generation of kids.
Youth @ Work leaders show new Youth Rights Media members the basics of how to advocate for their rights using video and other media. They teach them innovative camera techniques and various other skills with the technologies. They also learn strategies that use story-telling to advocate for human and civil rights.
Every year, a fortunate group of students from The Sound School are hired by Youth@Work to work at the Pardee Greenhouse in New Haven, giving them the opportunity to put their newly acquired skills to practical purpose. They get out of the classroom and apply their knowledge to produce things of value to the city, from the thousands of plants in roadside planters – to benches for city parks. It is amazing to see how well the students collaborate to devise a plan and execute it. In the picture above, the youth are designing and constructing garden benches with treated wood and wood screws.
Solar youth brings lessons of the environment into practical focus for our young workers. In the photo above, Youth @ Work leaders encourage kids to participate in activities that will promote leadership, community service, and environmental exploration. This learning experience helps kids further develop a bond between themselves, their peers, and their community, while creating a generation who will have greater respect and understanding of the environment.
Working under the watchful eye of Harris & Tucker Media, Youth @ Work leaders show the youth participants how to use media to make their mark in a technologically demanding world. Kids television helps the youth become adept as story tellers as well as technicians.
