From the Streets to Employment

Youth training and employment saves tax-payers millions

CHICAGO, IL. (August 4, 2009) – Youth social service organizations have felt the affect of the economy just like everyone else. Programs have been cut or are threatening to be cut very soon when legislature reconvenes in the fall to vote on raising taxes. These are worries of youth organizations like Jobs For Youth when as services are cut, youth are forced to the streets instead of having opportunities to make themselves a self-sufficient and contributing member of society.

The economic benefit of having employed youth versus having a youth in jail is staggering. It costs roughly $25,000 a year to house one inmate at a prison in Illinois versus the $2,500 it costs Jobs For Youth to train one youth with job-readiness skills, place the client and provide two years of follow-up. As we are in the midst of summer when violence is typically on the rise, programs like Jobs For Youth are critical to giving our youth an opportunity for success, youth like Jasper Robinson.

Twenty-two year old Robinson is a recent Jobs For Youth graduate with a felony on his record. At nineteen, Robinson was convicted of possession and served eight months in Cook County Jail and four months of Boot Camp. "I made the biggest mistake of my life," Robinson said.

Robinson did not graduate high school due to numerous absences helping his mother financially and emotionally. At the time, his step-father was sentenced to twenty years in prison for selling drugs, and Robinson needed to support his mother and younger brother. Upon completing his senior year but not graduating, Robinson turned to selling drugs and the day before being sent to Boot Camp, Robinson's eighth grade brother was beaten to death.

"It was unimaginable. I can finally talk about it. My life is what drives me now. I want better for myself and my mom," Robinson said.

After being incarcerated, Robinson received his GED and enrolled in Harold Washington College, where he is currently pursuing his associates in Liberal Arts. It is at Harold Washington where Robinson discovered Jobs For Youth.

"Jobs For Youth sharpened my skills, and I learned so much. The resources are amazing. Everything is free," Robinson says.

After completing Jobs For Youth's eight-day pre-employment/ job-readiness workshop, Robinson went on further and took advantage of one of Jobs For Youth's special programs, Customer Service Training. Robinson is now nationally certified with a National Professional Certification in Customer Service. Two days later, Robinson was hired as an Executive Assistant Intern at Richmond Group, a marketing and promotions company. Robinson hopes to one day be a criminal defense attorney and eventually, a high school history teacher.

It is youth like Jasper that benefit from community programs like Jobs For Youth and make the services crucial to the economic health of Chicago. As a recent study released by the Center for Labor Market Studies from Northeastern University points out, an unprecedented "age twist" in employment rates took place over the last eight years with older workers (55+) improving their employment rates strongly while teens and 20-24 year old males reached new post-World War II lows.

Jobs For Youth provides an alternative to the bleak statistics for Chicago's teens. It is an alternative to the streets where gun violence is making the news and opportunity for success seems an unreachable dream for some. Chicagoans don't have to look overseas to help someone in poverty, someone who regularly sees bullets in his own neighborhood, someone who has to choose between eating breakfast and having money to get to work or school and someone who is seen as the exception when he attends school. It is places like Jobs For Youth that provide opportunity. Like JFY's tagline says - A LIFE. A JOB. A FUTURE.

 

About Jobs For Youth/Chicago, Inc.

Jobs For Youth/ Chicago, Inc. (JFY) helps young men and women from low-income families become a part of the economic mainstream; and, in the process, provides the business community with motivated job-ready workers. JFY offers pre-employment training, GED preparation and job placement services to youth that are between the ages of 17 and 24. Established in 1979, JFY has made over 26,000 job placements and had 964 students receive their GED (since 1987). More information is available at www.jfychicago.org, including a short video about JFY programs and services.

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