PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philly nonprofit JEVS Human Services honored more than 40 mentors this week for giving Philadelphia youth a chance to explore career opportunities all across the city.
More than 7,000 young Philadelphians, ages 12 to 24, were exposed to opportunities this summer through JEVS’ “Career Connected Learning” program. Forty-four providers introduced them to roles in health care, education, government, the arts, nonprofit work, and much more.
“They were really everywhere, whether it was equestrian, Parks and Rec camp counselors, working through Mural Arts, I mean, you name it,” said JEVS CEO Cynthia Figueroa. She said the goal was to create a pathway for youth and connect them to mentors in roles they may have never explored before.
On Tuesday, those providers were celebrated with a lunch at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Center City. One such provider was Beyond the Bars, a nonprofit that works to interrupt cycles of violence through music.
“Young people all over our city are amazing leaders. We just have to have platforms for them,” said co-Executive Director Matthew Kerr.
Through the program, he said they were able to train 35 students to take up leadership roles.
“We would see students on the first day be really, really quiet. Then by midway through the summer, they'd be running up to middle schoolers and teaching them how to play music and be gassing them up, complimenting them, helping the next generation realize their talent. That's 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds doing that,” Kerr said.
“It's invaluable for those young folks and their families to have experiences like this, because often you don't know what's out there until you can see what's out there,” said Kimberly McCaffrey, JEVS senior vice president of intermediary services, who helped run the program.
“You start to learn what you like, what you don't like, what you're good at, what you're not good at — and then what are the jobs that match those things?”
In addition, the participants were paid. JEVS was able to offer stipends from around $1,300 to $1,500 for programs that lasted anywhere from six to eight weeks. According to McCaffrey, the organization paid a total of about $7.4 million in stipends to participants.