THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408190847
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MIKE KNEPLER, staff writer
LENGTH: Long : 195 lines
TAMARRA HAYS and Pam Nelson come from different sides of the railroad tracks that divide Norfolk's low-income Park Place from affluent Ghent.
But, this summer, they shared a bad case of opening-day jitters.
Hays, 17, a teenage mom from Park Place, worried about being accepted at her first real job.
So nervous that she hardly slept the night before her first day at work.
Meanwhile, Nelson, 46, an accomplished businesswoman in Ghent, was scared about . . . well, almost anything to do with summer jobs for inner-city kids.
``I think my fear of going into it was, I never worked with black youths before,'' she said.
Yet, the two had come together because Nelson helped organize a summer jobs program for the nonprofit Park Place Academy. She signed up a dozen employers, mostly in Ghent, including her own software business, CCG Systems.
The Park Place Academy, which placed 16 teens in jobs, wasn't the only program providing private employment for teens this summer.
Across town, kids from the Diggs Town public housing neighborhood found a policeman with the entrepreneurial spirit.
Lt. Rudolph Burwell, tired of investigating crimes that involve teenagers, opened Rudy's Hand Car Wash & Detailing to create jobs for about a dozen kids.
Burwell said he was inspired after hearing Police Chief Melvin C. High challenge religious and civic groups to help fight crime.
``I started searching my soul to try to find what I could do, not just as a police lieutenant but as a citizen in the community,'' said Burwell, 52, a policeman for 26 years.
He started the car wash with $5,000 that he was saving for retirement. Burwell said he does not expect to recoup the expense for several years.
In Berkley, Kenneth Cooper Alexander did not create a business to give jobs to teens, but for six summers, he's hired one to three youngsters for part-time work at his Metropolitan Funeral Service.
In each endeavor, summer work was only part of the story.
These employment projects were not sponsored by government. As such, they're small in comparison to programs funded, for example, through the Southeastern Virginia Job Training Administration.
That agency distributed about $2.9 million this summer to support about 1,700 teenagers working for mostly government agencies in South Hampton Roads.
But private programs do not have to contend with bureaucratic red tape, and teens get a feel for business operations, not just working.
The programs also stand apart from most summer jobs for teens because the owners spend time talking with kids about goals and other long-range issues.
``The main thing is the exposure to all that takes place in a business,'' said George Vincent, owner of Colonial Hardware, which provided a job for 14-year-old Kennette ``Neda'' Winstead.
``But the Park Place Academy has a unique approach to the situation that I liked very much and embraced,'' Vincent said. ``That was the mentoring part, where we would take a student in and actually work with the student as an individual, not just say: `Here's your job. You've got to do this. Now get with it.' ''
Alexander takes a similar approach, although his jobs usually involve only maintenance work.
``If we can stress the importance of education, employment, family and some type of religion while they're with us; if they take those things with them at this age, they will be successful, or at least productive,'' he said.
Alexander said that sometimes he even goes beyond basic mentoring. He engages youngsters in current-events discussions, gives impromptu quizzes on spelling and geography, and takes the kids to City Council meetings.
And Burwell said he wants his young employees to regard the car wash as ``a stepping stone'' to more lucrative careers.
Business owners and teens alike say this summer's experiences show that work can improve an inner-city youngster's outlook on life.
Kennette Winstead, for instance, learned why employees should leave personal problems at home. ``If cashiers have an attitude and the salesman had an attitude, the customer is not going to want to come in here and buy anything where everybody's face is all balled up,'' she said.
Besides, acting pleasant at work can help ``make you forget what's on your mind,'' she said.
It took Nicole Henry several days to adjust to her office job at Ingleside Square apartments.
``I was scared that they'd be mean, that they wouldn't treat me right,'' said the 16-year-old. She was prepared to fight back.
Instead, Henry said with some amazement, ``I've learned to work with people. . . . My whole life I never thought I could work and help people out. But then I had this job, and I looked, and I had my future ahead of me. I had to change.''
Not everyone adapted, however. One kid was fired and a few almost lost their jobs. But most teens began to exert positive peer pressure when others misbehaved, even scolding those who fooled around.
Also, the only employer to fire a teen promised to participate again.
``I don't feel really skeptical about the whole program, because the leadership of the program has been excellent,'' said Patty Hoover of Ghent Gardens. ``They were always in full, open communication with us. I never felt like I was dealing with a bureaucracy.''
The youth was fired after refusing several assignments. The last time, he was caught reading a comic book instead of hauling in merchandise from the rain.
Mildred Holloway, president of the Park Place Academy, said the firing should not deter other businesses because even adult employees sometimes don't work out.
Holloway, a Park Place resident, was instrumental in starting the academy. Initially, she sought to create a cultural arts program but found it would be too expensive to pull together for this summer.
``There was an immediate need to get the children off the street. Just that need alone made us go to the jobs program,'' she said.
Meanwhile, Michael Musolf, an assistant professor of physics at Old Dominion University and a volunteer curate at Christ & St. Luke's Church in Ghent, already was working with several Park Place teens on other projects, such as a ``homework club.''
He was thinking about pooling donations from churches to start a summer jobs program when Pam Nelson heard him preach.
``His theme was always about reaching out,'' Nelson said.
Soon, Nelson was reaching out to the Ghent Business Association. A few merchants expressed immediate interest. For many, it was a harder sell.
Most concerns, Nelson said, were based on Park Place's reputation for crime, drug trafficking and severe social problems as well as the young age of the prospective employees.
``They would very honestly say, `I'm scared that they will tell their friends where the cash box is,' or that a bunch of them would come in their business,'' she said. ``They said they wanted to see how it went this year, and if it went well, they would be willing to participate.''
Other hurdles included program costs and administration. But those problems were overcome by a network of private partnerships.
To raise enough money to pay $4.35 an hour, slightly more than the minimum wage, each participating business contributed about $750. That represented two-thirds of the eight-week budget of $21,000. Donations from other businesses, churches and individuals made up the difference.
The Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project, or STOP, the regional anti-poverty agency, arranged for insurance and agreed to administer salaries, including Social Security deductions.
Nelson, Tyrone Sessoms of STOP and several other adults held motivational seminars with the kids.
But when start-up day arrived, Nelson got a case of cold feet.
She worried that skeptical merchants might be right about Park Place teens. She fretted about failure. She thought the kids would reject her.
``It was that first day alone with those kids that I was really terrified,'' she said. ``I have spoken all over the country. I do a lot of speaking in the industry. But that day, I came home and my neck muscles were locked shut.''
The second day of seminars, however, went better.
``It connected. I don't know what happened,'' Nelson said. ``I care about them. I think that's what really happened. Now, I feel very accepted, and I feel very connected with the kids.''
Nelson, Holloway and Musolf say the first summer went so well that they'll double employers for 1995.
They also believe the work experience will help break down stereotypes and other perceptual barriers between inner-city youngsters and the business world.
That's already happening. Many employers said their young Park Place workers were reliable, enthusiastic and good learners.
Claus Ihlemann, owner of the Decorum furniture store, could not recall hiring other Park Place residents, but the summer's work of Deon Ridley may change that.
``I wouldn't say I was ever closed-minded before on the issue, but I'm probably more open-minded now because this has been a very, very good experience,'' Ihlemann said. ``If there's a Deon in there, there's probably a number of them in that neighborhood.''
Also, he may give Ridley a part-time job during the school year.
In Campostella, Burwell, the policeman, envisions his car wash becoming like the Park Place Academy. He wants to create a vocational center with help from businesses and churches.
``The emphasis now has to be on kids. Kids nowadays are just sort of wandering off,'' he said. ``But they're really looking for that pat on the back. They're looking for this big hug. They're looking for somebody to appreciate them.''
His wife, Barbara, added: ``Each person who does something makes the problem a little smaller. The problem gets smaller and smaller, if everyone would help out.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by Bill Tiernan
Deon Ridley, 14, straightening displays at Decorum furniture store,
won praise from owner Claus Ihlemann.
James Goolsby, 18, shows attention to detail while cleaning windows
of a car at police Lt. Rudolph Burwell's Rudy's Hand Car Wash.
Dion Williams, 15, is working at Yukon Lumber Co., where he is using
a planing machine.
Color Staff photo by Christopher Reddick
Businesswoman Pam Nelson is the coordinator of the Park Place
Academy program.
B/W photos by Bill Tiernan
Dion Williams stacks wood as part of his summer job at Yukon Lumber
Co.
Norfolk Police Lt. Rudolph Burwell, center, opened a car wash on
Campostella Road to provide jobs for inner-city youths.
by CNB