THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996 TAG: 9605250048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 112 lines
CHIROPRACTOR Kevin Steele mentioned something about hiring a teen-ager as a part-time receptionist, and that was all Regina Proctor needed to hear.
``That would be a good idea,'' said Proctor, a freshman at Bethel High School.
Rafael Bernaola, a sophomore at Kecoughtan High School, agreed. ``A very good idea!'' he exclaimed.
The two students made a note, putting Steele's chiropractic office on ``the map,'' and headed back to the street, knocking on doors of other downtown businesses.
Proctor and Bernaola are among 45 youths participating in Hampton's ``YouthMapping'' project. Every few afternoons, the teens fan out across the city, cataloging information that can help young people find jobs, volunteer activities, scholarships, places for recreation and other opportunities and services - even inexpensive restaurants.
The information they're gathering is being put on computer disks and will be available at libraries, schools and nonprofit agencies, where access will be free.
``It will be a computer base that young people, families and adults can access wherever they are in the city,'' said Richard E. Goll, executive director of Alternatives, a nonprofit group coordinating the YouthMapping project for a consortium of public and private agencies and businesses.
YouthMapping puts into action Alternatives' philosophy: Youngsters are people who can contribute to the city in partnership with adults.
Alternatives is ``using us to solve the problems instead of using us to blame the problems on,'' said Lydell Mason, 15.
Mason, a field surveyor in the YouthMapping project, had collected infor-mation from 121 sites as of last week.
His most eye-opening discoveries, Mason said, came at City Hall. He began seeing the Hampton government in a different way, as an employer as well as a service provider. He learned, too, that volunteer work might lead to paid jobs.
The idea that youths can be a resource guides all phases of the project, Goll said. Teens even helped write the YouthMapping survey forms. They had questions about jobs and services that the adults on staff had not considered.
``Some adults think that having a party once in a while is good for youth groups,'' Bernaola said. Proctor, his YouthMapping partner, completing the thought, saying, ``We need more than that, and something more to do than play basketball.''
Teens helped develop the youth-as-resources approach several years ago when Alternatives was still ``a fix-it kind of agency,'' primarily offering counseling and substance-abuse treatments, Goll said.
``Young people came to us and said, `That's really not what we need. We need adults to be different with us.' So we did a lot of work to talk about what `different' meant.
``Really what it was about was empowering them, respecting them, not stereotyping them.''
Now, Goll said, Alternatives regards teens as partners.
``We don't turn it over to them,'' he said. ``That's not what they want. They were real clear on that, that they don't want to do this by themselves. They just want to be part of the community, an equal part of the community, not a stepchild of the community.''
Some YouthMapping teens have been in other partnerships.
Lydell Mason helps the Police Department revise training for how cops deal with youngsters.
Bernaola participated in an operation to find merchants who sold cigarettes to minors. The program, ``Teens Against Silent Killers,'' found 53 clerks violating the law. They got warnings.
Thank-you notes were given to 133 merchants who refused to sell cigarettes to kids.
In the YouthMapping program, teen surveyors are outfitted with T-shirts, photo-ID cards and three-ring binders with the questionnaires.
The students have learned to be persistent while being polite. At businesses, questions about hiring are followed by inquiries about internships and volunteer opportunities. Then there are queries about whether a company donates money to scholarships or youth activities.
If the first person they interview does not know the information, the teens ask for other sources, including names and telephone numbers for follow-up calls.
Last week, Proctor and Bernaola visited the Peninsula offices of WVEC-TV, only to find that hiring was done out of the station's Norfolk headquarters. They made note.
For their work, teens are paid 50 cents for each completed site form. Proctor is saving to buy a birthday gift for a friend, but her growing awareness of what jobs are available is just as important.
She was excited about receiving two job offers, even though she's too young to accept them.
``One was at a jewelry store,'' Proctor said. ``They told me I was very professional and they like the way I presented myself. They said, `When you get older, come back and we'll give you a job.' ''
Bernaola said he, too, is doing it for more than the money. ``I mean, it doesn't pay too well . . . but it's fun, like the way some of these businesses react toward you.''
Also, he said, the survey work is good experience for his anticipated college major - public relations. ``It's good to talk with different people,'' Bernaola said.
``Because from this experience,'' Bernaola said, ``I don't think I'll think of adults as the same way, but just as a regular person.''
``And,'' Procter concluded, ``now, we'll have more respect for adults and they'll have more respect for us.'' MEMO: [See related story on page E3] ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
Regina Proctor takes notes while her partner, Rafael Bernaola,
interviews a local businesswoman about opportunities for teens in
Hampton.
WHAT IS YOUTHMAPPING
A project in which teens fan out across the city, cataloging
information to help youths find jobs, volunteer activities, and
other services and opportunities.
KEYWORDS: PUBLIC JOURNALISM YOUTHMAPPING by CNB