One local program is giving teens a chance to succeed by helping them find paying jobs.
Since opening their doors in 2008, HELP has taken more than 4,500 kids to over 100 work sites. At the same time, they have helped more than 100 handicapped kids find jobs that were crafted just for them.
HELP (Hammons Education Leadership Programs, Inc.) takes at-risk and challenged youth on visits to numerous work sites around the city and the county to give them hands-on experience in jobs that might spark their interest and give them the desire to either stay in school or return to receive the training they need to accomplish their dream.
In fact, that is HELP’s motto: “How can you find the job of your dreams if you don’t even know it exists?”
Since HELP is a non-profit, it exists solely on contributions and grants to help with insurance, transportation costs, food, equipment and the other expenses involved in taking hundreds of young people to dozens of places to look for that special job.
HELP does things the schools cannot, and they go places that schools do not go – they put kids where the action is! They have no lectures, no books, no classes, just the shared experience of a job done well by those who do it best, and who are willing to share their expertise.
They also install touch screen computers loaded with videos and photos of job-site visits in schools that they serve. These cutting-edge computers allow the students to virtually experience most of the real-world educational trips they take and decide if they would like to join.
Once a young person finds a job they are interested in, we work to find them a mentor. This is ON-SITE CAREER MENTORING, the basis of their program. They work with Second Chancers who are in trouble with the law, kids with problems caused by school attendance and misbehavior, and others who may have certain mental or physical challenges.
They have three main ways of getting kids involved: through trips from the Justice Juvenile System, trips from their 20-odd member schools in the area: CCISD, West Oso, Calallen, TM, Taft, Ingleside and London.
Until recently, students in the high schools had to go to the one window on the world at their school to view the various proprietary videos/they have recently developed new programs to allow students to view G+HELP programming on their phones and on their personal computers.
For more information visit:https://www.findthejobofyourdreams.com/
