Commonwealth Conversations: Public Health

Massachusetts Teens Speak Up About ‘Safe Jobs for Youth’

Posted by Sara Rattigan, Health Communications Specialist in the Occupational Health Surveillance Program.

This April and May have been packed with events all about making workplaces safer for Massachusetts teens.

• First, Governor Patrick proclaimed May 2012 to be Young Worker Safety Month, an important reminder that everyone has a role to play in keeping our youth safe on the job. 
• The DPH Teens at Work project released its annual surveillance report on work-related injuries to teens;
• Our community partner, the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health (MassCOSH), held its annual three-day LEAPS Academy to help build leadership skills in youth around workplace health and safety

But most exciting, the Massachusetts Youth Employment & Safety Team (YES Team) and MassCOSH once again teamed up to sponsor the second annual Safe Jobs for Youth Poster Contest. We called on teens from across the state to design posters that stress the importance of safety on the job for young people. 

In addition to being blown away by the amount of creativity and talent here in the Commonwealth, we always learn so much from hearing (and seeing) what teens have to say about this important issue. So we were thrilled to receive 120 contest entries. From those, we took 12 finalist posters on the road to a series of youth groups and events across the state and asked them to help us judge the winners. Judging groups included the JAG Network in Milford, the Brockton Mayor’s Youth Council, LEAD in Holyoke, Design & Visual Communications at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, STARs at Cambridge Rindge & Latin, and the MassCOSH Teens Lead at Work (TL@W) Peer Leaders in Boston. An extra special thanks to these groups for participating!

The contest winners were announced at an awards ceremony on April 26, during MassCOSH’s LEAPS academy. We were honored to have State Senator Patricia Jehlen, sponsor to the 2007 Massachusetts child labor reform, join us as the keynote speaker and present the contest winners with their awards.

Photo by MassCOSH: Winners, TL@W organizers and State Senator Jehlen showcase three of the winning posters.

So please, take a moment to see what Massachusetts teens have to say about “Safe Jobs for Youth.” Check out the winning posters and keep an eye out for top prize winner on a bus or subway near you!

And finally – especially with the summer jobs season nearly here – please help us to spread the word about keeping Massachusetts teens safe on the job. As you can see, it’s definitely something to speak out about!

 

More Than Words, Indeed: Helping Teens Transition to Adults

 

This is the third in a series of guest posts researched and written by five summer interns with the DPH Youth Violence Prevention Program. Their names are (l to r) Sanjay Raju, Lisandra Carranza, Amy Nwaobasi, Joseph Fox, and Imani Cosby.

 

When first walking into the More Than Words bookstore in Waltham, you might not notice anything out of the ordinary. The shop has everything you would expect in a bookseller: a wide selection of titles shelved by genre, a few comfy chairs to relax in, even a cute little café on the side. What you might not guess right away is that the store is almost entirely run by teenagers.

It’s all part of an innovative community-based youth development program for teenagers who are in foster care, court-involved, homeless or out of school. The goal of the More Than Words program is to teach young people age 16-21 how to run a business and gain work experience for the future. Participants manage everything in the More Than Words store – the bookshop, the café, and even the online business.

And that’s not all that makes the bookstore so unique. All the books for sale in the store have been donated from within the community; and any books that don’t sell are in turn donated to young people in developing countries. It’s a true community partnership.

 
Jill and Amanda, two employees at More Than Words.

Along with their day-to-day responsibilities in the bookstore, these young adults are also required to have what they call a “YOU” job. This “YOU” job requires each worker to set expectations and goals for themselves that they wish to accomplish, in their own words. It’s a different answer, for every person. For Jill, one employee of More than Words, it’s to stay on track to graduate from high school on time. Another employee, Amanda, wants to graduate high school and get her associate’s degree. It’s in this way that More Than Words teaches teens to take charge of their own lives.

The program starts off with a one-month training period. It’s pretty intense – the participants cannot miss any days of training or they’re removed from the program. After they’ve completed training, they become associates and are given a job. The youth work up to 30 hours a week, 2-3 days a week. Every week, they make individual “smart goals” for things that they wish to accomplish by the end of the week. As time goes on, there’s even a track for advancement, into different positions such as a partner, senior partner, veteran, and alumni.

And that’s not all. More than Words is not just about work skills – it’s also about education.  Thanks to partnerships with Bentley University and Brandies University, tutors and education coaches help the youth acquire a GED or their high school diploma. As a result, 85% of of More Than Words employees achieve this vitally important educational goal.

More than Words has come very far since the start of the program in 2005. They are now expanding to a new location in Boston. Recently, they won the Young Civic Leaders award for making a difference in their community. In addition, the members who have participated in the program have found it easier to get other jobs and go to school. The program helps youth develop work skills, get an education, and realize the importance of setting and achieving goals – all part of making a successful transition into adulthood.

This program receives funding through Child and Youth Violence Prevention grants from the DPH Child and Youth Prevention unit.

Mending a Village

 This is the second in a series of guest posts researched and written by five summer interns with the DPH Youth Violence Prevention Program. Their names are (l to r) Sanjay Raju, Lisandra Carranza, Amy Nwaobasi, Joseph Fox, and Imani Cosby.

We’ve all heard the saying that "it takes a village to raise a child" – but what happens when the village is in need? This is the story of a community organization in Springfield that faced just such a situation – and responded. They’re called AWAKE, Inc., which stands for Alive With Awareness, Knowledge and Empowerment. AWAKE is an organization that was founded with the purpose of reaching out to youth with the very message encapsulated in their name.   

Recently we visited Springfield for a chat with co-founder Chelan Brown and some of the young people who participate in the program. We wanted to find out what AWAKE is all about, why they’re needed, and the positive impact they’ve had on the community.

Founded in 2003 as a grassroots organization, AWAKE runs many community and youth development programs and has a mission to provide access to youth, community, and social services for youth and families in order to create a healthier, safer community for all.  AWAKE coordinates comprehensive youth development and family support programming that focuses on encouraging behavior change, coordinating intensive case management, mentoring, and leadership development for youth and families.  AWAKE is most known for our expertise in reaching and providing quality youth development services to highest and proven risk youth.  They work with youth ages 13-25, and their families.

AWAKE programs include:  Helping Young People Excel (HYPE), A Better Choice (ABC) High Risk Youth Intervention Program, Keepers Of the Peace (KOP) Street Outreach Program, Springfield Youth Network Youth Leadership Program, Springfield Trauma Response Network (STRN), and the Springfield Youth Corp.

 
Young people making a difference: the AWAKE Springfield Youth Corps 

Operating for the last few years without a great amount of funding, AWAKE is recognized in Springfield as experts in reaching proven risk youth and their families.  AWAKE has been so successful in this area because as the research shows, they hire outreach workers from the community who have a vested interest in saving the lives of local youth.  AWAKE’s outreach workers know the youth, and because AWAKE has been doing this work for the last eight years, they have built solid relationships with many street gangs, and youth who are most likely to be perpetrators or victims of serious violence, and their families. 

For Youth, By Youth: Community Transformation in Mission Hill

 This is the first in a series of guest posts researched and written by five summer interns with the DPH Youth Violence Prevention Program. Their names are (l to r) Sanjay Raju, Lisandra Carranza, Amy Nwaobasi, Joseph Fox, and Imani Cosby.

Have you ever taken a look at your community and wished for change? This is the story of some young people in one neighborhood of Boston who did just that – and then took positive steps to make that change happen.

Mission Hill is a small section of Boston with one of the largest youth and Latino populations in the city. The community faces challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and crime. What’s more, turf tensions have risen over the years contributing to youth violence and a divide in the community.

With all this happening, some young people in Mission Hill felt they needed to find a place to make their voices heard to help find solutions to problems in the community. 

Working in partnership with a number of community-based organizations, Sociedad Latina created the program Youth NOISE – also known as Youth Neighborhood Outreach for Inner Street Empowerment – a youth-led program to help reduce violence and promote youth development.

With the help of community partners ABCD Parker Hill/Fenway Neighborhood Service Center, Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (RTH), Phillips Brooks House, and Tobin Community Center, fifteen young people were hired and trained as peer leaders.

 

Youth NOISE Peer Leaders (l to r) Merismar Isabel, Hiram Colon, and Sadie Ramsey

At the program, activities such as Fusion Arts, Community Garden, and other youth events help get children of all ages involved. Fusion Arts features music, games, health information, and fitness activities. Community Garden lets youth grow their own fruits and vegetables as part of a “sugar-free summer” to promote a healthy community. The program also promotes a strategy called “Racial Healing” to help young people understand and appreciate differences in their community.

The program has helped the community improve in a lot of ways. There has been a decrease in violence and a better relationship between the youth and the police. Also, the program has helped to reduce turf tensions that were a problem a couple of years ago. As a result Mission Hill as a whole has since felt more united. The program serves as a safe place for the youth of Mission Hill. It’s a place where they can go to after school and during the summer time. However, they face the same challenges as so many other community-based organizations in these tough economic times. As a result, the program is not able to be advertised enough and is not capable of hiring a lot of peer leaders.

Youth NOISE encourages development, family involvement and social change. The program helps young people in the community to express their concerns, their interests, and their solutions.  Participants report that they feel a sense of personal growth, a more positive attitude, a stronger belief in their community, and the sense that with faith and perseverance they can make a change.

This program is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Youth Violence Prevention Program within the Child and Youth Prevention Unit.