A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : Making a Difference : One Organization’s Approach: ‘Develop Teens as People First’ : With at least one in four teenagers unemployed in central Los Angeles, a YMCA program fights bleak prospects with a program that builds personal skills.

Many businesses and public agencies rushed to give jobs to teens from areas hardest hit by the Los Angeles riots, but the Stuart M. Ketchum Downtown YMCA took another approach. Building on existing activities, the downtown “Y” designed a program to provide teens with both job opportunities and the attitudes, self-confidence, and skills to help them hold onto new jobs and succeed down the road.

“Our point of departure is always people--understanding people and giving them the kind of experience they need, meeting them where they are,” explains Robert A. Wilkins, associate executive director of community programs. “Work and the desire to work and be productive is an inherent function of being a human being, but the inability of so many inner--city kids to work has to do with the fact that they have not been developed as people first.”

The four-part Teen Leadership, Employment Assistance and Development (Teen LEAD) program grows from the YMCA’s broad mission of “healthy body, mind and spirit.” Specifically, it promotes physical fitness and social development that prepare teens for work experiences. Those who complete the six-month program become eligible for job referrals with participating corporations, service organizations and public agencies. Teens also put together resumes and receive letters of introduction and recommendations to prospective employers.

Wilkins expects at least 100 teen-agers a year to go through the program.

Goals of Teen LEAD:

Develop teens’ job readiness/marketability and leadership skills.

Help teens to build a positive body-image, self-esteem and self-confidence. Teach health and fitness fundamentals.

Impart communication and social skills to strengthen relationships at home, school and in the community.

Encourage teens to examine personal ethics and develop problem-solving and decision-making skills regarding personal and social issues.

Motivate teens to contribute time to their community.

Provide public recognition and reward--ceremonies, small prizes, field trips and praise--for successful completion of program components.

Program Methods:

LEVEL ONE: “Teens who want to LEAD”

--”Your Body, Your Self” classes develop strength, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness, supplemented by instruction in good nutrition, grooming, health, first aid and safety.

--Develop communication and social skills through “Building Bridges” weekly workshops. Includes films, skits, field trips and group discussions on topics like cultural identity and diversity, race relations and bias, conflict identification and resolution.

Explore personal and social ethics in “Make Up Your Mind” weekly workshops discussing issues including dating, sexual relationships, alcohol and drug abuse, peer pressure and gang-banging.

LEVEL TWO: “Teens Taking the LEAD”

Continue Level One activities, plus:

--Volunteer eight hours to a community agency or organization through “Y Students Helping Other People” (Y-Shop).

LEVEL THREE: “Teens in the LEAD”

--Expand Y-Shop participation to 12 hours of volunteer service.

--Attend “More than a Job” job-readiness seminar. Talk about work attitudes, workplace etiquette, labor market trends and career opportunities.

Participate in an advanced “Building Bridges” or “Make Up Your Mind” workshop series.

LEVEL FOUR: “YMCA Teen LEADer”

--Complete a YMCA internship as coach, counselor or tutor in YMCA Youth Sport League one season, or as group assistant and leader for “Your Body, Your Self” or senior citizen fitness program.

Results:

Thirty-two participants in the Teen LEAD program last year were placed in summer jobs. Forty additional jobs are already slated to be available for participants in 1993.

Oscar Naranjo, 21, a program participant six years ago who is today a student at El Camino College, says: “I was the first teen involved in the program. I’m on staff now as a community program assistant. It changed the way I was thinking. I used to think graduating high school was it--that was the glory. Now it’s college and getting that degree. You’ve got to get the degree.

“It helped me emotionally. It’s opened up my mind to choices and helped me economically. I’m one of them now: I have a job and I’m going to school. I could not have made it without the Y. You can’t measure how big it is.”