Employment Prog. Sends Foot Soldiers to Sweep Crown Heights
Just wanted to plug this awesome program, which is near and dear to me. We are currently working on bringing the project in full force to Crown Heights.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/11/29/2008-11-29_employment_program_sends_the_foot_soldie.html
Employment program sends the Foot Soldiers to sweep up Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights
BY JOYCE SHELBY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, November 29th 2008, 10:55 PM
Noonan for News
Ronald Polite, 17 and a student at Boys and Girl's High School, is a member of the Bed-Stuy Foot Soldiers.
Noonan for News
The Foot Soldiers are ready to come to your home three times a week to sweep up leaves, clean your front stoop and sidewalk, and set out the garbage the night before scheduled pickups.
Wanted: Fallen tree leaves, unswept front stoops, garbage bags that need to be set on the curb - and busy or elderly homeowners in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.
If you live in either neighborhood, a group of teens called the Foot Soldiers want to give you a heads up.
They're ready to come to your home three times a week to sweep up leaves, clean your front stoop and sidewalk, and set out the garbage the night before scheduled pickups.
Come winter, they'll remove snow. And in these tough economic times when more teens need employment, the Foot Soldiers are searching high and low for new customers.
The service started two years ago in Bed-Stuy. Now, the Foot Soldiers are marching to Crown Heights.
Linda Sutton-Jones, an art dealer who lives in a Crown Heights brownstone, was among the first to sign them up.
"I travel, but you still have to keep your place up because the city will fine you for everything under the sun," said Sutton-Jones.
The cleanup costs range from $3.99 to $6.99 per service day.
"But this is much more than an employment program for teens who need work," said Lori Walters, a Bed-Stuy homeowner who has used the Foot Soldiers for three years.
Foot Soldiers are sponsored by Project Re-Generation, a group founded in 2003 by Barnabas Shakur, who emigrated from Trinidad and grew up in Bed-Stuy. After a friend's trouble with the law landed him in a maximum-security prison, Shakur vowed to make a difference for other young people. He was only 21 himself at the time.
"A lot of youth programs weren't built for teens in my community," said Shakur, now 28. "Some have too much of a focus just on academics."
Shakur envisioned something with broader appeal. Project Re-Generation includes martial arts, community service, job training, financial advice, personal development and life-skills workshops.
About 100 teens are involved in programs annually. Those serving as Foot Soldiers receive stipends ranging from $85 to $200 every two weeks.
"We want to affect every aspect of the lives of our participants," Shakur said. "We want them to feel like they are part of a family."
The sense of family was important, Shakur said, because many kids turn to gangs to get a feeling of belonging.
"Gangs thrive in communities where economic structures and families are weak. The gangs provide fathers and mothers, and protection. They provide for members economically, but there is negativity."
Ronald Polite, 17, a senior at Boys and Girls High, has been a Foot Soldier for two years and has nothing but positive things to say.
"I don't like what I do," he said, "I love what I do. I'm helping keep my community clean; I've gained a family through PR-G's programs, and I'm putting money in my pocket. You can't beat that."
Ronald's mother, Brenda Donaldson, added, "Ronald is more mature and focused than ever, and I thank God for that. I know it has a lot to do with the men who run the program. I commend them."
For more information about Project Re-Generation, visit the Web site www.pr-g.org, or call (718) 684-1014.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/11/29/2008-11-29_employment_program_sends_the_foot_soldie.html
Employment program sends the Foot Soldiers to sweep up Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights
BY JOYCE SHELBY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, November 29th 2008, 10:55 PM
Noonan for News
Ronald Polite, 17 and a student at Boys and Girl's High School, is a member of the Bed-Stuy Foot Soldiers.
Noonan for News
The Foot Soldiers are ready to come to your home three times a week to sweep up leaves, clean your front stoop and sidewalk, and set out the garbage the night before scheduled pickups.
Wanted: Fallen tree leaves, unswept front stoops, garbage bags that need to be set on the curb - and busy or elderly homeowners in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.
If you live in either neighborhood, a group of teens called the Foot Soldiers want to give you a heads up.
They're ready to come to your home three times a week to sweep up leaves, clean your front stoop and sidewalk, and set out the garbage the night before scheduled pickups.
Come winter, they'll remove snow. And in these tough economic times when more teens need employment, the Foot Soldiers are searching high and low for new customers.
The service started two years ago in Bed-Stuy. Now, the Foot Soldiers are marching to Crown Heights.
Linda Sutton-Jones, an art dealer who lives in a Crown Heights brownstone, was among the first to sign them up.
"I travel, but you still have to keep your place up because the city will fine you for everything under the sun," said Sutton-Jones.
The cleanup costs range from $3.99 to $6.99 per service day.
"But this is much more than an employment program for teens who need work," said Lori Walters, a Bed-Stuy homeowner who has used the Foot Soldiers for three years.
Foot Soldiers are sponsored by Project Re-Generation, a group founded in 2003 by Barnabas Shakur, who emigrated from Trinidad and grew up in Bed-Stuy. After a friend's trouble with the law landed him in a maximum-security prison, Shakur vowed to make a difference for other young people. He was only 21 himself at the time.
"A lot of youth programs weren't built for teens in my community," said Shakur, now 28. "Some have too much of a focus just on academics."
Shakur envisioned something with broader appeal. Project Re-Generation includes martial arts, community service, job training, financial advice, personal development and life-skills workshops.
About 100 teens are involved in programs annually. Those serving as Foot Soldiers receive stipends ranging from $85 to $200 every two weeks.
"We want to affect every aspect of the lives of our participants," Shakur said. "We want them to feel like they are part of a family."
The sense of family was important, Shakur said, because many kids turn to gangs to get a feeling of belonging.
"Gangs thrive in communities where economic structures and families are weak. The gangs provide fathers and mothers, and protection. They provide for members economically, but there is negativity."
Ronald Polite, 17, a senior at Boys and Girls High, has been a Foot Soldier for two years and has nothing but positive things to say.
"I don't like what I do," he said, "I love what I do. I'm helping keep my community clean; I've gained a family through PR-G's programs, and I'm putting money in my pocket. You can't beat that."
Ronald's mother, Brenda Donaldson, added, "Ronald is more mature and focused than ever, and I thank God for that. I know it has a lot to do with the men who run the program. I commend them."
For more information about Project Re-Generation, visit the Web site www.pr-g.org, or call (718) 684-1014.
Comments
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www.????
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This sounds awesome. I hope that people take advantage of this service. Since I don't own, I can't utilize but if I did, I most certainly would.
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The website's www.pr-g.org.
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Wow, I love this program - great idea. Thanks for sharing!
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An internship on sweeping? Revolutionary! I'm not a fan. The idea of a volunteer service is dual- service for the community and training for the youth. This is a weak concept at best, offensive at worst. And yes, I design after school programs, write curriculum and have done nothing but work in the community so I don't want to hear the "you can't critique it because you aren't doing anything" argument. I ran an SYEP program once, and yeah we did some cleaning in the park, but we also designed and painted a mural, met with the block association and submitted a redesign of the park to the Parks Department which they took into consideration during the renovation.
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Hmm. The strengths of the program that excited me were the aspects of consistency, responsibility, community, etc as well as the pride that it seems to instill in current students. In addition, I could only assume that hard work in your community will have long-term benefits in terms of retention of the good kids instead of "brain-drain" to other areas, networking and relationship building within their own community that could last years, etc. I do see your point of view, though. I do think that the importance of many internships is not the skill you are practicing per se, but the wider skills, knowledge and relationships you build with yourself and others.
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good for them, 'bout time someone cleaned up those dumps!
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Alecorock wrote: An internship on sweeping? Revolutionary! I'm not a fan. The idea of a volunteer service is dual- service for the community and training for the youth. This is a weak concept at best, offensive at worst. And yes, I design after school programs, write curriculum and have done nothing but work in the community so I don't want to hear the "you can't critique it because you aren't doing anything" argument. I ran an SYEP program once, and yeah we did some cleaning in the park, but we also designed and painted a mural, met with the block association and submitted a redesign of the park to the Parks Department which they took into consideration during the renovation.
But its neither an internship or volunteer service. From the teens perspective its a job that also offers supportive services. I'd agree with you if it were marketed as either an internship or as volunteer service, but its selling point seems to be its an employment opportunity for a group that isn't necessarily driven scholastically to involve themselves in your traditional internship type of program. I don't think its a great program for every kid, but its teaching basic skills and providing kids with a way to earn money which I can't knock. -
remember, youth programs compete with OCFS jail. In other words, they may not offer what you aspire your child to accomplish ...but they may offer far more than where some youth are headed.
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I have to respectfully disagree with you Alecorock.
I fail to see how the concept is offensive or weak. PR-G is not just about "sweeping" it is about comprehensive youth development. Similar to SYEP, PR-G offers not only jobs, but also various workshops, including financial literacy, career development, and academic support (and at PR-G it happens all year round). Consider this:
While the rest of America is laying off people in the hundreds of thousands, PR-G is actively providing resume-building employment opportunities to one of the most underemployed and discredited demographics in America -- young urban teens. And while you spin the program as a mere "sweeping internship", I see it differently.
Foot Soldiers provides these young people, primarily hailing from Bed Stuy, East New York and Crown Heights, with a viable entree into the new green economy, among many other options. As we know, the green economy is slated to be at the corner stone of the country's economic revitalization. These kids stand at the front lines of this green revolution.
Not to mention, the students not only do the "hard labor", but once they demonstrate enough experience and responsibility, they work as supervisers, overseeing the training and operations of the newer Foot Soldiers and ensuring that homeowners receive a quality service.
In the end, we all start somewhere. My first job was working as a cashier at KMart. Ten years later, I went on to become a corporate attorney working at a big Manhattan law firm. And, believe me, KMart never gave me the money management, financial literacy, college prep or resume building skills and workshops that the PR-G students get...
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