By Jimmy Pierce, Founder and Executive Director, Kids Making It
OJJDP funding through the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission allows us to offer five different programs to youth residing in the Wilmington, NC, area. Participants in the Vocational and Entrepreneurial afterschool program, our core initiative, learn woodworking and receive long-term mentorship and vocational instruction. Items produced in the program are sold in our gift shop; this serves as an introduction to the free market system. Every month, our teens earn 100 percent of the profits from their product sales. With local gangs recruiting members from elementary schools in our area, we now offer Introductory Woodworking classes for preteens as a gang-intervention strategy. Participants learn to use hand tools and build a project for themselves. When they turn 13, they are invited to join the afterschool program.
We also offer an apprenticeship program for unemployed high school graduates who are not going to college. Teens receive paid training positions and complete larger production orders for the public. Through the program, youth learn to adhere to workplace standards such as punctuality, scheduling, and quality control. Products include engraved jewelry and ornaments that they market to gift shops on the east coast, as well as cutting boards, desk sets, pens, and custom-crafted signs.
For our Summer Jobs program, we partner with another local nonprofit to place older teens in paid summer jobs as an alternative to hanging out on the streets.
This month, Kids Making It is breaking ground on a 4,200-square-foot addition to house our new Skilled Trades program. We will introduce older teens to the basics of plumbing, electrical, masonry, construction carpentry, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. By partnering with local contractors, we will be able to place youth in paid apprenticeships as a pathway into the construction industry.
Since 1994, we have successfully served more than 4,500 youth. Our teens have a zero dropout rate and their involvement with the juvenile justice system is less than 2 percent. We attribute the success of our kids to the following factors:
Kids Making It is invested in the success of our teens and is committed to helping youth thrive in spite of their circumstances. Our unique, award-winning model for helping at-risk and court-involved youth works and can be replicated with success at any budget level.