Now in its seventh year, the Beloved Community Summer Jobs Program run by the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence is giving 95 inner-city teenagers a lot more than spending money.
The initiative provides 20 hours of work per week, as well as a day spent learning professional skills and life skills, as well as nonviolence training.
It’s not only a good alternative for the summer, but it gives participants the tools they will need as they get older to make the right choices. Teny Gross, the executive director of the institute, puts it in stark terms: “The summertime can be the difference between life and death.”
The institute has support from Aramark Education and the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, as well as the corporate community. Thirty-eight work sites across the city are going to be employing the teens. It is a commitment that should be celebrated and emulated.
The obstacles facing poor children are often overwhelming. The businesses involved in this program are actively working to knock down the barriers for them. Now that’s a meaningful summer job. •
