Seven teenagers and one big company are seeking to inspire each other — and the rest of the Salt Lake area.
In Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson's latest YouthCity initiative, Utah Power paired seven of its workers with seven Horizonte high school students. They're the first participants in a mentoring program that YouthCity organizers hope will spread, as other companies open themselves to young people testing career paths.
"Why are we doing this? Because it will make a difference. . . . I left school at 15, in a mining community back in Scotland. I wandered around for a few years. Then somebody took an interest in me," said Utah Power vice president Bill Landels. His mentor wasn't part of a formal program such as YouthCity. "But I'll never forget that person and what he did for me."
YouthCity's mentoring project is "truly a win-win situation," added Anderson. Mentors experience greater job satisfaction, students have insights into the real working world, and the city benefits from an energized populace.
The Horizonte seniors, who are 17 and 18, don't have the highest grade-point averages in town. They do have maturity and life skills, said Joanne Milner, Horizonte's community relations manager.
"One young man comes from a family of 15 children. He and his brothers established a landscaping business," Milner said. "Another young woman started a service club called Aztlan," named for the pre-Columbian promised land where people took care of one another.
"They are the most promising people of the future," Milner said.
Some of the teens are minorities who grew up in families of limited means, so Utah Power's mentoring program may open up career opportunities that would have been inaccessible.
Engineers, line workers, customer service specialists and other mentors will "encourage post-high school education," Utah Power spokeswoman Margaret Kesler said. "They are volunteering their time. The workers don't have lessened responsibilities. They will still be performing their regular duties." Students will shadow their mentors, experience workplace culture and learn how to write resumes and conduct themselves gracefully in job interviews.
Workers who opt to become mentors "get involved in an interesting community service project, without taking time off from their jobs," said Peter Smith, the YouthCity employment coordinator. He added that the Salt Lake mentoring project is similar to a Portland, Ore., youth initiative.
"Teenagers need to be given credit for their assets. They need to be given some direction, some self-responsibility," Smith said.
"Utah Power isn't afraid of the teenagers. They've embraced this program. And that's an important message to send," added YouthCity director Janet Wolf. She recently received another $150,000 in funding from the City Council for the whole YouthCity program, which includes a wide range of after-school activities at the Central City and Sorenson Multi-Cultural centers. That money will be added to a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, to be spent on further expansion of YouthCity over the next three years. The City Council has hesitated to allocate the mayor's recommended $3 million YouthCity endowment fund; amid debate over how to spend the last of this year's Olympic revenues, that idea has fallen off the council's priority list for now.
Wolf remains resolutely optimistic. Last Monday's YouthCity job fair brought together 189 teenagers and 11 employers, she said. From the moment she began talking about the employment program, "we had teenagers knocking on our door. They are so interested. This signals the real need that is out there." Her voice lifting with enthusiasm, Wolf added, "I am continually impressed by their energy, by their interest in engaging in the community."
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