Young adults in need of educational or job-related assistance shouldn’t have to venture out of their neighborhood to receive it, said partners in a new Young Adult Opportunity Center that has popped up on West 12th Street in Little Rock.
The center, at 4317 W. 12th St., is a project of New Futures for Youth and the Bishop Leodies and Goldie Warren Community Development Center - a product of the Greater Christ Temple Pentecostal Church.
The Young Adult Opportunity Center will be open Mondays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will cater to people ages 18 to 30. Volunteers at the center hope to assist with whatever a person needs. Whether that is criminal or civil issues in court, a lack o fa high school diploma and job skills, or a spiritual need, the founders of the center said they want to steer participants in the program to a better life.
“I cannot talk to someone about the Lord if they are hungry, jobless, or if they don’t have food in the house for kids, or are about to get evicted. So we want to make sure they are taken care of physically first, make sure things in life are good, that they are going to school, getting a degree, going to their job, taking care of their family - then we can take care of them spiritually,” said Barry Jefferson, the center’s director.
Although faith-based groups are involved in running the center, those who go to the center won’t be required to attend the church or to be religious.
“A lot of people in this community are spiritually led; they are just having a tough time moving forward,” Jefferson said.
“We are not saying you have to join our church. We want you to help yourself first so you can move forward in life.”
The center’s location is key to its operation, said Ken Richardson, Ward 2 city director and director of program services at New Futures for Youth, a nonprofit that offers training for youth-intervention programs.
“Far too often we have so many gaps in support and services because they aren’t located in the community where they are most needed,” Richardson said.
“I think you can make the assumption that we need to have satellites like this in different parts of the community where you have the poorest outcomes educationally, socially and from a crime standpoint. It helps bridge the gaps in terms of support and services.”
A $25,000 grant from the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District helped the two groups prepare a house to be turned into the center. Greater Christ Temple Pentecostal Church donated the house. A house next door, also owned by the church, has been torn down, and volunteers are working to turn it into a community garden and amphitheater.
The center first opened March 31. A 21-year-old man walked by and asked about the center. He said he was having a lot of issues - he was homeless, had no transportation, was a ninth-grade dropout and couldn’t take care of his children.
“That is what we are here for,” Jefferson said. “We have to touch these young men,” and help them get what “they need to get to the goal they want to get to.
“What bothered me is, the young man, he wanted to be a good father to his children,” Jefferson said. “He just lacked the life skills of being a good father. He doesn’t have the support of his parents or other family. He’s on his own, going place to place, but he still has hope. I say if they still have a little bit of hope, we can help them move forward.”
The man became the first official participant at the center and has volunteered to help build the community garden next door. Richardson said it’s important that program participants get involved and take ownership of the center.
They have to become leaders and help guide the center’s development, specifically how it operates and what services it provides.
“Far too often we refer people to a place, and a lot of times they don’t have the skill set or knowledge or courage to follow up. Sometimes there’s too much bureaucracy or not enough smiling faces. The young adults will take ownership of this program and the house and everything going on over there, and we will really rely on their input,” Richardson said.
Mark Perry, executive director of New Futures for Youth, said a smiling, welcoming face is crucial to the success of the center.
The volunteers working with young adults who come in must be committed to being happy about their work and to helping whoever walks in, no matter what baggage they bring with them.
“The goal is to have a place that’s in the community that’s really focused on being a welcoming place and that is designed to be a place where especially young adults can make a plan for what they need to do next in their life and move along,” Perry said.
Eventually, the groups hope to extend the center’s hours, opening it on more days, and are brainstorming ways to gain operational funding.
Right now, everyone at the center is a volunteer from either the Community Development Center, the church or New Futures.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/07/2014