When Valerie Nix asked youths attending a "Dress for Success for Less" session Friday whether it was OK to let their pants sag, she got the typical monotonous and hushed "Nooo" from the group.
But then she also got 12-year-old Jada Johnson's answer.
"They heard Madea," Jada said, before repeating a line from a scene of Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family.
"Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground. Looking like a fool with your pants on the ground."
The kids laughed, and so did Nix, who works at Goodwill Industries of Arkansas.
She's one of the industry volunteers who partnered with the city for a new summer training seminar series.
Friday was the first four-hour workshop in a four-week Career Crash Course for youths set up by Little Rock's Community Programs Department this summer. It's meant for people ages 15 through 21 and will take place every Friday through July 24 -- with the exception of this Friday in observance of the July 4 holiday -- at the Willie Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center at 3805 W. 12th St.
Each day's course will last from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., broken up into morning and afternoon sessions. Free lunches will be given to the first 50 people who arrive. The city hopes to attract at least 50 youths to participate each week. Two different groups of about 25 people each attended the sessions Friday.
The idea for the new city career training initiative came from two college interns in the city's Youth Summer Employment program. Topics will include money management, the importance of communication, time management and goals, interviews, resumes, and recommendations.
Dana Dossett, the city's Community Programs Department director, said the two interns were talking about the need for youths to get such training, and she suggested they put together classes.
"They took it from there and developed the full-blown version you now see -- all in eight days," Dossett said.
"I'm extremely proud of them, as it shows the types of things that can happen when students are given the opportunity to dream and achieve."
A person has to be 16 to qualify for the city's summer internship program, but the career training courses are open to those who are younger.
Dossett said that allows youths who are not yet old enough to work to get prepared for job interviews when they turn 16.
"A lot of students are unprepared to enter the real world, even after high school," said Shandrea Murphy, one of the interns who came up with the Career Crash Course program.
"Courses like these give them the chance to have a hands-on experience so they are better prepared for when they do go to work."
Vontia Mitchell, the other intern who helped start the courses, said employers are looking for people who have the basic skills needed to be a good, reliable employee.
"Hard skills can be taught on the job, especially because they differ depending on the specific work site.
But soft skills, like job conduct and the importance of communication, can be hard to come by because students receive a limited amount of exposure to these skills through a traditional school education," Mitchell said.
Friday's topics were job conduct -- an overall session titled "Watch What You Say to Me" -- and job attire, which was discussed in an afternoon session dubbed "No Flex Zone."
Demond Ross, 16 and a student at Hall High School, said he was interested in the tips on how to handle conflicts with a boss and appreciated the advice that's often not given to young employees, such as reminding them not to take too-long lunch breaks.
After the end of the session, Nix met with Ross and asked him if he had a job or if he was looking. He said he's put in about four applications in the past few days. She referred him to a weekly recruiting workshop in his neighborhood that might help with finding him summer employment.
Participants who attend all eight crash-course sessions will get a Little Rock Career Training Certificate, which can be included on their resumes.
And for those like Jada who have a few years before they hit working age, the courses can help them start thinking about where they would like to work and how they will act when they get there.
"I want to work somewhere with a good environment, where people are nice and stuff," Jada said.
Metro on 06/29/2015