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ASPIRA Emboldens Community, Participants |
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By Andrew Monaghan It's summertime in Hunting Park. School is out. Hundreds of young adults have spilled out to the sun-soaked streets, homes and playgrounds of this once affluent neighborhood. ASPIRA,
a Latino empowerment organization based out of Hunting Park (56.8 percent Latino, according to the 2000 Census), is working hard with local
businesses to mak ASPIRA was founded in 1969 by a group of community leaders who, according to the Web site at www.aspirapa.org, saw education as the most effective means to combat "the socio-economic ills that afflict the Puerto Rican community." One of the "socio-economic ills" currently afflicting Hunting Park is a lack of households run by both parents.
Kids dance at ASPIRA "Single women run 47 percent of the households of Hunting Park," said Juan Gutierrez, the manager of the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises (HACE). "These women work two or three jobs, and they can barely make ends meet." Gutierrez added, "This frees these kids to get involved with things that take a negative effect on their lives." A shortage in parental supervision is not the only factor contributing to the way children spend their time away from school. Philadelphia's Department of Recreation is also affecting the summer vacations of Hunting Park teenagers. The City of Philadelphia might not provide the same recreational services that it has in summers past. According to the Philadelphia Weekly, Mayor John Street is attempting to balance the city budget by trimming $227 million from the city's expenses. The newspaper also states that city recreation funding is a target for these budget cuts, "Pools and recreation centers will close, city playgrounds may be sold.cultural arts funding was virtually decimated by the mayor's proposal," the newspaper said. Because of these cuts, ASPIRA's Summer Youth Career Exploration Program (SYECP) could become much more important in the lives of Hunting Park teens. Since 1983, SYECP has taken a pragmatic approach to improve the future of local adolescents. This program offers summer employment in the private sector of Philadelphia's economy. High school students are given the opportunity to work in the banking, legal, retail and medical professions. "Every year, usually at the end of April or early May, we start the application process," said program director Nancy Rosado."By the end of the application process, we have 150 high school students, and 15 college monitors." Eligible students include high school sophomores, juniors and seniors. The students list their top three areas of interest on their applications. ASPIRA does its best to match the students with these interests. ASPIRA enlists the help of Philadelphia Youth Network to fund SYECP. "We handle the application process, program moderation and counseling," said program director Nancy Rosado, "Philadelphia Youth Network pays the wages." The students earn the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Although this wage seems meager, it means much more to the students than a paycheck at the end of each week. The employment gives them business experience, and urges them to plan for an education after high school. "A lot of these students haven't had working experience," said ASPIRA's financial director Orlando Rendon. "This ties into them not knowing what they want to do after their high school years. We try to push post-secondary education. That is our main goal. That is why we are here." Rendon is an example of this program's positive impact on Latino youth. He went through the program as a student as well as a college monitor. He then moved on to Temple University's Fox Business School.
"When I was a college monitor, I supervised kids who were working at Corestates Bank (now Wachovia Bank)," said Renton. "Banking was what I was interested in. Now look at me, I am the financial director at ASPIRA." Miguel Concepcion, ASPIRA's leadership coordinator, was also a student in the program. He feels that his experience with SYECP was very useful. Orlando Renton at his ASPIRA office "It gave me the opportunity to make money and do something I thought I was interested in," said Concepcion, who initially worked in a bank. "I realized I did not want to continue down that path." Luckily, ASPIRA had contacts in other private fields. ASPIRA helped Concepcion get hired at Banks, Banks and Wiseman, a Philadelphia law firm. Here, he answered phone calls and filed legal documents. The positive experience at this firm led to Concepcion being hired at Felschers and Associates, another law firm in Philadelphia. At Felscher and Associates, Concepcion was able to build lasting relationships with professionals in the legal field. "I still have a relationship with the last lawyer I worked for," he said. "He is my mentor." One of the recurring themes of ASPIRA and its Summer Youth Career Exploration Program is "giving back to the community." For the people who went through SYECP, it is also about giving back to the program. Orlando Rendon and Miguel Concepcion are prime examples of this notion. They both went through SYECP, and are now holding key positions at ASPIRA and working with students. Not all students who pass through the program are current employees of ASPIRA, but they come back during their college years to mentor high school students in SYECP. "I would say that about 90% of the college monitors are former students," said Nancy Rosado. The businesses that participate in the program also give students an opportunity for employment year after year. "The pool of companies we use is very consistent," said Rosado, "We have used to same private businesses for the past 10 or 15 years." This stability gives ASPIRA the support it needs to accomplish the goals of the program. In the words of Orlando Rendon, "We just hope that our support helps to make each student a mature young person." |
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sure these young adults will have an opportunity to spend their
summer vacations in a productive way.
