So how can training youth in the areas business, entrepreneurship, and leadership help to bring reconciliation to an inner city community like South Atlanta? Listen to Dan and Q explain it...
We are very excited about this year's Inc. My Dream Young Boss Camp. However, we can't make this an unforgettable experience without your help.
Your tax-deductible donation will enable us to facilitate this effective entrepreneurship and life skills training. Your donation will also help us to continue our engagement with these students throughout the school year. To give just go to www.mykinsman.org/donate.
Watch this powerful message from Thomas Cotton, pastor of Redeemed Life Community Church in South Atlanta, about the benefit of partnering with our summer camp to offer business training for youth.
Click below to learn more about our free Inc. My Dream Young Boss Camp for middle and high school students! We have some excited new offerings this year. In addition to teaching them how to start businesses we will also provide more of an emphasis on STEM/STEAM topics. They will have a chance to interact with experts in the following career fields:
In the coming days we will be releasing a series of videos that will provide some different vantage points from those who live and serve in the South Atlanta community. We are excited to share their insights on what they believe is needed to help their neighborhoods prosper and to create better opportunities for the youth and young adults there; and how Kinsman is helping to empower them.
Click below to learn more about our free Inc. My Dream Young Boss Camp for middle and high school students! We have some excited new offerings this year. In addition to teaching them how to start businesses we will also provide more of an emphasis on STEM/STEAM topics. They will have a chance to interact with experts in the following career fields:
“To live outside of God’s will puts us in danger; to live in His will makes us dangerous.” ~ Erwin McManus from An Unstoppable Force Typically when someone is considered dangerous, it means they are likely to cause damage or danger to someone or something. In essence they are a threat to safety, order, and peace. As I think about it, I want to be an intentional threat, but not to safety, order, and peace. I want to be a threat to things that injure, defeat, oppress, and negatively impact lives, especially young people.
The world is full of people who play it safe. I don’t want to be one of them. I want to live my life on the edge. However, I’m not necessarily talking about “death-defying” activities, such as bungee jumping, skydiving, or wrestling wild animals (that’s for a different post). I’m talking about maximizing my full potential by utilizing my God-given abilities, talents, gifts, and resources to be a catalyst for life transformation. I have learned over time that being a life transformation catalyst means that I must be willing to smash the status quo, i.e. standards that people and society have accepted that shouldn’t be. I can’t strive for a life of ease and comfort. I have to take risks, stretch my faith, strategically apply my giftedness, and reach out to people that others have rejected. By living dangerously, I want to smash the status quo for youth and young adults in the areas of:
Why We Must Inspire Youth to Dream Again What if while you were growing up no one ever encouraged you to be someone great? What if you didn't have anyone close to you say that you could do something special? What if there was never anyone around to say that you could accomplish your dreams? If that were your experience it would probably be a pretty safe bet that you wouldn't expect much for yourself or your future. In fact, you might not even think that you have a future at all. Unfortunately, many youth feel like their lives are a lost cause and not even worth living or planning for. Why? One major reason is their hope has been lost. Hope is a very powerful concept. With a lot of it, we feel like we can conquer the world. Without it, we feel like that world has conquered us. That's why Solomon writes in Proverbs 13:12, "HOPE deferred makes the heart sick, but a DREAM fulfilled is a tree of life." Having hope is a really big deal. It's not just a good feeling. It's an essential element connected to the dreams God places in the hearts of every human being in our childhood. But if those dreams are not recognized or nurtured, people end up living out what Solomon expressed in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no prophetic VISION the people cast off restraint…" Much of what I see from our young people today is connected to the fact that they are hopeless, which causes them to reject and disregard moral boundaries. Many of them have experienced so much in such a short time of life, including violence, poverty, sexual abuse, bullying, exploitation, and so on. Without divine intervention their lives will either be cut short through self-destructive activities, or they will live long lives of repeated regrets, failures, and ultimately unfulfilled potential. A Powerful Alternative to Hopelessness That's why we're so excited about launching Club D.A.R.E., which stands for “Dreams Are Realized Everyday.” This is a youth development movement on a mission to inspire 1 million teens to “dream B.I.G. dreams and do B.I.G. things.” We expect these B.I.G. dreams to impact their families, friends, communities, and potentially the world. To make this happen, a core part of our strategy includes the development of:
As great as this sounds, we can't do it alone. We need your help to turn the dreams of 1 million teens into reality. You can give your tax-deductible donation at this link, which will help to fund these resources that will be launched very soon. We are in real danger of having a lost generation of young people who have given up on life. We can't let that happen. OUR future depends on their dreams.
Please partner with us today to impact our youth. To learn more about Club D.A.R.E. go to www.clubdare.org. The summer is over and most of the kids around the country are back in school now. Of course many of them who were able to get summer jobs used their money on new clothes, school supplies, and other things teenagers typically like to buy. Unfortunately, though, for many teenagers who are back in school, what used to be a common activity over the summer to earn income is becoming less common.
According to this article in Bloomberg Business, "at 41.3 percent, the July labor force participation rate of teens was the lowest for the month in the post-World War II period." The article goes on to say that what they believe are the three primary factors for this precipitous drop:
That also means we must be proactive in creating opportunities, such as entrepreneurship training, to equip our youth to learn these necessary skills. Why do you think teen employment is so low? What if anything can the church do about it? Read the entire article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-07/why-american-teens-aren-t-working-summer-jobs-anymore Recently I read an article online that focused on the challenges many African-American teens face in their own communities and how in the past it was taught that your education was the ticket to escape. The author was challenging that notion with some points that supported the premise that these teens should be taught how to change their communities rather thatnlook for the first chance to get out.
While I definitely agree with the overall theme in the article, one of the things that jumped out to me was the fact that this is not an issue just for African-American teens. We need to be teaching all young people across all cultures the importance of investing in the communities they grow up in while they are there. Here are five reasons why I believe we should teach all teens focus on impact in their communities versus escaping them:
Youth are often overlooked and undervalued as community development assets. However, they are in the perfect position to become positive change agents. If we can get them to see it in themselves, maybe we can turn more communities around. Read the full article, Teach black students they can change communities, here: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/jul/07/teach-black-students-change-communities-not-escape The new clothing line launched by Atlanta area high school seniors Jordan Williams and Brandon Iverson is called Young Moguls. However, this is by far not their first business venture. They started in business together when they were 10 years old selling toys. Click below to listen to hear the inspirational story of their journey and how they are empowering other teens to pursue their dreams also. You can read the original article posted online at WABE, Atlanta's NPR Station, here: http://wabe.org/post/atlanta-teen-entrepreneurs-working-be-young-moguls
Part Time, On-Call, & Full Time Positions A few months ago our team at Greater Works announced the launch of an initiative to provide employment training and job placement to ex-offenders, at-risk youth, and others in underresourced and underserved communities (see 30 Jobs and Counting). That's why I'm extremely excited we have developed a partnership with a company that is prepared to hire 500 people, giving us the chance to present this opportunity to the people we serve.
We are facilitating the hiring of on-call Banquet Servers, Hosts, Cooks & Bartenders to work in a challenging, but fun environment. We are working with a unique staffing company that specializes in the hospitality industry. We are looking for enthusiastic, hardworking individuals to join a great team to deliver on our promise of excellent customer service. *** This is NOT multi-level or network marketing *** For more information or to apply online today, please visit www.greater-works.com/job-app.html
If you only pay attention to mainstream media outlets, you will only get a distorted, narrow, and negative image of young people from urban communities. This powerful story of Taharka Bros. Ice Cream in Baltimore is a great example of young leaders from an urban community turning their passion and concern into positive action that will not only benefit themselves but others also. What excites me even more about this story is the entrepreneurial creativity, ingenuity, and perseverance they demonstrated to bring into reality their dream of impacting their community through ice cream. I hope this inspires you...
A DREAM PREFERRED - Directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing from Tribeca Film on Vimeo. The future of Taharka Brothers, purveyors of ice cream and social change, hinges on the success of a crowdfunding campaign. If successful, they will be able to grow their business by launching a “Food for Thought” ice cream truck, a literal vehicle for change. With a looming deadline, and what seems like an insurmountable goal: $28,000 in 29 days, Taharka Brothers takes to the streets to raise awareness, inspire, and turn out some supremely delicious ice cream – voted Best in Baltimore. |
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