In 1997 Andrew McKnight & I started the Challenge Program to provide training opportunities for at-risk youth in the Wilmington vicinity. Most of these young people have been adjudicated and/or have no high school diploma. You can check out our wesite here.
The News Journal ran a nice piece on our work with the Children’s Museum, which is just opening and is located on the Wilmington Riverfront in the old Kahunaville spot. My thanks to Challenge Program Board member, Jackie Ivy, for helping make the connection to the Children’s Museum as well as my thanks to the Children’s Museum for working with us. It was a fun project.
From the article:
Five months in the making, the roughly 600-square-foot Eco House is one of the most impressive and interactive attractions. Kids can pretend to make organic meals in a kitchen with plastic vegetables picked from a garden or pretend they are raindrops on a water collection slide.
But the most fascinating aspect of this exhibit is something less obvious: the handiwork of the Delaware Challenge Program, a nonprofit that provides on-the-job training in construction for at-risk 18-to-24-year-olds who are out of work.
Some info in the article about the young people working on the project:
The benefits of building a house in a museum are many, said T.J. Harris, 21. “I can show off my work a little bit. Tell people to come over and check it out.”
Ashley Jones, a tough-but-sweet 21-year-old Elsmere resident, spent the last month painting, framing rooms and hanging drywall. Jones hopes green construction skills will help as she makes her way through probation.
It is virtually impossible for a low income person in Wilmington to start a small business because of all the rules and regulations to be followed to get a permit. Wilmington’s office vacancy rate is near 40% and the Mayor has stated that he is going to raise taxes despite the published 13.1% unemployment rate. The Challenge Program is one of the few ways for any of these young people to develop skills and opportunities for their future while getting paid.
Bravo Charlie!!
Hmmmm, skills being taught to at-risk kids with no certified teachers, no workshops on reaching at-risk youth and no Jesse Jackson demanding more taxpayer money?
Are you sure the kids learned something???
The Mayor wll soon see the city lose even more people as those who can get out do so.
Now if he cut taxes, really cut spending and allowed entrepreneurs to flourish the city would come back to life.
But he won’t and the corporate capital of America will continue it’s drift into being a permanent ward of the state and we will continue to subsidize it.
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