New Haven Independent

Instead of hanging out with nothing to do, the kids had spent the summer with councilors from the Thompson Street Youth Coalition, a day-camp founded by two high school students, Jayvaughn “J.J.” Harris and Caprice Taylor. The pair held a wrap-up session for the program in City Hall Tuesday.

Harris, now a senior at Metropolitan Business School, said he got the idea to start the camp last spring after noticing that most of the kids in his neighborhood were going to spend the summer hanging out in the streets. He nixed his original plan - which was to host a block party on his street - and decided on a summer camp.

“The idea came about in the Spring,” he said. “I talked with Caprice about how there wasn’t enough to do for the kids. I decided to do a block party, then thought that a summer camp would be a better idea.”

J.J. and Caprice started a letter-writing campaign to drum up funds for the project, appealing to local businesses and wealthy members of the community. Donations started coming in, and soon enough, the high school entrepreneurs had reached their goal: a $5,000 operating budget.

Throughout the summer, J.J. and Caprice worked long hours leading activities and bringing kids on field trips. Over the course of the summer, they visited the Maritime Aquarium, the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Smiles Entertainment Center in Milford. J.J. and Caprice were each paid a salary of about $1,500 through City Hall’s Youth @ Work program.

At Tuesday’s end-of-summer ceremony, kids gave statements highlighting their favorite activities (Smiles won nearly unanimous approval), showed slides from various field trips, and put on a sassy dance performance to the Lil Mama jam, “Lip Gloss.”

After the performance, J.J. said he hoped to continue with the summer camp next year. He was also raising money to start new after-school programs in the fall, including $5 tutoring sessions and sports activities for grade-schoolers. But without the buzz effect of a brand new initiative, he said, fund-raising would be more of a challenge.

“Last time, it was something new and fresh—high school kids starting a youth program,” he said. “This time, we’re actually going to have to compete for funds with other businesses and write grants.”

Given the cost of paying salaries for full-time workers, he would rely on high school volunteers to get the after-school program up and running.

“Volunteers will make the organization soar,” he said.