Teens Put To Work Serving West Hills

Two dozen ​“youth ambassadors” in neon green ​“Elm City Communities believes” T‑shirts are becoming familiar faces in West Hills as they clean up streets and serve their neighbors.

Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) President Karen DuBois-Walton joined forces with West Hills Alder Honda Smith at the start of this month to form the group under the Resident Services Youth Volunteer Program (RSYVP).

The youth of the RSYVP were celebrated on Friday by the program leaders at the McConaughy Terrace Community Room.

RSYVP was formed to address recent concerns about youth’s access to positive community engagement opportunities, particularly amidst both Covid-19 and the city’s uptick of violence.

Smith and DuBois-Walton worked together to keep the youth busy for the remaining summer months while many of the city’s typical summer camps open and work opportunities were canceled due to the pandemic.

DuBois-Walton reached out to Smith because of her connection with the residents of West Hills in Ward 30. They wanted to make sure the participating youth have a safe and exciting summer.

During the planning process, DuBois-Walton asked Smith: ​“If I provide you a group of young people and I pay them, do you have some work for them to do?”

Smith already had a design for the program, including a long list of daily work tasks for the kids. Smith had organized similar programs in the past, albeit in smaller doses.

HANH Resident Services Coordinator Johanna Davis looked into census information to pinpoint where to find West Hills youth at the start of planning. Davis reached out to parents asking if their kids would be interested, then went door-to-door to meet the kids and get them signed up.

The teens began working on Aug. 3. Projects have included cutting the lawns of seniors and residents with disabilities, cleaning the streets, distributing the community newsletter, cleaning up yards and bike paths and debris from Hurricane Isaias, and distributing food boxes to neighbors. 

For most of the group, this is their first job experience. The group is currently at 22 youth volunteers.

The youth are receiving a stipend of $100 for every four hours of work while working one to two days a week. HANH Director of Community Economic Development (CED) Latoya McCrea distributed checks out to the youth at the event.

Fourteen-to-18-year-olds living at McConaughy Terrace and the Valley Townhouses are accepted into the program.

This coming Thursday the group will serve meals to homeless neighbors around New Haven. In the coming week, they will also clean up and reclaim Hilltop Park, which Smith said has been forgotten about for 20 years.

DuBois-Walton offered Smith a possible task for the youth to liven up the empty garden boxes outside the McConaughy Terrace Community Room. 

Each task comes with a lesson for the youth. Lessons so far have been about safety, respecting the neighborhood, learning city ordinances to inform their neighbors, and the impact of littering.

At the end of most workdays, the group has often stuck around long after completing their task asking for more work Smith said.

The program also offers a mentoring component for the youth to let them know that ​“they are worth more than they expect and others expect them to be,” Smith said.

Rev. Shelly Holiness and D’Hati Burgess are among the mentors enlisted so far, working with the kids once a week for two-hour classes.

“I believe that if you live in a city that is clean, that it speaks volumes about the residents,” said Holiness.

“Oftentimes our young people hear what they can’t do, and I would like to reinstall in them what they have the capability and power to do,” Burgess said.

In the group’s most recent mentoring lesson, Burgess had each youth share a short and long-term goal they have. In the coming week, the students will make specific plans with Burgess to work towards achieving their goals.

Iyana Torres, 14, heard about the program from her friends. Torres says she plans to use her stipend money to go out with friends and help her mom out.

“My mom woke me up one day and told me to get some money,” said New Haven Academy student Joshua Vazquez, 13. ​“I would just be in the house bored if I wasn’t here.” When Burgess asked his goals, Joshua told him he hopes to own his own construction business.

Christian Vazquez, 14, said he hopes to attend Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and get more of his high school work done this school year.

Hillhouse student Jaylin Martinez, 14, hopes to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for football one day.

Cross junior Kenny Flowers, 17 said he hopes to focus more on his grades, ​“make it out the hood” and to age 21.

Torres plans to attend Yale University to be a doctor or nurse.

Burgess said he is interested in planning monthly trips for the youth when it is safe to do so.

DuBois-Walton and her team hope to bring the program to other family developments around the city in the future.

Full video below: