Posted by dominguez on July 13, 2007 8:33 AM to Career News and Resources
Career News and Resources: Summer Camp Teaching Youth Skills to Succeed at Business
By Michaela Duckett
Special from the Charlotte Post
CHARLOTTE (NNPA) -- A summer camp is teaching teens to be the boss instead of working for one.
Laila Minott, co-owner of S&L Consultants, is working with teens in the X-Treme Teen Summer Camp at St. Paul's Ray of Hope Recreation Center offering workshops to help teens identify career paths and entrepreneurial interests.
Minott said media images misguide youth into believing their business and professional opportunities are limited. "The reality is that 90 percent of what you see on TV and in videos is not true, but that's what they see and are aspiring to be," she said.
Minott said part of the problem is that many kids do not have local role models to look up to. "Blacks do not own a lot of the [businesses] in our communities, and our kids don't see that as an option," she said. A study published by BlackEnterprise.com said that black children are more likely to have aspirations of owning businesses, but many do not pursue their dreams because they don't think it is possible. It doesn't reflect what they see around them.
"They see [Hip Hop celebrities] with money that own businesses, and that's their inspiration," Minott said. "They don't see it locally at the grocery store, the gas station or the supermarket. They get misguided, and the child may set unattainable goals."
Minott and her partner Shawn Smalls conduct workshops and camps for youth and adults along the East Coast promoting financial empowerment through ownership.
Eunice Jones of Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation, who is coordinating the seven-week camp, said she believes youth need an alternative to getting into trouble.
"Too many teens are out there living in the street and we wanted to do something for them. We wanted to provide them with a positive environment. Hopefully we can reach at least one of them," she said.
The camp provides the youth with a realistic view of what it is they want to do. "Some of them aspire to be rappers," said Jones. "After we give them more information they realize they won't make the money they think they will, and realize they have to go beyond that to get to where they want to be."
It also changes their perspective by helping them to see who really makes the money. Many kids aspire to be professional athletes. Jones said they are surprised to find out they can make billions owning a team, as opposed to millions playing for one.
Minott said encouraging ownership in young people is key to African American economic development.
"Our community is not economically empowered in the inner city. Without financial empowerment, we basically have no say. We want to teach youth to change that," said Minott. "We are empowering the community from the inside by going to the kids. We want to give them choices."
The camp and workshops go beyond money, but help the kids to identify their interests and strengths and determine some realistic goals for their futures. They introduce the kids to various business opportunities they can pursue from everything from being a barber to a writer, a fashion designer, a dancer, doctor, lawyer or accountant.
Minott said she not only teaches the youth, but learns a lot from them. One important lesson learned is that, "Our work is never done."
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