{"id":37572,"date":"2023-07-13T21:47:32","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T02:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/?p=37572"},"modified":"2023-07-13T21:49:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T02:49:34","slug":"rochester-program-aims-to-keep-kids-off-the-streets-expose-them-to-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/volunteering\/rochester-program-aims-to-keep-kids-off-the-streets-expose-them-to-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Rochester program aims to keep kids off the streets, expose them to workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bekka Fifield News10NBC<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.whec.com\/top-news\/rochester-program-aims-to-keep-kids-off-the-streets-expose-them-to-workplace\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Summer of Opportunity Program prepares youth between the ages of 14 and 20 for employment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-eight organizations volunteered to have these kids placed as interns with them. The youths must be in school or in a high school equivalency program in order to participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamari Sanders is 16 years old and has been part of the Summer of Opportunity Program for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to join this program because there are a lot of youth members that are afraid to try new things like dancing, acting and all that. And for me to be an OG and show them what it\u2019s like and what it can be for them, it\u2019s like giving them an example of what they can do and it\u2019s extending their abilities in life,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is his second year with Mentors Inspiring Boys and Girls or MIBG \u2014 which is an artistic development program for kids from kindergarten through twelfth grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way they can bring everyone together. Instead of being outside doing nothing, they can be doing something or learning something instead of just sitting in the house and watching TV,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamari helps with everything from writing scripts and developing characters to working with the younger kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe take him everywhere, he\u2019s really intense about everything, he believes in what he\u2019s doing here, and again we\u2019re keeping him off the streets,\u201d said Tanisha Allen, the program director of MIBG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal is to encourage kids to spend their time in productive ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome don\u2019t have things to do. We bring the kids in, we give them something to do to keep them off the streets so they\u2019re not selling drugs, they\u2019re not stealing cars, they\u2019re not getting in trouble, they\u2019re not committing robberies. They\u2019re here, they\u2019re having fun, they\u2019re meeting new people,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen says she wants to continue having interns like Jamari through the program as long as she can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then it\u2019s a learning experience for them as well. We\u2019re teaching them, \u2018hey you\u2019re here, you have these responsibilities and this is what it is, just remember that this is a job,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 250 kids are participating in Rochester\u2019s Summer of Opportunity Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications for this year are closed, but you can start applying in February for next year here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Summer of Opportunity Program prepares youth between the ages of 14 and 20 for employment. <\/p>\n

Twenty-eight organizations volunteered to have these kids placed as interns with them. The youths must be in school or in a high school equivalency program in order to participate.<\/p>\n

Jamari Sanders is 16 years old and has been part of the Summer of Opportunity Program for three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mibandg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}