DES MOINES, Iowa — Before Anai Kur started working at Fred's Bike Shop in Des Moines, he didn't know how to ride a bike, let alone work on them. Now he is a key member of the small but mighty team.
He's a quick learner, but finding a job without a car wasn't easy.
"I was looking for a job for around two years ... a lot of times I wouldn't have a ride there so I had to quit," Kur said.
It's not just mechanical skills he is learning at Fred's.
"Creative problem solving, right?" Owner Brad Overholser said. "I try not to stand over his shoulder and explain everything to him in super detail."
That's the goal of the Youth Summer Employment Program: partner low-income youth with reputable employers in the metro, giving them opportunities they might not get elsewhere.
"If Anai doesn't do any more bike mechanic work for the rest of his life, at least we've taught him some skills that we can use," Overholser said.
This 10-week jobs program aims to address issues low-income youth traditionally face:
- Lack of soft and hard skills needed for success
- Lack of regularly employed role models at home
- Lack of knowledge about careers or career pathways
- How to linking education achievement to career aspirations.
This is all at no monetary cost to these employers.
"The program pays his salary and then I do the rest," Overholser said. "He comes in, we find something for him to do every day, try to get him to work on the bikes as much as possible."
Bank of America, Bankers Trust, Iowa Workforce Development and the United Way offer grants to the Oakridge Neighborhood to pay these new employees between eight and 12 dollars an hour.
The program gives students like Kur a chance at getting a hand up with tools he will use well after this job ends
"I've learned a lot about myself," he said.
Participating businesses include:
- Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL)
- Business Publications Corporation, Inc.
- DART
- Children & Family Urban Movement (CFUM)
- Des Moines Parks & Rec
- Eat Greater Des Moines, GDLI
- Gursha, Good Vibes Movement
- Grubb YMCA
- Hilaal Grocery Store
- Homes for My Peeps
- Innovative Counseling & Consulting, Inc.
- Iowa Coalition for Collective Change
- Iowa Cubs
- Iowa Public Health Association
- Star Bar
- Unity Point Health
- Urban City Magazine
- Urbandale Community Action Network
- Wilkie House
- Youth Justice
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