A search for a job as a teen or young adult can be difficult, but organizations like the Peekskill Youth Bureau can offer a guiding hand.
Thanks to the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), two youths were hired to work on the “Emerald Princess,” the RMS Cruises vessel that calls Peekskill home and tours the Hudson River.
In addition to being paid above minimum wage and earning tips, the new employees are learning the mechanics of how a boat works and are gaining “sea hours” should they want to pursue a captain’s or first mate’s license.
A third youth, Sarah-Michelle Soto, a recent college graduate and assistant teacher at a daycare, was hired to work as a server on the cruise in May. In her case, she learned about the opportunity not from the Youth Bureau but from a Parks & Recreation counselor at the summer camp where she previously worked.
The serving experience is one she said has given her more confidence. “I just feel like I’ve grown up, I’ve gained a lot of maturity,” Soto told the Peekskill Herald. “A lot of people, even at work, tell me that. I’m only 21, and they’re telling me, ‘Wow, you carry yourself so well.’ And I truly believe it’s because of this job.”
The Youth Bureau’s summer youth employment program, now closed for registration, provides young adults aged 14 to 20 with public speaking exercises, resume and cover letter prep, and interviewing techniques to succeed in today’s job market.
Other such programs by the bureau include the youth mentoring program named Grandpas United and Project Elevate, which assists students in graduating high school and/or obtaining a Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC).
Tuesday McDonald, executive director of the Peekskill Youth Bureau, told the Herald that although Project Elevate is targeted to those in high school (aged 14 to 20), they will still help guide youth beyond high school.
“Do you want to go into the military? Do you want to have your own business? Do you want to work? Do you want to go to college? We’re still going to help you,” McDonald said. “We don’t stop just because the grant says high school.”
Peekskill Youth Bureau: Face-to-Face with Youth
It isn’t all business at the Peekskill Youth Bureau, which provides an afterschool space at its headquarters on Main Street.
Youth are provided with food and snacks, homework help, board games, movies to watch, woodworking opportunities, a kitchen to learn how to cook, and a variety of programs. One student, Nicolas Abraham, said kids at the space draw, play chess, and just talk and hang out in general.
“I feel like if you wanted to hang out somewhere after school, I think this would be the best place,” Abraham said.
Matthew Benson, a recreation assistant who has worked with the bureau for a year, told the Herald it was important for youth to have an environment with face-to-face interactions where adults can be present and show they care.
“Youth need a place where they feel comfortable and safe to be able to do the things that they want to do, but also a place that allows them to explore their interests outside of school,” Benson said. “A lot of the time, everything is so structured in those kinds of environments that they don’t have a chance to explore who they are, the things that they want to do.”
The Youth Bureau has four staff in total: McDonald and Benson, as well as Devon Mincey and Darryl Francis.
Francis, a senior youth advocate who has worked with the bureau since 2001, has had kids call him dad or uncle, then grown up and invite him to their weddings and children’s birthday parties. He compared himself to a bus driver who helps young passengers get to their destinations and ensures they have the tools to navigate life.
“If somehow you get tripped up during your navigation system, the bus is always going to be a safe place for you to come back,” Francis said. “And I will open the door and put you on the bus, let you cry, let you kick the seat, let you do what you got to do. I’m going to drive the bus until we get to the next destination, and I’ll let you back off the bus with a new set of tools or refurbished tools from what you already have.”
Peekskill Youth Bureau: Funding
Those looking to enter the Youth Bureau’s headquarters at 828 Main Street will find the front steps in disrepair. The front entrance has been closed since the bureau moved its headquarters there about a decade ago, said Francis. Youth enter through a door on the side by the parking lot.
One resident, Martin McDonald, husband of Tuesday McDonald, drew attention to the steps at a Common Council meeting on June 9.
“You have kids that can’t go in the front door for years,” Martin said. “Is there any plan to get the steps finally repaired and fixed so that the kids can go in the front door as opposed to having to go in the back door?”
City Manager Matthew Alexander said then the city was successful in getting the go-ahead from the state to start the planning of $295,000 of building services they can get for the building to put down a new design for the center. He said he would not want to start with the steps but rather the core of the building. The estimated timeline to get up and running was about two years.
“It’s not just the front of the building. It’s the facade, the accessibility throughout the building, the efficiency upstairs,” Alexander said. “I would want to… fix all access to all the bathrooms and make sure that the building is accessible throughout and efficient.”
The Peekskill Common Council accepted a multi-year capital plan by the city on June 23 that includes $5,500,000 for Youth Bureau renovations and $555,000 for the center’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).
Francis said he would like if the city earmarked some money for the Youth Bureau, which he said operates on grants, in the event grants are cut.
“If grants get cut, funding gets cut, programming gets cut,” Francis said. “Then it’s also a gamble when we gotta put in these [requests for proposals] and go for these grants. It’s not guaranteed that we’re going to get the grants.”
Leesther Brown, a resident who called for the Youth Bureau to get more funding on May 27, told the Herald that there needed to be more programs that stick to kids in the face of what she described as pockets of gang activity in the city, as well as a bullet component recently being found in a school.
“I just think that we need to do more,” Brown said. “We need to have programs for conflict resolution. We need to have training for these young men, construction. Our young men don’t know how to cut grass — that’s ridiculous — because they’ve lived on concrete all their life.”
McDonald said if she had a wish list, it would be for more staff to assist with students. She noted four college students were hired through different grants but only for seven weeks in the summertime.
But the bureau has had success through collaboration with multiple partners, McDonald said, including local electeds, the White Plains Youth Bureau, the Black Diamonds, and the Peekskill City School District, who has a Hass’ Way out-of-school suspension program held at the bureau center.
“I do respect the budget,” McDonald said. “I’m no different, every department needs something. And every department at one time or another has to find a way with the constraints to still operate.”
Note: As of this writing, the Peekskill Youth Bureau did not provide the number of kids participating in programs for this year or demographics information.
