Summer was a busy time at Riis Settlement. In addition to our many summer camps, we also operated Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEP) at our Queensbridge and Ravenswood Community Center sites and a Learn & Earn program at Riis Academy-InfoTech. Both the SYEP and the Learn & Earn program provide young people with paid work experience and help them gain valuable workplace skills and early exposure to career pathways. Between both programs, we served 302 youth this summer.
While many of our participants were placed in work sites across the city, many chose to gain their work experience at Riis Settlement. Three of our Learn & Earn youth, Jahleel Jean-Louis, Noah Harvey and Yestin Pierret, were placed in our Immigrant Services department where they worked alongside our community organizer, Ian Gray-Stack, assisting him in his efforts to engage and mobilize residents around issues of pressing concern, such as housing repairs, immigration services fraud, food access, and public safety.
We asked the youth about their backgrounds, future career aspirations and what they learned from their internship experience. Here’s what they had to say!
“My name is Jahleel Jean Louis and I was born in Haiti. I aspire to be an entrepreneur and run my own business one day. During this internship, I’ve learned a lot. I facilitated a meeting for the first time in my life, planned workshops, and met with leaders in the community. I’ve learned how to network and build relationships with people.”
“My Name is Noah Harvey and I’ve been living in Ravenswood Houses for most of my life. My mother is Dominican and Haitian, and my father is Italian and Irish. My future goal is to either become a photographer or have some sort of job that involves cars. I’m heading to college in the fall, and I’ll be majoring in multimedia programming and design.
Working alongside Ian, we have gathered the attention of residents, non-profits and churches, and we’re planning to use this attention to further our cause. We want to organize an event in which the end result leads to changes in food access, NYCHA repairs, and higher awareness of immigration fraud, among other things. An important lesson I’ve learned so far is that power isn’t just raw strength, literally or figuratively. It’s about how much control you have over a situation and how many people you have on your side.”
“My name is Yestin Pierret, and I live in Brooklyn. My mom is from the Dominican Republic and my dad is French. I will be attending Baruch College after I finish high school this year. I would like to explore the realm of business and own a fashion company one day.
With Ian’s guidance, we conducted a survey of the community, explored many cultures through visits to different churches, and worked on essential people skills. I’ve learned about communication skills and power analysis but more importantly how to unite a community to start taking action.”
Here are the youth in action:
Our community organizer, Ian, truly enjoyed working with his SYEP participants. “It has been such a gift to mentor Jahleel, Noah, and Yestin. There is a Japanese expression that says, ‘To teach is to learn.’ Not only do I believe that the skills of community organizing will benefit them in their lives no matter what professions they end up in, but I have also learned so much from each of them in the ways they brought their own experiences to bear on this important work and the questions they raised. Overall, I feel our work this summer has been strengthened by their efforts and look forward to seeing what they do next.”
