This past summer, 2.6 million youth who wanted a job couldn't get one.
Today, many teens and young adults - particularly those from low-income communities - have a hard time finding employment. At 11.5 percent, our country's youth unemployment rate is more than twice the national general population average.
To help address the issue of job readiness for underserved youth, Gap Inc. created This Way Ahead in 2007. To date, more than 2,600 teens and young adults ages 16-24 years old have participated.
After a series of job training workshops, participants have the opportunity to earn a 10-week paid internship at Gap, Old Navy, or Banana Republic stores. Upon completing their internships, 75% of interns receive offers to become permanent employees. And This Way Ahead alumni stay employed twice as long and report higher engagement scores than their peers.
On September 10, at the National Opportunity Summit in New York, I had the honor of interviewing Darius Case, This Way Ahead alumnus (2015) and current sales associate at the Banana Republic Factory Store in Harlem.
Here are a few highlights from our conversation at #OppSummit:
(Bobbi Silten and Darius Case moments before they take the stage at the National Opportunity Summit in New York on September 10, 2016; photo credit: One Glass Video)
Q: You were 16 when you started the program. Why were you interested in getting a job?
A: I got tired of seeing my mom struggle all the time to meet my needs. I am the only child of a single mother. My mom is legally blind, so we survive on what she gets from SSI. I have a lot of resources in my family, which I'm grateful for - my godmother and my aunt help us. But, I had a pair of glasses for the longest time that didn't fit my face anymore. I wanted to be able to hold myself financially so that my mom could focus on paying the rent. Glasses that fit, a working phone - I wanted to be able to pay for things that make my life a little easier.
Q: What are some of the things you have learned through This Way Ahead that you didn't expect?
A: I really wasn't expecting the time management to be so strict. If you were one minute late to This Way Ahead job training at [Gap Inc.'s NYC-based nonprofit partner] The Door, you had to go home. Of course they warned us, but I'm a teenager. I'm used to being a little late and getting away with it. But This Way Ahead was not playing any games. The facilitator helped me realize that if I wasn't serious about my commitments, no one was going to take me seriously.
Q: How has this experience affected the relationships you have in your community?
A: It's been hard at times. Some of the kids I grew up with have given up on having big dreams. In the projects it can feel like there are limited opportunities to make money the right way.
My mom and my family are supportive. But, others have struggled with the changes they see in me. When I started saying I was working at Banana Republic on 125th Street or that I wanted to go to college, some of my friends accused me of thinking I was too good for them. I think that's why people like my manager Jamal had such a huge impact on me. He expects a lot from me when it comes to work and customer service, but he knows I'm young. He's there for me.
Q: What are you hoping to achieve?
A: I am working nights and weekends just to make ends meet right now. But, I look at my future and I think about what is coming my way. I'm going to go to college. I'm going to work in fashion and someday run my own business. I feel it and I want it. I want to help my family. I don't want to see my mom continue to struggle.
Q: What do you want your legacy to be?
A: A kid who makes it out of the projects. I love Harlem; I was born and raised there. It's part of me. But I live in one of the worst projects on the Westside. I just want to be one of the kids who makes it, the staple for my community. I want to encourage others to do the same. I hope somebody will think, "If Darius can do it, maybe I can too."
Q: How can we help?
A: We need more opportunities like This Way Ahead in the neighborhoods where we live. Young people need jobs just as much as adults do. I have co-workers who are paying the rent, paying the electricity bill, buying clothes for their families - and they are my age. So many of us are ready to work, and yet it's so hard to get hired at 16 years old.
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Darius is an inspiring young man and I'm glad he got to share his story. There are many other young people like him across the nation, looking for a path to fulfill their personal promise.
To help in this effort, I'm proud to share that Gap Inc. has pledged to put 10,000 teens and young adults through This Way Ahead by 2020 on our path to hiring 5 percent of our entry-level store employees from this program by 2025. Through this effort, thousands of youth from underserved communities will build valuable skills that will help them be better prepared for work and life.
Programs like This Way Ahead aren't just the right thing for businesses to do, they're the smart thing. And successful employees like Darius are the proof.