By Virginia Lascara
virginia.lascara@insidebiz.com
The Up Center Books warehouse receives boxes of books each week from donors across Hampton Roads. The books vary from encyclopedias to textbooks to children’s books and novels.
They are sold in the bookstore located in the front of the warehouse, on Amazon and on EBay.
Without a team of 24 workers tirelessly sorting through the books, they could sit for weeks in the warehouse on West 25th Street in Norfolk.
The job might not sound glamorous, but for most, it will change their lives. The 24 workers are first-time juvenile offenders hoping to make a fresh start.
In the summer of 2013, Up Center Books won a grant of nearly $1 million to fund its Face Forward Juvenile Diversion Work Readiness Program, a program designed to reduce recidivism among first-time juvenile offenders and train them with skills necessary to succeed.
The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, serves Norfolk juvenile offenders ages 16 to 24 from low income families living in high-crime, high-poverty neighborhoods. Their probation officers refer them into the 14-week program.
The grant, slated to serve 125 juvenile offenders, will fund the program through spring 2016, said Tanyika Carter, program director at Up Center Books, which is the work readiness and transitional jobs program of The Up Center, a Norfolk-based nonprofit that has been providing human services for more than 130 years.
Face Forward, which began in January, is now in its third session.
Participants, or trainees, work Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. with an additional 90 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for education, mentoring and community service.
Salaries for the five Face Forward employees as well as trainee wages and the cost of facilities and supplies are all covered by the grant.
Participants earn minimum wage working for Up Center Books. Trainees who have a high school diploma or GED earn slightly more than those who don’t, Carter said,
“It’s meant to teach them that if they have more education, then they’re going to make more money,” she said.
Face Forward is a first job for many of the trainees. At work they learn the online and brick-and-mortar book-selling process, as well as social graces, communication skills and good personal habits.
“We want to teach the participants the soft skills that will be needed no matter what type of job they get,” Carter said. “We try to teach them that everyone has to answer to someone, whether it’s your boss, co-workers or clients. No one is autonomous.”
Each Tuesday afternoon an educational session is held with guest speakers. The Department of Health teaches about safe sex and healthy relationships. Colleges including ECPI, Tidewater Community College and Norfolk State University visit to explain majors and career paths.
“They don’t have family members that went to college,” Carter said of the trainees. “It’s hard to dream about something if you’ve never seen it.”
Face Forward incorporates interest assessments and career information into the educational sessions. It helps with job searches for the older participants, Carter said, and everyone receives assistance with resumes, cover letters and interview skills. Forklift certification and ServSafe food preparation safety courses are offered for those interested.
Participants can earn their GED, receiving help from a GED tutor. And Face Forward case workers help those eligible to re-enroll in high school.
The nonprofit has partnered with an instructor to offer a restaurant management course for those looking to enter the restaurant industry.
On Wednesday afternoon, community leaders visit for mentoring sessions. After the 14-week session, mentors continue to work with their mentees for an additional nine months.
“This helps us ensure that they have a positive role model in their lives,” Carter said.
Greg Ridley, owner of Norfolk-based Ridley Construction Group, has mentored at Face Forward for nearly five months. This is his second cycle.
“I’m mentoring them, just like older gentlemen mentored me,” Ridley said.
He grew up in Lamberts Point and graduated from Norfolk State with a degree in construction management. “I always envisioned this for myself as a child,” he said, about where he is today. “I tell them that sometimes you don’t understand how you’re going to get there, but you just need to put yourself on the right path where the probability of success is greater than that of failure.”
Ridley, who says he had a rough upbringing, tells mentees the choices they make will stick with them.
“I tell them to be cognizant of their choices and the people they surround themselves with,” he said. “They have to have a big-picture outlook on life. You might have had a poor childhood or a father that wasn’t around much, but you can’t use that as a crutch.
“I try not to be overly judgmental. As much as I don’t want to look at it this way, some people end up a product of their environment. But I tell them that their environment shouldn’t dictate who they are as a person. I try to teach them that appearance matters; how they speak and how they dress matters.”
Other business owners, retired military vets and entrepreneurs help mentor each Wednesday. The program is always looking for more mentors.
Another vital component to Face Forward is community service. To graduate, the program requires 20 hours of community service during its 14 weeks. Half is completed as a group and half must be completed on personal time.
Every Thursday afternoon the group does community service together.
“We go to the foodbank and Union Mission and we want to go to a senior living facility to deliver care packages,” Carter said. “We try to visit a diverse selection of places and we’re always on the prowl for new opportunities.”
Darfeis Williams, a graduate of Up Center Book’s Responsible Fatherhood program, is now assistant supervisor for Face Forward. His goal is to supervise the participants while being a good influence.
“I give the kids back what was given to me in the Responsible Fatherhood program,” he said. “I don’t want them to have employment barriers.”
The Responsible Fatherhood program, Carter said, has had more than an 80 percent job placement rate.
“A lot of these kids don’t have family or a loving environment,” Williams said about Face Forward participants. “They get in trouble because they just do what they know to do. They don’t have anyone to teach them.”
One 16-year-old trainee said she volunteered for Face Forward after her probation officer told her about the program.
“I didn’t have anything to do,” she said. “I didn’t have a lot of friends outside of Face Forward. I thought it would be a good opportunity.”
Four weeks into the program she earned her GED and now aspires to become a pediatrician.
“It’s a second-chance program that a lot of other teenagers should want to be in,” she said.