Poet, educator, and inspirational speaker Carole "Imani" Parker blogs about her former students at the P&W–supported Jobs for Youth Apprenticeship Program (JFYAP) at Medgar Evers College, a job readiness program she once directed.
In addition to classroom instructions, JFYAP students were engaged in exciting educational and recreational activities, such as college tours, United Nations forums, job shadowing, peer counseling, community service activities, entrepreneurial training, job readiness and life skills training, and, most importantly, P&W-supported poetry readings and workshops and participating in P&W's annual intergenerational poetry showcase.
Because of their participation in JFYAP, many of the students have graduated from post secondary colleges or apprenticeship training programs and have entered successful careers as health care providers, teachers, social workers, accountants, production assistants, entertainers, etc.
JFYAP students have benefited and grown as a result of all of the training they've received. They have received a well-rounded education, complete with P&W-supported poetry workshops.
Photo: Carole Imani Parker.
Support for Readings/Workshops in New York City is provided, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs, with additional support from the Louis & Anne Abrons Foundation, the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the A.K. Starr Charitable Trust, and Friends of Poets & Writers.