Business mentor program helps high schoolers learn practical job skills

Teenagers in the capital region can get valuable work experience and learn important money management skills through the youth training programs of Common Wealth Development in Madison.

The nonprofit organization aims to improve the social and economic status of underprivileged children.

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Participants in the youth-business mentoring program, now in its 14th year, learn how to succeed in the work force. And, upon graduation, they are paired with businesses that want to guide novice employees through their first jobs. The program, open to those ages 14 to 16 in the attendance areas of Madison's East and La Follette high schools, includes a three-week pre-employment workshop.

Otis Harris Jr., 18, entered the program in 2002. Today, he works part time at Wisconsin Physicians Service and plans to attend Madison Area Technical Collage. He will study information technology security and said his participation in the program has made a bright professional future possible.

"Being in that atmosphere, Common Wealth Development pulled out from us what was in us to be encouraged, to believe in ourselves as well as in things we were taught," Harris said. "It was a very motivational program."

The program, Harris said, gave him an edge in the job market.

"The central theme of our programming is empowerment," said Tariq Pasha, youth programs coordinator at Common Wealth Development. "Trying to give young people opportunities to educate themselves now, they will learn the skills they need to succeed in the future."

Program graduates also have the opportunity to participate in a financial literacy program called "Earn Save" in which participants learn the importance of saving and investing. Money that a participant invests in "Earn Save" is matched dollar-for-dollar up to $500, Pasha said.

"They can save for some kind of asset that they will receive after about two years," Pasha said. "So they can save for things like college or computers or art supplies � anything that they can use to invest back into themselves."

Participants in the youth-business program learn from volunteer business professionals how to conduct themselves at work. They learn how to make a good impression with prospective employers and how to qualify for the jobs they seek.

Lisa Lathrop, owner of the Wisconsin Cheesecakery, which makes specialty cheesecakes, has worked as a youth mentor for a number of years. She said the skills that young people learn make them attractive job candidates for any employer. "The program helps them to be prepared, to know how to behave and how to dress and so forth from when they first go in to get a job application through the interview process," Lathrop said. "The eighth-graders I've worked with do better in an interview than a 40-year-old person. They are so well-prepared."

Summit Credit Union works with the program by providing entry-level jobs for those who have an interest in working at a financial institution. "They really get a taste for what it's like to work in a professional environment and to work with customers," said Ann Raschein, a human resources generalist at Summit. "I think it prepares them for real-world jobs."