Coatesville Youth Initiative completes first summer ServiceCorp

Coatesville teens combine community pride, work, and service
By Kristin E. Holmes Inquirer Staff Writer (8-12-10)

Floyd Sarnor wants people to stop talking trash about his home town.
He's from Coatesville and proud of it.

To emphasize the point, the ninth grader at Coatesville Area Intermediate High School spent his summer helping to transform a former parsonage into a brightly colored, tech-equipped education center.

Coatesville, said the 14-year-old, is not "all about violence."

Sarnor is one of 30 teens who spent their summer working in the Coatesville Youth Initiative ServiceCorps, an employment program that aims to be more than a way to keep youngsters off the streets. It is an effort to combine work, community service, and training into a program for young people who could make a difference in Coatesville's future.

"We're doing this to expose them to people and experiences they wouldn't have been exposed to," said Chaya A. Scott, director of the initiative. "We want to open up their minds."

The eight-week program, conducted for the first time this summer, ends Thursday night with a ceremony at the Inn at Chester Springs in Exton.

On Mondays through Thursdays, the teens, ages 14 to 17, have worked at nine locations in the area, including an archery-target manufacturer, an apartment building, a library, a day camp, and a YMCA. They were paid $7.50 an hour.

On Fridays, they gathered in a classroom for training sessions on subjects as wide-ranging as leadership skills, job interviews, financial budgeting, and nutrition.

"This is an opportunity for them to view themselves differently, to increase the likelihood that they will see themselves as leaders in a broader community," said Frances M. Sheehan, president and chief executive officer of the Brandywine Health Foundation, which sponsors the youth initiative.

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WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Learn more about the Brandywine Health Foundation and the Coatesville Youth Initiative in our featured DVG Giving Story, Forging Community Partnerships in Chester County.