G.O.D.’s WorkWell Youth End the Summer as More Confident and Competent Individuals

G.O.D.’s WorkWell Provided Youth with the Opportunity to Gain Confidence and Develop Professional Skills in the Workplace

WorkWell is a youth work experience program, that partners with OpportunityNOW, for high schoolers that provides on-the-job work experience and training so that they can become confident and skilled leaders in the workplace. In order to achieve this mission, we created several goals for the program, and we successfully advanced those goals. Read below the goals we had as a program, and hear youth explain how WorkWell helped them in that area.

WorkWell youth learned how to work together to brainstorm, plan, and prep activities for a local summer camp.

Cultivate Unified Workplace Teams Through Emphasis on Relationship Building and Team Building Activities

Our program emphasizes teaching youth how to peacefully interact with one another at work by requiring them to work as teams. They were guided in this effort by our experienced staff, from college-student mentors to professionals with over 20 years of experience in the workplace.

In their words:

1. “I learned how to better communicate with people depending on their role on the worksite, whether they are my boss, my manager, a fellow employee, etc…” - Jr. Counselor, 14

2. “I am thankful for the experience this program gave me in how to work well with my co-workers” - Jr Farm Hand, 16

3. “This program has prepared me to be ready to work beside and with coworkers.” - Jr. Counselor, 14

4. “It has helped me to improve my team communication, planning and organizing, and to have more initiative.” - Jr Facilitator, 15

5. “I learned that even minor disagreements should be worked out. Conflict can be small but still needs attention.” - Jr Media Producer, 14

WorkWell’s Peer Leaders (Red shirt) learned how to provide daily on-the-job training as well as weekly individuated evaluations.

Provide Individuated Professional Development Plans for Youth

Youth receive weekly one-on-one evaluations to direct them in their individual development and to show them how much they can grow in just a week. Below is some of the feedback we received from the youth regarding these evaluations and how they benefited from these weekly times.

1. “The feedback evaluations that we did helped teach me how to receive feedback humbly” - Jr Counselor, 16

2. “I feel more comfortable receiving negative feedback” - Jr Media Producer, 15

3. “Receiving feedback on how to do better from my supervisor was my favorite part” - Jr Facilitator, 15

4. “At the start I was not vocal and didn’t share my opinion. After getting some correction on this I was much more vocal by the end of WorkWell” - Jr Facilitator, 14

Provide Community Service Opportunities for Youth

Workwell employees built a Pest Control Fence for a Nashville farm and also constructed a chicken coop by the end of their summer.

WorkWell offers meaningful jobs that help youth give back to our community. Through their work youth did important community service: caring for children, growing and harvesting organic food for those in need, and restoring neighborhoods. When asked what most impacted them this summer many said it was getting to be involved in this service based work giving back to their community:

1. “Getting to work with kids and learn what they need” - Jr Facilitator, 16

2. “How to keep kids engaged” - Jr Counselor, 14

3. “How to make a safe pathway for people walking around their neighborhood” - Jr Landscaper, 16

4. “Growing food for people!” - Jr Farm Hand, 14

Provide Professional Skills Training for Youth

Youth attend a one-hour soft-skills training each day. They are expected to apply what they learn in these trainings to their work. We taught lessons on perseverance when doing difficult work; how to reserve judgment for those in leadership; methods to resolve conflict by identifying shared goals; how to receive critical feedback in a way that allows growth; adaptability; and ways to take initiative and problem solve, project plan, and so much more!

Youth practiced public speaking during a professional skills training. They learned how to effectively deliver their message and consider the audience.

1. “I got much better at public speaking!” - Jr Counselor, 15

2. “I became a much better problem solver” - Jr Facilitator, 16

3. “I learned to be flexible” - Jr Counselor, 14

4. “The first two weeks where we had to prep and plan projects, I learned a lot of helpful things I can take into my next job.” - Jr Facilitator, 16

5. “Learning to complete challenging/hard tasks and communicating with others” - Jr Farm Hand, 14

6. “All of the soft skills” - Jr Farm Hand, 14

One youth said, “It wasn’t just one experience but the entire program has prepared me for my future!” and another said, “Everything was awesome!” 100% said they felt like our staff genuinely cared about them and that they want to come back next year! We can’t wait for them to return as well!

Each summer we grow in numbers of youth and staff. Even with such growth, our young people testify to the care they receive as an individual and our staff witnesses how each young person grows in just 7 weeks. One college mentor said, “I was most impacted by how much I saw my youth learn and grow in just one summer.” Our youth employees have walked away from summer 2021 better equipped to successfully navigate the workplace and with a staff of people to support and guide them as they walk their individual paths into the future.