Summer Jobs Program - "Jobs for Kids"

"Turning a Bad Situation into Something Good."

The Summer Jobs for Youth Program started as a vision by Rev. Henry L. Masters, Sr. after an unfortunate incident involving an at-risk youth.

During a prayer breakfast, the youth had assisted the staff in their preparations, but later stole the money collected and fled the premises. This troubled young man had been seeking help and was being mentored by one of our associate pastors.

This unfortunate event was a sure sign of the desperation many of our youth face. The recent economic slump has put a strain on our city and state funds that previously provided jobs and services to youth. This led Reverend Masters to create an outreach program to help youth in the community find gainful employment for the summer.

The program was successfully launched in the summer of 2003 and was totally financed by the congregation of Holman United Methodist Church. The culturally diverse group of participants included African-American and Hispanic youth from surrounding communities and foster care environments. Since then, Holman has provided wages; meaningful work experiences and job readiness training for nearly 150 deserving youth aged 14-18. We call them Holman Ambassadors. In 2005, to meet the challenge of an increasing demand for services, the program is being sponsored by Holman UMC and administered under our non-profit 501(C)(3) organization, Holman Community Development Corporation (HCDC).

If you would like to refer a youth or be a program partner, please contact us at: hcdc@holmanumc.com, (323) 731-0140 (O), or (323) 731-2609 (Fax). Please make donations payable to HCDC, 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Ste. 201, L.A., CA 90018.

A special thank you to our contributors for helping us to raise $55,000 to put 35 youth to work in Summer 2006!