Career skills give teens head start

“Help Wanted.” Everyone sees the words on almost every marquee when you drive on Westwood Boulevard. A couple of pages over in the classifieds it’s the same story.

Employers are begging for help — and in some cases can’t operate at pre-pandemic hours due to the lack of finding quality, reliable staff. Some make the assumption that there are people in Poplar Bluff that just don’t want or need to work, but the numbers tell a different story.

Let me try to explain.

Most parents in Poplar Bluff work. From 2014 to 2018, the average labor force participation rate for Poplar Bluff was 80%, 14% higher than the state’s average (64%), while the unemployment rate for all of Butler County in July of this year was at 3.5%. Translation: those help-wanted signs aren’t coming down anytime soon. The numbers show that in reality there are not a huge number of available people to fill the numerous vacant positions.

That is where the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Heartland identified a need and an opportunity.

For years, our kindergarten and elementary sites (grades 1-6) have remained full with incredibly high levels of daily attendance. Most parents, like myself, mandate to their children they are too young to take care of themselves at home until the end of the work day. In the past, our attendance decreased drastically when our members started junior high and fell off the table when they went to senior high. We know that adolescent crime spikes in the hours from 3–6 p.m. — and not to mention Butler County’s teen pregnancy rate is 40.73 births per 1,000 girls, far exceeding the state average of 26.17.

Our answer to entice teens to keep coming to Club? The Junior Staff Program.

It’s been our experience that teens love money! Money to buy cool clothes and maybe something to drive! We can help them meet that goal. BGCH members start as early as the seventh grade as they begin a path that leads them to become certified Jr. Staff. Over the next few years, our kids learn how to fill out a job application, how to dress, and also practice the interview process. Employers tell us that the current generation lacks the soft skills needed — how to speak and communicate effectively, and knowing that arriving at work 15 minutes early is actually being on time.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Heartland members also complete the Money Matters program sponsored by US Bank. Tomorrow’s employees learn how a checking and savings account works, how to make a budget and how to manage money. When an employer receives an application from a certified Jr. Staff member, they can be confident that they have a reliable, confident applicant. Club kids are currently working part-time in every segment of the workforce and as we increase our attendance, we hope to supply more. We want our kids to keep their membership in the Club so we may continue to monitor their grades, attendance and behaviors to stay on track for college or career plans.

Our goal is to become the teen employment hub of Butler County. To reach this goal, we recruited John Dunivan as our Director of Workforce Development who establishes opportunities for certified Jr. Staff throughout the area. I encourage everyone that would like to rely on a Boys & Girls Club of Heartland member to contact John at 573-776-1690 or email john@bgcpb.org.

Chris Rushin in the chief executive officer of Boys and Girls Club of the Heartland, which currently serves Poplar Bluff and Neelyville school districts. Both are also served by the College Kids Program, as are students of the Doniphan School District.