Chance for unity
Event aims to restore sense of community and opportunities to open up brighter futures
Job fair aims to halt violence, help young people.
Promoting job opportunities and just providing people with a chance to chat were on the agenda Saturday at a job fair put together in the face of the coronavirus pandemic that has curtailed the kind of person-to-person interaction many see as essential to combating violence and promoting bright futures for young people.
“It shut down all the personal contact,” Jerome Brown, director of Albany 518 SNUG, said about the last four months.
Takeam Bradley of Team Hittaz Boxing Club decided something had to be done to show opportunities existed for finding career pathways for the city’s youth. Bradley turned to Brown and they set to work. Opportunities for construction jobs, mentoring and vocational training were on display Saturday.
“We wanted to create a program. There are opportunities. There are good jobs out there,” Bradley said.
Albany SNUG and Team Hittaz Boxing Club teamed up and sponsored the nearly four-hour-long Outdoor Youth Job Fair and Informational Resources Event at Swinburne Park. About 200 to 300 people visited booths in the ice-skating arena or sat outside under the trees eating lunch and talking.
Luizzi Brothers, a paving and construction company, was at the job fair talking to candidates about opportunities to work at the firm.
Joe Miskewicz, a project manager for
Luizzi Brothers, said company owner Peter Luizzi jumped at the chance to support the job fair. Employees worked the booths, cooked food and took 10 applications, he said.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” Miskewicz said.
One of SNUG’S partners in developing career opportunities is SEAT (Social Enterprise and Training Center), Brown said. Samantha Adkisson, the Albany site manager for SEAT, said the organization works with young people ages 17 to 24 who have a high school diploma or GED to provide occupational training in the culinary arts or technical areas involving computer coding.
“They don’t know the opportunity is out there,” Adkisson said, regarding the program which also provides a stipend while people are trained.
Nicole Handron, a SNUG case manager, was at the job fair with the 15- and 16-yearolds in the Connecting Youth in Transition program that aids younger teens.
“We need this,” Handron said about demonstrating opportunities.
SNUG stands by those it helps, Brown said. One graduate, who asked not to be identified, said he had obtained a good-paying job through working with SNUG. He said he was laid off when the pandemic hit. He’s receiving unemployment that’s providing an income. SNUG is working with him again to find a new job.
The job fair took place as a 31-year-old man died from his wounds after being shot in the torso early Saturday morning in the city’s South End and an 18-year-old was wounded in a West Hills shooting early Saturday afternoon.
Brown said seeing those incidents drives home how the COVID-19 outbreak has made it difficult for SNUG to work out in the community to prevent shootings and other violence that in-person contact helps prevent. SNUG has continued turning to phone calls and video chats, but it’s not the same, Brown said. SNUG’S visits to hospitals to help families deal with the emotions from seeing loved ones seriously injured couldn’t take place during the pandemic lockdown, he said.
Albany 518 SNUG’S mission is to work with people involved with violence and at-risk youth in neighborhoods that are impacted by violence. SNUG aims to prevent violence by building relationships, helping at-risk youth make better decisions and to create safe neighborhoods.
The job fair was a step toward bringing the community back together to make people realize they’re not alone.
“We need to let them know we’re interested in youth,” Brown said. “They need to know they’re loved.”
The turn out was heartening for Bradley and Brown, especially as the program Saturday had been drawn together in just three weeks. They said they’re planning another job fair that will take place in about a month.