Youth-at-risk benefit from Groundwork program

The Brian Coyle Center youth program in Cedar-Riverside sends youth to streets to clean sidewalks and create safer spaces for the community. 

____________________
By Atra Mohamed / The Hubbard School

Cedar-Riverside youth are getting their hands dirty this summer as they revive the community gardens and sidewalks. 

Groundwork is a program where young people in the Cedar-Riverside community help solve problems such as cleaning up sidewalks, creating vegetable gardens and safety walks in the neighborhood.

Jennifer Weber, the Groundwork program coordinator known as Coach Weber around the community, is a senior staff member who runs multiple programs, including soccer, basketball, track, after-school programs and, now, the Groundwork program at Brian Coyle Community Center.  

“The name Groundwork speaks to the fact we are both working ourselves from the ground up and also working on the ground to better our community,” Weber said.

Groundwork is a collaboration between the Brian Coyle Center, West Bank Business Association and Emerge Community Development.

KJ Starr, director of the West Bank Business Association, said the origins of Groundwork started five years ago when she hired youth and unhoused people in the neighborhood to do safety walks, pick up trash and maintain the neighborhood's safety in general.

This year, Starr partnered with the Brian Coyle Center and Emerge Community Development to broaden the reach of the program. 

Emerge workforce is responsible for youth job placement, the Brian Coyle Center is responsible for the physical work and skills teaching aspects of the program and the West Bank Business Association is responsible for the fundraising part, Starr said. 

“Each one brings funding and expertise to help youth gain practical skills and employment,” Starr said.

Youth movement

The needs of youth drive much of Groundwork’s direction, Weber said.

Prior to Groundwork’s formation, Weber asked some of the kids she coached which area in their neighborhood they didn’t like and why. They pointed out a bus stop shelter where they boarded and embarked on the school bus every morning and afternoon.

“I drove by that bus stop every day, but I never noticed what was happening,” Weber said.

Weber went to see the bus stop herself, along with other similar sites, and saw unhoused people using it for shelter. That’s when Starr, Weber and Stovall decided to hire more youth to do landscaping and clean up the neighborhood.

“The places were filled with trash, needles and tin foils for smoking substances,” Weber said.

Since the start of the program, the group has worked on eight different sites, including landscaping, planting, gardening and a low wall where elderly people can sit and hang out, Weber said.

One of the sites was a garden where people grew food, but became unusable when too many unhoused people camped in the area. Groundwork put new soil in the garden beds, making them ready for planting. 

Clover Mills, an AmeriCorps employee now stationed at Emerge Community Development, said the group plans to complete more areas in the neighborhood before Labor Day. Some of the most thrilling moments in her job, she said, are the transformations in the neighborhood and the appreciation from the community.

“Stepping out of my comfort zone and working with people from different cultures was a particularly great learning experience for me,” Mills said.

Starr, whose West Bank Business Association advocates for businesses in the neighborhood, said Groundwork creates a safe place where the community can live and shop.

“We have a lot of programs, but Groundwork is the most important one because it involves the lives of families and children,” Starr said.

A community lifeline

Alan Stovall, manager at Emerge Community Development, said the mission of Groundwork is to prevent illegal drug use among youth by employing the life skills they need.

“Our program is centered around youth who are at risk or could become at risk when they spend idle time.” Stovall said.

Hodan Yusuf, one of the youth in the Groundwork program, said she learned valuable skills in caring for her community by landscaping and cleaning sidewalks. 

Yusuf has struggled with addiction which also led her to homelessness. She got treatment and she is now sober. She works two jobs, purchased her first car and expects to get her own apartment soon.

After learning landcare at the Groundwork program, Yusuf said she plans to start her own landscaping business. 

“I got my first landscaping client this week,” Yusuf said, beaming with excitement.

Nesteho Abdi, a mother of two teenagers in the Groundwork program, said the program is real-life training for her teens. She enjoys watching them get up for work early in the morning and make their own money.

“I dislike when they are inactive, but now I have this program that keeps them occupied,” Abdi said.