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Foster Great Futures is a logical undertaking by Great Explorations, The Children’s Museum. The museum makes a special effort to serve at-risk youth. Of its 150,000 guests a year, the museum offers free services to more than 30,000 kids, including free annual passes for at-risk youth and free group visits and presentations at local community centers and agencies that service at-risk and foster children. In the past, the museum has contacted child service agencies to recruit and mentor underserved youth to serve as volunteers for education programs and operations. Launched in 2005, the Youth Apprentice program served a total of 789 children in the past year, nearly all of whom came from low-income families and 66 percent of them, African American. As part of Foster Great Futures, the current 50 youth apprentices now will expand to 115 apprentices who will spend about 12 hours a month at the museum, attending leadership training classes, developing exhibits, helping with educational programs, such as summer camp and working in the gift shop. Some of the youth apprenticeships receive college scholarships.
Foster Great Futures is the brainchild of David Penn, the museum’s executive director, who vowed years ago to help young people in foster care. Early in his career, Penn was working as a human resources director at a Marriott Hotel in Rhode Island when a young man in a crisp, white shirt came into the hotel, looking for a job. The young man was holding a plastic bag, and Penn asked him about the bag’s contents. The young man replied that it contained his life’s belongings because he had just been released from foster care. Penn asked his boss if Marriott could hire the young man on the spot – and they did. The young man had told Penn that when prospective parents would come to the foster homes to look for children to adopt, they simply stopped looking at the older kids. “He said he felt like a puppy in a dog pound,” Penn said. That young man made a lasting impression on Penn, and from that day on, he vowed to work on youth programs that help kids in foster care. Penn himself knows what it’s like to be the kid on the margins. Born in Providence, R.I., he spent his early years in a public housing project. His parents divorced when he was a year old, and his mom struggled to support four kids. Penn was a latchkey kid, as his mom sometimes didn’t get home from work until late at night. He was a good student but shy until he became involved in Junior Achievement at age 13. IT&T business execs mentored him, and gradually, he overcame his shyness as he sold handcrafted candle holders and candy jars. “Being a kid who struggled, I got really interested in helping other kids,” he says. Penn’s mission to improve the lives of kids in foster care is more than just a professional goal. He only wanted to marry someone who was completely supportive of adopting children from foster care. He and his wife adopted their daughter, today 12, when she was 3. They adopted their boys three years ago when the pair was 5 and 9. Through the Youth Apprentice and Foster Great Futures, Penn says he has seen big gains in kids’ confidence and public speaking skills. Those new skills paid off when the museum asked the kids to devise a fundraising activity. The museum gave 15 apprenticeships $20 each, and the kids bought pumpkins at a local grocery store, painted and sold them. They doubled the original $300.
William Johnson, now 19, is one of those kids who has blossomed at Great Explorations. He began working there at age 16 when he and his mom were living at Resurrection House, which helps families get back on their feet after being homeless. “My goal was not to get a summer job at a fast food restaurant or grocery store,” he chuckles. The head of Resurrection House hooked him up with Great Explorations, and Johnson spent the summer as a presenter who did shows for guests and kept the museum tidy. That was several years ago and Johnson, now a student at St. Petersburg College, hasn’t left Great Explorations. He became a Young Apprentice, keeping an eye on the young patrons and giving them direction. He’s also been involved in constructing exhibits – including his favorite: a tree house with two redwood trunks. Along the way, he’s improved his people skills and customer service skills as he’s interacted with guests. “This is a great job,” he says. “I’ve had my ups and downs in life, but this job has helped me become the person I am today.” By July 2008, Great Explorations, The Children’s Museum’s goal is to be “Led by Youth…for Youth” with young people being given a chance to work in every aspect of the museum. At least 15 paid positions will be for youth to direct more of the museum’s programming. The 15 youth staffers will come from Foster Great Futures – and two will have full voting privileges on the museum’s board. In fact, the goal is that kids will outnumber the 14 paid adult staff members. “This children’s museum will be led by children for children,” says Penn. To contact Penn, his email is dpenn@greatex.org. |
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