Summer employment program youth take important lessons with them, leave community improvements

As FreshMinistries' Summer Youth Employment participants finish up their jobs, they take with them new insights into responsibility, financial prowess and community appreciation. But the physical remains of their summer employment are evident, too.

For starters, the Eastside neighborhood is 27 bags of trash cleaner. The summer program's youth got together with the Accelerated Welding Training program's participants -- smiles and all -- and made a big difference in the look of their community. But there's also a more permanent testament to their hard work.

At the Jacksonville Children's Commission office on A. Phillip Randolph Blvd., some of the youth have created a mural, highlighting the community's leaders of its past.

"This was a dream when we moved to the East Jacksonville campus," said Linda Lanier, executive director and CEO of Jacksonville Children's Commission. "This area has so much history -- we knew we needed a vehicle to tell the story of leaders in the community."

Youth from FreshMinistries' Summer Youth Employment Program and the Duval Youth Voice Council answered the call, taking full charge of the project.

The youth exhaustively researched the Eastside's historical figures, scouring the Internet and Jacksonville City Council archives for information. After their research, they voted on which people to paint on the mural.

"I don't know that [the youth] realized that many of the area's past leaders were such important pioneers of social and economic change in Jacksonville," said Lanier. "They learned a lot."

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