Photo by Ryan Smith
Zach Poole and Teddy Lawrence work in the Rome High School weight room as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Photo by Ryan Smith
Carrigan Rogers works on a project at Rome High as part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program allowed students ages 14 through 18 to work 35 hours a week for eight weeks and earn $8.50 an hour at one of 50 different locations around Rome.
The program, also funded by the Georgia Department of Human Services, is implemented through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and administered by the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission.
Dwight Henderson, social athletic director and Rome coordinator, has coordinated the program for several years and said there are several assessments in place to make sure the students find a work site that matches their skills.
“They are placed based on their job skill availability and job skill levels by doing an occupational skills assessment at the beginning of the program to determine where the strength of that young person might be placed the best on the work site,” Henderson said. “Most of the time young people will rise to the level of expectations if you continually have high expectations for them, especially knowing that young people will make mistakes then move on and be better and learning from their experiences.”
Deserre Scott, 17, just graduated from Rome High School and plans to attend Gadsden State Community College. She has been working at AutoMax and thinks the program offers a chance to build up a resume while getting some summer cash.
“I enjoy it here. There are lots of phone calls, people come in and pay rent, we just have people coming in and out all day,” Scott said. “They put me here because they think I’m outspoken and that I would do a good job answering telephones.”
Robert Sewell, 18, just graduated from Rome High School and will be majoring in mechanical engineering at Georgia Southern. Sewell was placed at the Rome-Floyd Fire Department training site and helps plug floor plans into a computer program called CAD Zone.
“This program has been good because it’s helping me with my major so it’s right up my alley,” Sewell said. “I’ve liked learning job skills and being able to interact with other people because it can help me out in college and throughout college.”
The program will end on July 30 with an assessment of all the students involved.
I never called anyone a racist. I used the word bigot. All racists are bigots, but not all bigots are racists. And the bigotry I am primarily concerned about involves local attitudes towards progressive social programs like the one described in this article. (In other contexts, it is religious bigotry, e.g. towards Muslims, and so on.)
Just a little clarification.
And here I thought conservatives hated political correctness. You people are supposed to have the hides of wooly mammoths.
annabelle_lee writes: "You are a hypocrite and if you were born and raised in the South and you don't like it why didn't you leave. Afraid that others will make fun of your Southern roots. Just can't get rid of that accent."
Can't leave when I can't sell my house, baby. I'm stuck here until fairer climes come again -- and you are stuck with me.
As for my Southern roots, I have no problem telling people where I come from. And accents? I don't care how people talk; I care about what they say WHEN they talk. And few things are as refreshing (or as rare) as to hear a lilting Southern accent expound on the miracle of progressive government.
In other words, you and Mark come from a world (or a culture) in which fists, not words, decide what's true or false. Very sophisticated, annabelle. And VERY Southern cracker.
I may be from the South, but I am not of it. Self hatred is for hypocrites.
Mark55... you know what they say about assumptions? I stated previously that I knew both of the kids in the article and I would say that gives me the qualification to write about their character, not you. They are good kids that were smart enough to apply for a summer work program that is burning up my current and future tax dollars. I would far rather see it go to kids with a future than a cynic like you that seemingly needs therapy rather than a job.
Why would you think that I would be for illegals getting "their fair share"? Is that the other group you are blaming for your misfortune? After teenagers and illegals who else is to blame? If it were up to me illegals would be dumped in a low cost tent city in the desert run by Joe Arpaio. By the way, if you read the article close enough you would have seen that the teenager you hate will be unemployed on July 30th so you better get on over there and dazzle them with you positive disposition to get the job.
Well that was certainly not my intention. Now I've got Dueling Banjos stuck in my head.
As a mountain climber once said, because it's there.
And as long as there are bigots to quarrel, I will have my hands full. Enjoy the beating.
As opposed to getting his unemployment numbers up? So, which are you for, lower numbers or higher numbers? Does it maybe depend on whether you like the president in question or not?
I swear, Rome-Floyd's bigot brigades are a tireless bunch. I should get paid for defending truth and right against you people.