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INDIANAPOLIS — The Pivot Re-Engagement Center on the far east side is targeting young adults that are disengaged from school or the workforce. The center attempts to work with these people through different available resources.
The "Power Huddle" is preparing young adults to connect skills with passions and workforce needs.
"Right now I call this the redemption stage," Tamea Lewis, a participant in the "Power Huddle," said. "I have had a lot of bad things going on but I am trying to write it by using all the resources I can."
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Lewis is finishing up her week long "Power Huddle" course at the Pivot Re-Engagement Center located at the Finish Line Boys and Girls Club. She currently works at the Target warehouse and is enrolled with IU East online.
"I came in here to help my boyfriend and I was going to leave, but it seemed interesting so I kept coming back," Lewis said. "The fact that it seems like there is a lot of positives, it seems like they are very determined to help the youth, it seems like they really care, and they don't want to see people down in life and I was like, 'This is something I could use.'"
The five day course is available because of a partnership between EmployIndy, Finish Line Boys and Girls Club, and the Community Alliance of the Far East-side, also known as CAFE.
The "Power Huddle" is a bridge program and a part of the Pivot Re-Engagement Center. It is a bridge program to help young adults advance their life goals, whether that be getting a GED, getting into a trade school, enrolling in college or finish a high school equivalency.
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"The Power Huddle helps them go from what is often times a fixed mindset to a growth mindset that enables them to learn what are the things I need to know in order to position myself to take advantage of the resources available in my city so I can accelerate and advance my life goals," Tim Swain, facilitator of the "Power Huddle," said.
Throughout the week, participants of the "Power Huddle" will do different activities to help with their job development plans, like these vision boards, where they are lay out their goals right in front of them.
"At the end of the day if we could help young individuals get jobs, get trades, and become to have a skill set where they can engage in systems right now to help stop the cycles of poverty, stop the cycles of sometimes crime and what may have you, then all we are going to do is help our city become a stronger city that we want it to become ultimately," Swain said.
Lewis is looking forward to advancing her career and learned a few things through this free resource that will help her reach her personal goals.
"They taught me that sometimes you just got to dig deeper on why you are stuck where you are and learn how to get out of that pit," Lewis said. "After this, I am going to keep in contact with them, hopefully get a mentor, finish my college, hopefully get my degree in accounting, so after this program I definitely plan on doing a lot."
For more information about the Pivot Re-Engagement Center or the Power Huddle program, please contact Rodney Francis: rfrancis@employindy.org.
