Brian Lewis/The Gazette
Jonathon Morin of Rockville was one of the graduates of a self-advocacy seminar to help youth set and achieve their goals.
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Jose Melton, 22, of Gaithersburg, has been a self-described floater since high school, holding jobs at a construction equipment rental company and raising money for a children's research hospital, but still feeling aimless.
Melton, who said he "was a troubled youth, to say the least," and cited a lack of interest in school and run-ins with the law, dreamed of owning a construction company, but did not know how to get started. Then he took a goal-setting course as part of a new nonprofit program.
"I know it won't be easy…" Melton said recently as he talked about plans to take courses in Montgomery College's construction management program. "I'm going to take it step by step and see what happens."
Half a dozen young people completed the Getting Beyond the System self-advocacy seminar with Future Link, a Gaithersburg nonprofit. The seminar is a cornerstone of the nonprofit's Supportive Services NETwork for Vulnerable Youth, which provides coaches, scholarships and opportunities to vulnerable county residents ages 16-25.
"It teaches you to organize your goals and plan for the future," Melton said. "Nobody ever really taught me that."
The seminar teaches critical problem-solving skills, goal-setting and interviewing and communication techniques, said Dr. Ken Weiner, a 37-year math professor at Montgomery College who helped develop the NET program.
"The philosophy, basically, is that most of these kids…really have the strengths and motivations to be successful, but they don't know how to present those strengths, they don't know how to… set long- and short-term goals," said Weiner.
Participants include those aging out of foster care or involved in the county's child welfare or juvenile justice systems, immigrants, young single parents, high school dropouts, runaways, homeless and unemployed teens not enrolled in school. The program has also helped youth with physical and learning disabilities, said Mindi Jacobson, executive director.
Youth coach volunteers trained and screened by Court-Appointed Special Advocates of Montgomery County provide academic and life guidance. The semester culminates with hopeful graduates preparing for and successfully completing 25-minute informational interviews about careers.
A group of professionals provides career advice and internship information, Weiner said.
"They definitely got me back on track," said Yamu Cham, 25, of Gaithersburg, who said she had been "going through a rough time" using any money that she earned to help her mother, a single parent, support her household and younger siblings.
Cham completed a math class at Montgomery College last semester and in 2009, will take two classes, including calculus, to further her goals of graduating and becoming an accountant, she said. "I feel like I was in the right place at the right time."
