CLEVELAND, Ohio — With summer quickly winding down, and another school year on the horizon, a group of teens in Cleveland will be heading back to class with some new skills.
The Youth Opportunities Unlimited summer jobs participants have been working to improve the quality of life for their neighbors as well as their own.
Growing up, Artrice Smith-Lane had what many children in Cleveland do not.
"A very strong mother, aunts, uncles that kind of kept me on the right path," said Artrice Smith-Lane with the Union Miles Development Corporation.
Smith-Lane, a mother of three, is now that much-needed role model in Cleveland's Union Miles neighborhood.
"We're in a low-income neighborhood; crime has skyrocketed," said Smith-Lane.
For the last two months, the program director at the Union Miles Development Corporation has been working alongside high schoolers in the Youth Opportunities Unlimited program.
"They don't have nowhere to go, they don't have nowhere to be, so a lot of our programming goes outside of Y.O.U.," said Smith-Lane.
In addition to office work, teens like Precious Acoff have held community clean-ups and attended financial classes.
"We got new experiences of like working and starting to understand what we should do in the real world," said Acoff.
It's a reality check that can be tough at first.
"Well, I'm going to start saving now. I guess I can't get those Jordans I wanted. It's enlightening to see them grow," said Smith-Lane.
Grants and donations help the Union Miles Development Corporation take program participants on an exposure trip every year.
"A lot of kids never been outside of the state of Ohio, some of them have never been outside the city of Cleveland," said Smith-Lane.
The last adventure took the group to Atlanta.
"Just to show them a different world than they normally see. This is our future, right? So, our future must know there's more than just the city of Cleveland," said Smith-Lane.
The exposure to life outside Union Miles and the relationships built have given 16-year-old Staysha Olds renewed confidence.
"By being here and helping out the community it's giving me a step forward to becoming social and getting out of my comfort zone," said Olds.
The support, tough love, and understanding Smith-Lane brings to the table is leaving a lasting impact as these teens prepare for life after high school.
"They can go anywhere and be whoever they want to be," said Smith-Lane.
