Program teaches local youths finance

By: ELIZABETH WEST
Staff Reporter

The Ville Platte Youth on the Move program has been educating local youths, ages 16 to 18, on real life expenses, including on how to budget the money they have earned at the jobs the city has placed them in this summer.
When the participants’ first pay day rolled around this Monday, the city set up the Reality Store where the kids were required to do some real life budgeting. Each booth represented a different cost we have in real life such as: mortgage payment, cell phone bill, car note, vacation expenses, etc. The participants had to pick what they would be spending their money on.
The idea was to see how the kids would choose to spend their money. The sponsors were then able to inform the kids of how important it is to pay for the things that are a necessity in their life first.
“The store allowed the kids to make the decisions for their selves which we felt would create a better understanding for the kids of real life expenses rather than if we just told them about it,” Youth Director for the City of Ville Platte Diana Johnson said.
Added Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine, “The store was set up to allow the kids to see the things they that they make a priority in their lives.”
Each kid was given $2,000 of fake money and then without any guidance were told to choose what they would use their money on. After the kids spent their money at a certain station they had to write their names down on a paper to show that they had chosen to spend on the items at a certain booth.
When all the kids had gotten rid of all of their money, Mayor Vidrine looked over the papers from each booth to see which kids did not manage their money well and were left without enough money to pay for the necessities like utilities and their mortgage.
The kids who were not able to pay for the things that would be considered a need were placed on one side of the room and the mayor proceeded to show them all of the unnecessary items like vacations that they had spent their money on which caused them to now not have a place to live. Nearly half the kids would be homeless had this been real life, due to bad budgeting.
“It allowed the kids to see important things in life that they will not have if they choose to spend their money on items that they do not need,” Mayor Vidrine said.
An application process took place to select the youth that would take part in this year’s Youth on the Move program. The city received 49 applications and out of those 27 were chosen for the Youth on the Move summer program. After an applicant was selected to participate with Youth on the Move he or she was paired with a local business to work from 8 a.m. until noon.
The youths were also put to work in places that related the closest to the participant’s interest, allowing each child to grasp a better understanding of that particular field.
For example, Chandler Vidrine was placed working in the offices of Judge Gary Ortego and Judge Chuck West because of Mr. Vidrine’s interest in law enforcement.
“I have gained great experience for my future jobs,” Chandler said.
Being a part of this program also gave the youths the opportunity to learn important life lessons outside of employment such as: budgeting money, prioritizing their responsibilities, proper manners in the workplace, and being punctual.
“This program has taught me to be reliable and it has also allowed me to prove my reliability,” Ashanti Thomas said.
Having a program that provided teenagers with real-world knowledge was more important than just providing kids with a summer job.
“We didn’t want this to be like a regular summer program where the kids do not learn as much as they could,” Johnson said. “That is why we set up a one to three hour job training-job readiness at City Hall that each child was required to attend after they finished working.”
That’s why Mayor Vidrine believes the kids will walk away from this summer experience, “being able to go to work in any office.”