St. James AME Church

 

Youth Services

St. James Social Services Corporation provides a wide range of youth services, which include the Intergenerational After School Program. (IAP) and St. James Safe Haven Summer Peace Camp (Peace Camp). The goal of these programs is to provide a safe and nurturing learning environment for children ages 5-14 during after school and summer hours.  They are designed to be affordable, yet provide quality, non-traditional child care.

The IAP operates Monday-Friday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and provides transportation from select schools. The program uses a unique combination of senior citizens, adults, college students and teenagers to provide after school tutorial services.  The program places an emphasis on academic excellence and seeks to strengthen the social and problem solving skills of our youth in addition to allowing them to expand their horizons through cultural and recreational activities.

Peace Camp seeks  to provide children with a safe, nurturing, educational, fun-filled and culturally enriched environment for six weeks during the summer months. The camp operates Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  Before and After Care is available and breakfast, lunch, and a snack are served daily.

The camp is designed to help children excel academically through classroom instruction in reading, language arts and math as well as sessions on violence and conflict resolution. Morning academic sessions are held and the afternoons are set aside for fun and exciting recreational activities that include swimming, bowling, and roller-skating.  They also have classes in arts and crafts, dance, music, photography, fishing and much more.  Weekly cultural and educational field trips are included.

Workforce Developmental Training

The Brownsfields-Building Works Program is a training program for the construction trades.  St. James serves as the community partner with the New York City District Council of Carpenters' Labor Technical College providing recruitment and outreach services.  The program is a 20-week program that provides trainees with construction trade skills and environmental remediation certificates.  At the end of the program, participants are eligible for acceptance in apprentice programs of key labor unions.

In early 2004, St. James Social Services launched its own Workforce Development Program which was designed to address the issues of employment literacy in the community.  It provides classes such as job readiness, fundamental reading, writing, mathematics, and work place communication, which includes computer training. Classes are also available for home health aid certification. These courses are supplemented by life skills and job skills enhancement in the areas of resume writing, interviewing techniques, and eployee/employer relations.  As part of the program, The Employment Connection is the job search component that serves as a resource for employment that serves as a resource for employment opportunities and provides students with one-on-one employment counseling services.

Among the course titles are: Business Writing, Computer Know-How (Data Entry, MS Word, Excel, Internet, etc.), Computer Know-How Intermediate, Basic Math Skills, Basic Reading Skills, Winning Communication Skills, Becoming the Next Level Employee, and Home Health Care Certification.  In addition, Computer Know-How for Seniors is an 8 week computer literacy class specifically for senior citizens 60 years old and older.  The program provides introduction to computers as the initial class and offers advanced training by request.

All programs are offered free of charge!