“Youth are capable of doing great things, they’re just not often given the opportunity or space to do so,” says Ana Meza, program coordinator for the Lents Youth Initiative.
It’s something Ana has seen first-hand each summer since 2015, when she helped launch the Lents Youth Initiative as part of ROSE (Revitalizing Outer South East) Community Development in Southeast Portland.
The programs goal? Get high-schoolers out into the community each summer to complete internships with local organizations that are working on environmental and social justice issues. Ana recruits the high-schoolers from David Douglas, Benson and Franklin High Schools, many of them youth of color from low-income families.
With support from the Gray Family Foundation in 2019, the Lents Youth Initiative trained 35 students in its Youth Empowerment Series, the first step toward a summer internship out in the community. Of those 35 trainees, 27 youth went on to complete internships during summer 2019, the most interns the program has had to date.
“All of them used this experience as a way to connect to their community,” Ana says. The hope is that the program will open students’ eyes to the possibility of environmental careers, which they may have never considered before.
At Zenger farm, the interns helped staff summer camps, where they gave younger kids the personal attention they need to learn and connect with nature. At Powell Butte Park, interns helped restore natural vegetation, mulch, water plants and clean up nature trails. At Portland State University’s Learning Gardens Lab, interns learned how to tend gardens, grow food and even sell it at an organic produce stand that serves neighbors in the community.
Other internship partners include Friends of Trees, Green Lents, Leach Botanical Garden and more. In 2019, the students completed 3,755 hours of service that served more than 3,000 community members (including 938 youth) and facilitated 53 community events.
“When you invite in young people and provide them with the support and knowledge to be successful, they do amazing work,” Ana says.
The program has more than doubled since it began in 2015 with 12 student interns. Since then, some of the youth have gone off to college, gotten jobs and even returned to volunteer at ROSE Community Development.
“They always talk about how Lents Youth Initiative changed their life, and helped them be where they are today.”