Sitting in an office all day, those of us on the administrative, research, and advocacy end of non-profit work can sometimes lose track of the real reason we do what we do. That is why I volunteer and it is why I love taking field trips! This week, I had the good fortune of being able to visit a wonderful YIPA member organization called Elpis Enterprises.
A collage from Elpis' website at www.elpisenterprises.org
Approaching Elpis’ workshop, it doesn’t seem like much – just a door at the end of a winding corridor on the third floor of an old warehouse building off of University Ave in Saint Paul. I knock and a smiling young woman with lots of piercings opens the door. She is wearing a paint-covered smock. I walk into a room packed from floor to ceiling with scraps of wood. This wood, I later learn, has all been donated by cedar fencing companies. In the back room, there is music playing and three young people are deeply engrossed in a totally mysterious process that turns out to be the first steps in making silkscreen t-shirts.
Elpis Enterprises is an organization dedicated to giving young people real work experience. An independent program since 2002, Elpis hires young people who have experienced or are at risk for homelessness and trains them in t-shirt printing and woodworking. These young people (about 20-25 per year) stay with Elpis for 6 months to a year and are paid a stipend for the Tuesday and Thursday evenings they spend in the workshop.
The man behind the bustle of activity I find at 6:30pm on a hot summer evening is Paul Ramsour. Paul is deeply connected to YIPA. He serves on our board and also represents his other workplace – Youthlink, a hub of services and support for homeless youth in Minneapolis. In fact, many of the young people who work at Elpis came through Youthlink.
The atmosphere in the workshop is so different from my world of offices and computers. The ‘70s radio station plays old classics and a young man who has been working on birdhouses in the woodshop comes in and starts dancing.
“Anyone know who wrote this song?” Paul challenges.
“Beyoncé” the young man says under his breath.
A young woman looks up and says, “How are we supposed to know that? We weren’t even thought of yet!”
I come up to the young woman and ask her if she likes working here. “It’s great!” She says. What is her favorite part? “I love mixing ink!” she smiles, like she could go on mixing reds and greens and yellows all night.
If you have never seen a multi-color t-shirt printed on a manual press, it is quite a complicated process. Did Paul have a background in silk screening or woodworking? Not at all. When he started, he tells me, he knew nothing about woodworking, t-shirt making or working with young people, for that matter! Not that you would know it today. Piles of high quality t-shirts and mountains of beautiful recycled cedar birdfeeders fill the space. Elpis also does about 100 community events per year, where the young employees go to parks or local fairs and teach kids how to make their own birdfeeders.
I leave Elpis feeling refreshed, despite the heat. Though the paint and sawdust, there is something really wonderful going on in that workshop.
Want to be featured on this blog? Email cryan@mnyipa.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment