TARGET PLEDGES $10,000 TO MENTORING PROJECT

The Missouri Mentoring Project received a $10,000 grant Tuesday to help young people in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties get jobs and become self-sufficient.

Target store team manager Harry Gefre has recommended the grant application to the Target Good Neighbor program because he thinks the program is making an impact on the community. Every Target store donates 5 percent of its federal tax income to support the company's grant projects.

"I felt strongly about the program," Gefre said. "The money was there, and I felt this was something Target wants to support in Cape."

The Missouri Mentoring Project provides job training skills and professional mentors to help people 16 to 22 continue their education and secure jobs.

Gefre became aware of the project after joining the advisory board. He has employed four workers from the project.

"Part of the grant giving is based in leadership, and this does help those employees develop those skills," he said. "The fact that they are able to go out and work and just feel good about themselves what better way to do it than by being out in the public and working?"

The project has two components. Associate coordinator Scott Porter manages job placement and mentoring through the work site program, while associate coordinator Stacy Taylor assists pregnant teens in life issues and job training through the teen parent program. Together, they help some 65 students to further their education and live independently.

"Our overall goal is self-sufficiency," said project coordinator Marge Sullivan. "We plan to use the grant to help as many individual kids in our program as possible."

Some 106 employers provide jobs for Missouri Mentoring Project graduates. Youth people are referred to the program by state or service agencies. When possible, jobs are found where the worker lives, but sometimes, a worker has to relocate.

Porter said companies like Target are the reason the program is growing. When companies are willing to give the participants a chance, they are often pleasantly surprised by the work ethic the young people put forth.

"Target has a mentoring atmosphere, and that's really a big part of this," Porter said. "Between us and the employer, the kids are able to get help not from just one person, but from everyone in the store."

Sullivan said the Missouri Mentoring Program spends about $100 per participant. The spending is done frugally, but every effort is made to help young people meet their immediate needs and prepare for the work force.

"The situations are as varied as the kids," she said. "We don't give the kids cash, but we will help them in any way we can."

For example, some students may need groceries or a rental deposit to help them prepare for the work force. Others might need work clothes or a doctor's visit. In one case, a burial plot was bought for a young girl whose infant had died.

The program, in cooperation with the Southeast Missouri Private Industry Council, also provides transportation options ranging from bicycles or a tank of gas to cab coupons or a van service for program participants.

"We have no typical kids," Sullivan said. "I love paying for GED tests or ACT tests, and it really doesn't take much money at all to have an effect on a kid's life."