Provider Mather has received matching funds of $58,100 from the city of Evanston, IL, to support eMerge, the organization’s workforce development program, which includes internship, fellowship, and scholarship opportunities for students.
The monies from the city of Evanston are coming from American Rescue Plan Act funds, Yvonne Jung, Mather’s senior vice president of human resources, told the McKnight’s Business Daily.
“When we think about the unemployment rate for the aged 16 to 19 being somewhere around the 12% range, it’s actually the highest unemployment group,” she said. “That’s a national number, but in Evanston we know it’s very similar, and we know that that there’s a high percentage of Evanston residents who do not necessarily have a plan to go to two- or four-year college and really just need a way that they can explore what opportunities are out there for them.”
The eMerge program gives middle school, high school and college students chances for fellowship with older adults; hands-on work in hospitality roles in areas such as culinary services, housekeeping, building services and more; and scholarship opportunities at Oakton College for careers as certified nursing assistants and nurses.
The opportunities might just light a spark in teenagers who never may have considered working with older adults, Jung said. The youth will gain their experience at Mather’s life plan community in Evanston, she said.
“We really want to get the program to take off there, but we would love to have the program also in Tucson, where we have a community called Splendido,” Jung said.
Construction is underway for The Mather at Tysons, a life plan community in northern Virginia. Once completed, Jung said, eMerge could be implemented there as well.
“If we could give this opportunity to use across the country, it would be a great opportunity, because you never know when someone’s going to say, ‘Wow, I really like cooking,’ or ‘I didn’t know I really like art or music therapy,’ and we have those jobs within our senior living units. Maybe they didn’t know that they have that in them, so this would give them the opportunity to touch, job shadow and really try something,” Jung said.
The fellowship portion of the eMerge program also is significant, she said. One-on-one experiences could include having older adults tutor the teens or simply having intergenerational conversations.
“We’ve got people who play piano, we’ve got residents who speak multiple languages, we have residents who’ve led their own various storied careers, and they get to share that. They get to share their stories with the students,” Jung said. “And so we’re providing opportunities not only for help with homework, but an opportunity to share a meal, an opportunity to have a conversation, and a little bit of reverse mentoring goes on there as well, as an older adult in our community gets to interact with one of the students.”
