Giving teens the skills—and opportunities—
they need to succeed.
“With SAVI, we can target our efforts so that
we get the most bang for the buck and use
resources as wisely as we can,” says John
Brandon, executive director of the Marion
County Commission on Youth (MCCOY),
which supports youth organizations in
Central Indiana. MCCOY is especially
active in creating job opportunities for
young people.
It funds and supplies data to TeenWorks,
for example, a nonprofit that placed about
350 teens in jobs during the summer of
2016. To qualify, participants had to be
enrolled in their school’s free or reducedlunch program and maintain a minimum
2.5 GPA.
Twin sisters Monica and Monique Hardy,
who graduated from Broad Ripple High
School last spring, took part in the program.
Monica worked at an animal-welfare center.
Monique worked at the central branch of the
Indianapolis Public Library.
“When I first started, they had me
scanning in books, and I didn’t think that
would be too fun,” Monique says. “But it
actually ended up being okay. I saw a lot
of the books that I used to read as a little
girl. It was like a trip down memory lane.
It was nice.”
“It teaches you teamwork,” says
M