| A Bridge to Success |
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Left to right: Authur Diaz, Jabari Smith, Keylee Smith, and Victor Lomeli are among the 700 East Bay teenagers who have participated in Youth Bridge since its founding in 1990.
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Jabari Smith says he’s “always wanted to go somewhere in the medical field,” and — thanks to Youth Bridge, Alta Bates Summit’s highly regarded job training and mentoring program for at-risk teens — he’s well on his way to realizing his ambition. The recent Berkeley High School graduate has been accepted to the pre-nursing program at Holy Names University in Oakland.
“I have a lot more knowledge and confidence, now that I’ve been involved in Youth Bridge,” says Smith, who plans on becoming a pediatric nurse. “My parents are glad that I’m doing something with my life and that I’m going to college. One of my friends told me that I can probably do anything I want to now, because I have so much experience.”
Building at-risk teens’ job experience under the tutelage of nurturing mentors is central to the mission of Youth Bridge, which has been generously supported by the Alta Bates Summit Foundation. Eighteen-year-old Smith, for example, has already racked up an impressive resume over his past three summers in Youth Bridge placements, which have included work at Alta Bates Summit transporting sick patients, helping with check-ins before surgery, and, this summer, setting up ventilators for tiny preemies in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, plus training as an emergency medical technician at the Fast Response School of Health Care Education in Berkeley.
Fast Response CEO and cofounder Tom Peck describes his company’s enthusiastic involvement with Smith and Youth Bridge as “an investment in the community,” and he urges others to lend their support. “Business needs to give back to the community,” says Peck, “and this program is one of the better ways to give back.”
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