We fully attended the round 4 ACT Prep University event and endeavored to attend the MPloy Youth verification event. We were turned around at the door after revealing that we didn't have copies of required documents that we'd carried with us. Unfortunately, they didn't have copying machines, and there were no nearby places where we could get copies without having to leave the parking lot where I'd just paid $10.00 (There were/are nearby businesses, though no guarantees that either of them would allow either of the likely dozens of us who needed copies to make them). My son neither had state identification at the time, which we'd planned to acquire the day before the event and didn't because he didn't return home right after school on that preceding day to avail us the time to get it.
Improving the Program
Complimentary Parking for All MPloy Events
First and foremost, the lack of designated parking for off-site MPloy events and the substantial parking fees at nearby parking lots posed major challenges to many attendees, several of whom took a gamble and parked on the side of the street near the Balinese Ballroom parking lot where I'd paid to park; and, unless you're buying from any of the local businesses in the area, they won't break any bills for parking payment...
After entering several businesses and asking for change for a $20.00 bill that I had, a gentleman at a restaurant across from the nearby Balinese parking lot where I would park insisted on giving me $10.00 to pay the fee, despite the eventual loss when we were turned around at the door for lacking copies of the stated documents. Parking should be free for all MPloy Youth events, considering that many participants are from indigent families...
Free Photocopying and/or Scanning of Essential Documents
MPloy Youth personnel should carry portable copying machines and/or scanners to MPloy Youth events held at localities other than MPloy Youth offices for the purpose of photocopying documentation that any parents might not have the resources to photocopy; better yet, verification processes should occur at MPloy Youth offices, where clients should be privileged to utilize the agency's photocopiers should they need to; and MPloy Youth offices should certainly be larger than their Hollywood location, where parents are required to wait in the parking lot during prospect interviews. The agency should at least have a sizable enough lounge where parents and/or others accompanying participants can wait for them.
Addressing Inhospitable Adult MPloy Staff Members and Improper Gestures
There were varied adult MPloy staff members who exhibited inhospitable attitudes towards especially parents, who were not permitted to accompany students to certain elements of events that we really should have been allowed to attend.
For example, parents were not permitted to enter the meet and greet/job fair, though there was ample space for students and parents and other attendees in the room where participating companies gathered to interact with program participants. There were neither any formal lounging or seating provisions for parents and other supporting attendees, a majority of whom were forced to stand throughout most preliminary MPloy events or sit in their cars...
I'd venture to say that parents should be capable of accompanying their children to all elements of preliminary MPloy events; room should be created for them to accompany their children. Parents should be privileged to acquire a satisfactory level of comfort that their children are safe and would be ethically treated in MPloy and any similar programs.
In situations where it is really impractical for parents to attend certain elements of preliminary MPloy events, lounging and/or seating provisions should be made to sufficiently accommodate them and other attendees.
Another issue that I found really alarming is what could be interpreted by any reasonable person as hostile gestures that appeared to be designed to run participants off. There were signs directing attendees south to the MPloy Youth meet and greet, to a "Discover the Dinosaurs Unleashed" exhibit to the left, and a "Show
Stopper" on the right...
The fact that MPloy events were held at the Cook Convention Center at a 255 address really perked my antennas, especially considering staunch reprisals that I and my two minor children have been subjected to relational to litigation of my involvement, litigation in which I was the plaintiff, with merit. *$255 is the death benefit that the government pays to surviving beneficiaries of deceased persons. Amusingly, this was the amount of my 2016 income tax return, which exhibits that I earned less than $1,000 for that particular year relational to blacklisting that I have endured. It is additionally the amount of replacement Supplemental Nutrition Benefits that I received following outage of our electricity for circa three days after a storm ravaged Memphis... There is additionally a Hertz (pronounced similar to hearse) rental car center near the entrance of the Cook Convention Center, which made our encounter even creepier...
A Name and an Address Change and Renovation of the Cook Convention Center
Having personally worked at the much more up-to-par and extravagant Georgia World Congress Center for multiple years, I was very surprised at the shabby appearance of Memphis's convention center, which could certainly stand a bit of renovation, i.e. new carpet, fresh paint, etc.
The Cook Convention Center should certainly acquire both a name and an address change, whether or not the individuals who placed the facility where it is located had any malice in mind in either the naming of the facility or in placing it at its current address. The facility could acquire an address change at its current location with a bit of expansion and movement of its primary entrance door.
Inappropriate MPloyers
I was privileged to acquire and keep a copy of the list of 63... 2017 MPloy Youth worksites for the group that MPloy assigned my son to, several of which I found offensive and/or inappropriate for a teen employment program, i.e. Memorial Gardens MGA (managing general agent) of Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Co. and Skyway computers (one of the only opportunities for tech-interested teens), which magnified its services to "Pest Control Services" among other companies on its website...
The fact that MPloy events were held at the Cook Convention Center at a 255 address really perked my antennas, especially considering staunch reprisals that I and my two minor children have been subjected to relational to litigation of my involvement, litigation in which I was the plaintiff, with merit. *$255 is the death benefit that the government pays to surviving beneficiaries of deceased persons. Amusingly, this was the amount of my 2016 income tax return, which exhibits that I earned less than $1,000 for that particular year relational to blacklisting that I have endured. It is additionally the amount of replacement Supplemental Nutrition Benefits that I received following outage of our electricity for circa three days after a storm ravaged Memphis... There is additionally a Hertz (pronounced similar to hearse) rental car center near the entrance of the Cook Convention Center, which made our encounter even creepier...
A Name and an Address Change and Renovation of the Cook Convention Center
Having personally worked at the much more up-to-par and extravagant Georgia World Congress Center for multiple years, I was very surprised at the shabby appearance of Memphis's convention center, which could certainly stand a bit of renovation, i.e. new carpet, fresh paint, etc.
The Cook Convention Center should certainly acquire both a name and an address change, whether or not the individuals who placed the facility where it is located had any malice in mind in either the naming of the facility or in placing it at its current address. The facility could acquire an address change at its current location with a bit of expansion and movement of its primary entrance door.
Inappropriate MPloyers
I was privileged to acquire and keep a copy of the list of 63... 2017 MPloy Youth worksites for the group that MPloy assigned my son to, several of which I found offensive and/or inappropriate for a teen employment program, i.e. Memorial Gardens MGA (managing general agent) of Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Co. and Skyway computers (one of the only opportunities for tech-interested teens), which magnified its services to "Pest Control Services" among other companies on its website...
Agape Wholesome Foods (no formal website or social media page)
Mount Gilead Baptist Church (Camp)
New Growth in Christ (Camp)
World Overcomers O.M. Church (Camp)
My Issues with Blues City Cultural/"We are Orange Mound"
My son, who is an honor student and aspiring Computer Scientist (a fact that we communicated to MPloy), was placed at Blues City Cultural/"We are Orange Mound," where he was required to sing, dance, recite poetry, and act during tours of Orange Mound. I was very surprised when he decided to stay in the program when learning of this because these things do not align with his personality or interests.
I laughed hysterically when my son informed me that he had been dancing at work. I lauded him for being a good sport, and made certain that he was there on time every day. It was certainly better than nothing at all. I did not find it laughable at all that my son was required to purchase a black jacket and visit a graveyard as part of the "We are Orange Mound" tour. Though it was amusing to learn that Orange Mound was one of the first African American owned communities in the country, the hostile climate surrounding this legacy where minority MPloy youth are concerned made it less appealing (I believe that all historical sites should be properly preserved, however). I was and am very proud that my son and other MPloy participants chose to overlook and thrive in such a hostile environment, though I feared for his and the safety of other students in the program each and every day, especially after learning that the brakes went out on their tour bus while they were in route to the grave yard on a certain occasion, and when I reflected on a document that I and other parents had been asked to sign releasing the MPloy program of liability in the event that students were "killed." I made note on the document that I expected for my son and all students in the program to be provided a safe working environment.
Deaderick Street Should Be Renamed
Deaderick Street, on which Melrose High School stands in Memphis (and on which the Tennessee Department of Human Resources and other Tennessee state government buildings stand in Nashville), should be renamed, not necessarily because Mr. John George Deaderick owned a plantation in what is now Orange Mound. It should be renamed due to its proclivity to generate hostility in its containment of the word "dead" (even Mr. Deaderick's original family name, Dietrick, contains the word "die)." For this reason, and particularly in light of racial tensions in Tennessee, specifically where disbursal of human resources or public services to minorities is concerned, the Deaderick named should be removed from the said and other relevant streets.
MPloy Youth Should Really Put Teens To Ethical Work
MPloy participants should not sit and talk or perform recreational activities all day while the city hires other persons to perform work that MPloy participants could perform, while acquiring valuable and actual work experience that would enhance their resumes and impress future employers. MPloy participants should neither perform work that prisoners would ordinarily perform, unless the demand for such work exceeds the number of available prisoners to perform the work. MPloy Youth should employ participants to perform real and ethical work wherever it is needed in the city, and all participating companies should provide a printed job description to each teen participant.
Job descriptions should be disbursed to all participants to curtail any potential abuse* of participants. *Abuse could range from sexual exploitation to encouraging participants to commit any other form of illegal acts. Any "business partners" found exploiting children in any of the described or other ways should be permanently banned from the MPloy and any other similar programs and sufficiently prosecuted.
MPloy Youth should additionally work harder to place participants with companies that would formally hire them. The program should really flourish into a teen employment division of the Department of Labor. The city and/or government should encourage companies that do not ordinarily hire teens to hire them and provide incentives to those and other teen-hiring companies...
Placing MPloy participants with companies that have no intentions of ever hiring them opens them up to exploitation, even though said participants are paid by the city for any work or sitting, talking, and/or recreational activities that they perform in the program.
The average job pays wages sufficient for teenagers who are living with their parents, and many of those jobs should be for teenagers, those with satisfactory grades, of course, while older workers should be availed more paid opportunities to train on-the-job, etc. for better, higher-paying jobs.
The period of time that MPloy participants are on the city's payroll should be to impress hosting companies or to demonstrate to those companies that the participants are capable of performing subject jobs in a satisfactory or exceptional manner, and/or, again, it should be to acquire transferable job skills.
MPloy Uniforms
MPloy Youth and, optionally, MPloy staff should wear MPloy uniforms each work day. This could include MPloy t-shirts and/or polo shirts with the MPloy logo (and, optionally, the logo of the specific companies that they are placed with), and khaki or other casual pants or shorts or skirts (for females), and plain, comfortable shoes, or other uniforms required by specific host companies. The MPloy dress code and appearance policy should essentially resemble traditional employer dress code and appearance policies to get participants accustomed to appropriately dressing for work. Many MPloy participants simply do not have appropriate work attire. MPloy uniforms would help to improve participant confidence and program morale, while making MPloy participants more professional in appearance. MPloy participants could be advanced the uniforms and have their costs deducted from their pay...
Ideal MPloy Work Sites
Ideal job sites for MPloy participants are city parks, public libraries, car washes, movie theaters, golf courses, skating rinks, food banks, pet stores, animal shelters, game stores, community centers, grocery stores, department stores, clothing stores, sports arenas, etc.
Revenue-generating Jobs
City governments could really be creative with MPloy and similar programs, in terms of creating ethical revenue-generating jobs, i.e. lawn services, product creation, concessions, etc. This would help to fund and expand MPloy programs. It could potentially wholly fund MPloy programs with revenues to spare, depending upon the level of seriousness invested into programs of the sort.
Concessions
The city could create opportunities for MPloy participants to market concessions like sodas, potato chips, etc. in places like city parks and/or other approved localities that would be staffed with security for MPloy participant and patron safety.
Product Creation
The city could create multiple product creation ventures and staff them with MPloy participants, who, once properly trained, could create everything from furniture, clothing, and packaged treats, to automobiles, et cetera.
Lawn Services
Lawn services are another revenue-generating opportunity for MPloy participants. The city could solicit business from home owners, etc. via infomercials and other advertisements that would discuss the need for giving teens constructive opportunities juxtapose the need for lawn services, etc. during summer. Youth participants would be supervised by adults, of course, adults who could be actual city employees or external entrepreneurs who would train youth participants to perform the work. Lawn service supervisors would be equipped with vans and trucks to transport the commercial (riding and manual) mowers and work crew to each work site. Vehicles utilized for such purposes that are owned by the city could exhibit the City of Memphis and/or MPloy Youth landscaping division logo. Interested homeowners, etc. would pay for lawn services via, preferably, the MPloy website on a lawn services page...
MPloy Evaluations
MPloy participants should be formally evaluated on factors that any traditional employee would be evaluated on, like attendance, adherence to dress codes, work performance, etc. The noted evaluations should be discussed with MPloyees, who would be required to sign them juxtapose their site managers, and with parents, who would further address pointers discussed.
MPloy and parental guidance in students' initial employment would encourage their success in the workforce in succeeding years.
Addressing Issues with The MPloy Youth Excellence Awards Ceremony
Awards that are distributed during MPloy Youth excellence awards ceremonies should be based on student evaluations, though every student who meets minimum attendance and participation requirements in the program should be disbursed MPloy completion certificates in addition to any other certificates awarded by individual companies that have hosted MPloyees. My son was only disbursed a certificate from Blues City Cultural...
The MPloy Youth Excellence Awards Ceremony was held at the Levitt Shell, which is an outdoors amphitheater located in Overton Park near the campus of the Memphis College of Art. During the day of the program, there were several other programs occurring simultaneously, and the park was jammed packed. It was very challenging to find a place to park and there was no formal seating. Attendees had to bring their own chairs, a requirement that we learned of only a few hours before the program...
Another surprise was the presence of vendors who sold much-needed bottled water and other cold beverages and snacks, none of whom accepted debit or credit cards. If you didn't have cash in the form of paper currency and coins you were simply out of luck.
MPloy should communicate to participants and their families way in advance that any awards or other MPloy programs held at the Levitt Shell are outdoors and require attendees to bring their own chairs, that it can be challenging to find a place to park in Overton Park, and that they should bring paper currency and/or coins if they want to purchase cold beverages and snacks...
I personally don't think that the Levitt Shell is an ideal locality for MPloy awards ceremonies, which should be held indoors (in the event of inclement weather) and in a facility that is sizable enough to entertain all MPloyees and those accompanying them in terms of seating (which should be provided by the program) and in terms of parking, which should be complimentary...
Conclusion
MPloy Youth is a merited program that should be a model for other cities to implement. In order to be a program of the sort, it must be harmoniously managed and free of hostility of any sort. It should additionally be less reliant upon city funding, which is very practical, considering ethical for-profit opportunities that can be created through the program. Though some work involved might not be preferred, this fact should serve to magnify the ultimate purpose of the program, which should be to show participants the importance of an education.
My son, who is an honor student and aspiring Computer Scientist (a fact that we communicated to MPloy), was placed at Blues City Cultural/"We are Orange Mound," where he was required to sing, dance, recite poetry, and act during tours of Orange Mound. I was very surprised when he decided to stay in the program when learning of this because these things do not align with his personality or interests.
I laughed hysterically when my son informed me that he had been dancing at work. I lauded him for being a good sport, and made certain that he was there on time every day. It was certainly better than nothing at all. I did not find it laughable at all that my son was required to purchase a black jacket and visit a graveyard as part of the "We are Orange Mound" tour. Though it was amusing to learn that Orange Mound was one of the first African American owned communities in the country, the hostile climate surrounding this legacy where minority MPloy youth are concerned made it less appealing (I believe that all historical sites should be properly preserved, however). I was and am very proud that my son and other MPloy participants chose to overlook and thrive in such a hostile environment, though I feared for his and the safety of other students in the program each and every day, especially after learning that the brakes went out on their tour bus while they were in route to the grave yard on a certain occasion, and when I reflected on a document that I and other parents had been asked to sign releasing the MPloy program of liability in the event that students were "killed." I made note on the document that I expected for my son and all students in the program to be provided a safe working environment.
Deaderick Street Should Be Renamed
Deaderick Street, on which Melrose High School stands in Memphis (and on which the Tennessee Department of Human Resources and other Tennessee state government buildings stand in Nashville), should be renamed, not necessarily because Mr. John George Deaderick owned a plantation in what is now Orange Mound. It should be renamed due to its proclivity to generate hostility in its containment of the word "dead" (even Mr. Deaderick's original family name, Dietrick, contains the word "die)." For this reason, and particularly in light of racial tensions in Tennessee, specifically where disbursal of human resources or public services to minorities is concerned, the Deaderick named should be removed from the said and other relevant streets.
MPloy Youth Should Really Put Teens To Ethical Work
MPloy participants should not sit and talk or perform recreational activities all day while the city hires other persons to perform work that MPloy participants could perform, while acquiring valuable and actual work experience that would enhance their resumes and impress future employers. MPloy participants should neither perform work that prisoners would ordinarily perform, unless the demand for such work exceeds the number of available prisoners to perform the work. MPloy Youth should employ participants to perform real and ethical work wherever it is needed in the city, and all participating companies should provide a printed job description to each teen participant.
Job descriptions should be disbursed to all participants to curtail any potential abuse* of participants. *Abuse could range from sexual exploitation to encouraging participants to commit any other form of illegal acts. Any "business partners" found exploiting children in any of the described or other ways should be permanently banned from the MPloy and any other similar programs and sufficiently prosecuted.
MPloy Youth should additionally work harder to place participants with companies that would formally hire them. The program should really flourish into a teen employment division of the Department of Labor. The city and/or government should encourage companies that do not ordinarily hire teens to hire them and provide incentives to those and other teen-hiring companies...
Placing MPloy participants with companies that have no intentions of ever hiring them opens them up to exploitation, even though said participants are paid by the city for any work or sitting, talking, and/or recreational activities that they perform in the program.
The average job pays wages sufficient for teenagers who are living with their parents, and many of those jobs should be for teenagers, those with satisfactory grades, of course, while older workers should be availed more paid opportunities to train on-the-job, etc. for better, higher-paying jobs.
The period of time that MPloy participants are on the city's payroll should be to impress hosting companies or to demonstrate to those companies that the participants are capable of performing subject jobs in a satisfactory or exceptional manner, and/or, again, it should be to acquire transferable job skills.
MPloy Uniforms
MPloy Youth and, optionally, MPloy staff should wear MPloy uniforms each work day. This could include MPloy t-shirts and/or polo shirts with the MPloy logo (and, optionally, the logo of the specific companies that they are placed with), and khaki or other casual pants or shorts or skirts (for females), and plain, comfortable shoes, or other uniforms required by specific host companies. The MPloy dress code and appearance policy should essentially resemble traditional employer dress code and appearance policies to get participants accustomed to appropriately dressing for work. Many MPloy participants simply do not have appropriate work attire. MPloy uniforms would help to improve participant confidence and program morale, while making MPloy participants more professional in appearance. MPloy participants could be advanced the uniforms and have their costs deducted from their pay...
Ideal MPloy Work Sites
Ideal job sites for MPloy participants are city parks, public libraries, car washes, movie theaters, golf courses, skating rinks, food banks, pet stores, animal shelters, game stores, community centers, grocery stores, department stores, clothing stores, sports arenas, etc.
Ideal MPloy Jobs
Ideal MPloy jobs include tutors for younger children in camps and child care facilities, receptionists, concierges, and/or switchboard operators, filers, stockers, baggers, waiters/waitresses, event services workers, neighborhood beautifiers for teams that would refurbish homes in select neighborhoods in need (painters, home building helpers, etc.).
Revenue-generating Jobs
City governments could really be creative with MPloy and similar programs, in terms of creating ethical revenue-generating jobs, i.e. lawn services, product creation, concessions, etc. This would help to fund and expand MPloy programs. It could potentially wholly fund MPloy programs with revenues to spare, depending upon the level of seriousness invested into programs of the sort.
Concessions
The city could create opportunities for MPloy participants to market concessions like sodas, potato chips, etc. in places like city parks and/or other approved localities that would be staffed with security for MPloy participant and patron safety.
Product Creation
The city could create multiple product creation ventures and staff them with MPloy participants, who, once properly trained, could create everything from furniture, clothing, and packaged treats, to automobiles, et cetera.
Lawn Services
Lawn services are another revenue-generating opportunity for MPloy participants. The city could solicit business from home owners, etc. via infomercials and other advertisements that would discuss the need for giving teens constructive opportunities juxtapose the need for lawn services, etc. during summer. Youth participants would be supervised by adults, of course, adults who could be actual city employees or external entrepreneurs who would train youth participants to perform the work. Lawn service supervisors would be equipped with vans and trucks to transport the commercial (riding and manual) mowers and work crew to each work site. Vehicles utilized for such purposes that are owned by the city could exhibit the City of Memphis and/or MPloy Youth landscaping division logo. Interested homeowners, etc. would pay for lawn services via, preferably, the MPloy website on a lawn services page...
MPloy Evaluations
MPloy participants should be formally evaluated on factors that any traditional employee would be evaluated on, like attendance, adherence to dress codes, work performance, etc. The noted evaluations should be discussed with MPloyees, who would be required to sign them juxtapose their site managers, and with parents, who would further address pointers discussed.
MPloy and parental guidance in students' initial employment would encourage their success in the workforce in succeeding years.
Addressing Issues with The MPloy Youth Excellence Awards Ceremony
Awards that are distributed during MPloy Youth excellence awards ceremonies should be based on student evaluations, though every student who meets minimum attendance and participation requirements in the program should be disbursed MPloy completion certificates in addition to any other certificates awarded by individual companies that have hosted MPloyees. My son was only disbursed a certificate from Blues City Cultural...
The MPloy Youth Excellence Awards Ceremony was held at the Levitt Shell, which is an outdoors amphitheater located in Overton Park near the campus of the Memphis College of Art. During the day of the program, there were several other programs occurring simultaneously, and the park was jammed packed. It was very challenging to find a place to park and there was no formal seating. Attendees had to bring their own chairs, a requirement that we learned of only a few hours before the program...
Another surprise was the presence of vendors who sold much-needed bottled water and other cold beverages and snacks, none of whom accepted debit or credit cards. If you didn't have cash in the form of paper currency and coins you were simply out of luck.
MPloy should communicate to participants and their families way in advance that any awards or other MPloy programs held at the Levitt Shell are outdoors and require attendees to bring their own chairs, that it can be challenging to find a place to park in Overton Park, and that they should bring paper currency and/or coins if they want to purchase cold beverages and snacks...
I personally don't think that the Levitt Shell is an ideal locality for MPloy awards ceremonies, which should be held indoors (in the event of inclement weather) and in a facility that is sizable enough to entertain all MPloyees and those accompanying them in terms of seating (which should be provided by the program) and in terms of parking, which should be complimentary...
Conclusion
MPloy Youth is a merited program that should be a model for other cities to implement. In order to be a program of the sort, it must be harmoniously managed and free of hostility of any sort. It should additionally be less reliant upon city funding, which is very practical, considering ethical for-profit opportunities that can be created through the program. Though some work involved might not be preferred, this fact should serve to magnify the ultimate purpose of the program, which should be to show participants the importance of an education.
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