As a young girl, I remember each week during the summer the huge van parked at the end of the block where my grandparents lived. When I first entered it, I was awestruck by the rows of books. The bookmobile developed and satisfied my voracious appetite for literature.
D.C. Councilman Michael Brown had a similar positive experience growing up in Washington. That’s the reason he has been pushing a Bookmobile concept to get services to unemployed young people in the District.
“A lot of young folks in the community, if you say DOES [Department of Employment Services], it means nothing to them,” Brown told me during a recent interview, referring to the local agency responsible for everything from summer jobs, adult employment and training programs, apprenticeships, and dispensing unemployment compensation benefits. “They definitely don’t know where [DOES] is located.”
When I left my grandparents, moving with my mother to the Desire Public Housing complex, the bookmobile rarely came there. My peers and I spent time in a faux recreation center, playing pingpong or other games. Fortunately and unfortunately, the center director took an interest in me — not just because I exhibited a thirst for knowledge but also because of my vulnerability. (The latter is a conversation for another day. An Examiner reader reminded me recently of my New Year’s resolution; so, I won’t go there.) Suffice to say, the center director helped me connect with the larger city. Many of my peers weren’t as lucky.
There are young people in the District who also don’t know how to access resources beyond their boundaries. Brown said the “jobsmobile” could be an answer. “We would take the first phase to them.” Young people could submit applications — not interview for jobs, however.
Interestingly, “the DOES already has a jobs van,” said agency spokeswoman Dy Brown. “[In it] there are two banks of computers people can actually use.
“We really try to use it to direct people to the one-stop career centers and to tell people about job opportunities and training programs,” she added.
The problem: There’s only one van.
“That’s not enough. My vision is much larger and more visible. I’m looking for a more aggressive approach,” said the councilman, adding there at least needs to be two, traveling regularly to select communities.
One, two, it doesn’t matter. It’s a bad idea. It could discourage initiative and ingenuity. It also creates a false perception of the real world. In the Desire, no one knocked on my door with a job application. I perused classified ads; asked other employed youth, and took myself to retail establishments, inquiring about vacancies.
Brown dismissed my criticism, arguing the city’s high unemployment and adult illiteracy demand action. “I’m not one who thinks we should wait.”
I am reminded of the African proverb about teaching a man to fish or giving him a fish when he’s hungry. I stand as proof that the former is far better.
Jonetta Rose Barras, hosts of WPFW’s “D.C. Politics with Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected].
