LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A new initiative is bringing Arts District businesses together to help at-risk youth in Las Vegas.
The goal is to connect them with internships, jobs, mentorship, and entrepreneurship opportunities through local business partnerships. The effort follows a fatal shooting earlier this month that killed a 15-year-old in the Arts District.
Local businesses have formed the Arts District Action Coalition in response.
Business owner offers mentorship
Jocelyn Poirier owns The Honeypot. She said she comes from a troubled background herself.
“So I want to help, I want to give back, and I feel like I have a lot of insight that I could help these kids with,” Poirier said.
Poirier said she plans to teach participants the basics of running a business in her store.
“I’ll teach them how to build their Instagram, how to open a business license, like the simple things, the little steps, and then from there, how to build the relationship with their customers, how to market their products,” Poirier said.
MORE ON FOX5: First Friday pauses downtown Las Vegas events following deadly shooting of teen
Teen found program through community service list
18-year-old Kadyn Phillips found the program after getting out of a difficult time.
“It was really looking down the list, because I had community service, so I had to look down the list, and I went through, like, 30 places, and none of them answered, and this was the first place to actually answer,” Phillips said.
Phillips said he now wants a meaningful career and is thinking about starting his own business.
“So right now I resell clothes. I buy clothes for low. I resell them,” Phillips said.
Gang intervention team to help connect youth with businesses
Clark County’s gang intervention team has been doing work for years and will now have a member helping connect youth to the participating businesses.
“So one of the things that we will be able to do is, if they choose to have some of the youth come and help, we can pay for their wages for up to six months with one of our community partners,” a Juan Torres said.
Teen entrepreneur shares his story
Dearion Rivera, 17, is one success story.
“So, well, obviously, I came from that situation. I was caught up in the streets,” Rivera said.
At 17, Rivera already operates his own business.
“What we do is pavement marking. And what we also do is curb lettering and all that,” Rivera said. “So right now, what we’re already doing is we’re actually trying to help a lot of the kids right now when it comes to actually giving them spaces over here in local businesses to actually express themselves.”
Ten businesses have signed on
Organizers say 10 nearby businesses have already signed on. Despite First Friday being canceled for now, organizers say they will continue helping youth across the county.
Organizers say they are still accepting applications from businesses that want to get involved.
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