The young people involved in Hammons Education Leadership Program learn what it’s like on the job site during the final step of the Texas Three-Step program. First, they learn about the job through videos; then, they talk to someone from the job site; last, they visit the site and are put to work. Courtesy photo
At-risk youths can do the Texas Three-Step all the way to a good-paying career through the Hammons Education Leadership Program started in Corpus Christi by Dr. Ridge Hammons in 1998. Now celebrating its 10th year of giving young people hands-on experiences in the workplace, HELP plans a thank-you luncheon Wednesday, May 23, at the Art Center of Corpus Christi, 100 N. Shoreline Blvd.
“We are going to honor some of the people who have been significant to this program over the last decade,” Hammons said. “It’s a thank-you to our board members and people who have made significant contributions.”
The nonprofit has raised more than $1 million over the past 10 years to help at-risk youths establish careers. The idea is catching across the Coastal Bend as Hammons meets with area school districts interested in the program.
“The Texas Three-Step Program is all the rage now,” Hammons said. “It’s installation, examination, and visitation.”
In the first step, a Windows on the World computer program is set up in schools so students can explore job opportunities, mostly in the trades. Once a student decides on what he or she is interested in pursuing further, a speaker comes to talk about the job and what it entails. That’s step two. Step three is visitation: actually going to the job site and working.
“That’s the meat and potatoes of what we do,” Hammons said. “We take them and show them the jobs. No more videos, no books, no more talking. They get their hands dirty and find out what it’s really like.”
The concept is to open up a career world to recent high school graduates and kids caught up in the juvenile justice system who would not normally see or even think about such jobs.
Hammons’s philosophy boils down to a statement on the program’s website, findthejobofyourdreams.com: “How can you find the job of your dreams if you don’t even know it exists?”
“Our program answers those questions that, when you’re a youngster and don’t know where your life is headed, can keep you up at night,” Hammons said. “Things like do you settle for any job or do you have a plan? That’s what scares them. They never have to get that feeling if they see a job opportunity for themselves and realize, ‘Yes, I can do that!’”
Hammons likens the feeling to learning how to fly, an apt description for the Coastal Bend.
“I see those seagulls perched by the sea wall, looking out over the water, the wind in their faces, wondering where they are going to go,” he said. “Our kids can raise their wings and let the winds take them wherever they want to go. They just have to be willing to open their wings. HELP gives them that chance.”
To participate in the luncheon as a sponsor, make a donation, or find out how your company can be a mentor for HELP clients, call Hammons at (361) 815-6122. Visit the website at findthejobofyourdreams.com. The program’s biggest fundraiser, a celebrity talent show, happens each October at Brewster Street Icehouse. Call Hammons to ask about sponsoring the event.
