VOA常速英语2008年-Private Charity Offers Homeless, Runaway Youths

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New York City
14 February 2008
 

Since 1972, a private charity called Covenant² House has worked to improve the lives of runaway³, at-risk, and homeless youths in New York City, providing food, shelter, counseling and other forms of help. This year, Covenant House New York is marking the 21st anniversary of a life-skills and job-training program that helps prepare young people for independent adulthood⁴.

It’s an annual celebration, a formal diploma ceremony for graduates of the "Rights of Passage" program at New York’s Covenant House. The formerly⁵ homeless or at-risk youths in their late teens or early twenties, some with small children of their own, have completed months of job training and classes in life-skills. And with the aid of mentors⁶, they have made plans for reaching their continuing educational and career goals.

“All that you need to do for us now is go and have a good life,” said Covenant House executive director Bruce Henry in his address to the graduates and their families and friends. Covenant House was founded 36 years ago by Roman Catholic laypeople as a youth crisis center. It was Henry who came up with the idea for the Rights of Passage program in 1987. He saw that at-risk and street kids in their late teens or early twenties needed more than short-term assistance. They were too old for orphanages⁷ or foster families. But they were not prepared for independent adulthood, either.

“Kids come out of foster care every single day at 19, and they end up back in the shelter system, because they're too young to take care of themselves,” Henry said in an interview. He noted⁸ that many middle-class youths move back in with their parents following college because, despite their education, they’re not yet ready for wholly independent lives. “[So] why would we take these kids who've struggled so much and say, ‘Well they're 19, they're an adult, why can't they take care of themselves? It doesn't make any sense.”

Covenant House resident Vincent Santana's life, for example, was derailed when his father died. “I was still in school, but I had to leave after he passed away, because we couldn't afford the rent,” the 19 year old said during a pause in his work at Covenant House. “Me and my mother came up here to New York because we were going to stay with family here. That didn't work out either, so she ended up going back to Florida, and I ended up staying here. to try to live it out.”

The Rights of Passage program teaches everyday life-skills that more privileged youth might take for granted, such as how to dress for a job interview or open a bank account. Participants also are given job training, so that they can find entry-level work. Vincent Santana and Tyler Jones are both training as cooks in the kitchen at Covenant House.

“I like it, it's really interesting, because you learn a lot of different things and you meet a lot of people from a lot of different places,” said Jones. “And you learn to cook a lot of different meals because the people that work in the kitchen are from all different kinds of places. You get to use your own mind, your own imagination.”  Jones is a young single mother of a toddler. They both live with Jones’s mother and siblings⁹, and were never homeless. But she needed work skills, and happened to see a sign one day advertising¹⁰ the Rights of Passage training program. 

Santana has also found he likes cooking:  “After I'm done with this, after I get my certificate, I'm going to try to get a good restaurant job and eventually become a chef, and I want to own my own restaurant. That's my plan,” he said.

More than 500 New York companies participate in Rights of Passage, offering internships or jobs. Bruce Henry said that employment is the top priority. “And that comes out of something really quite simple: their age,” he said. “We understand that they have a lot of problems that they're trying to put together, all the way from housing, to their emotional problems, to their family problems. But if you're 22, and you can't work, you have no shot at working with the rest of the problems.”

Like other Covenant House programs, Rights of Passage is funded mainly by private donations. In 21 years, Henry says, thousands of young people have graduated in New York and at other Covenant Houses in the U.S. and Canada. Some of those alumnae¹¹, now in their 30s and 40s, volunteer as mentors to the current generation of Covenant House youths. 

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

3 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

4 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

5 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

6 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

7 orphanages   

孤儿院( orphanage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It is Rotarians running orphanages for children who have no homes. 扶轮社员们为没有家的孩子办孤儿院。
• Through the years, she built churches, hospitals and orphanages. 许多年来，她盖了一间间的教堂、医院、育幼院。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 alumnae   

n.女毕业生，女校友；女校友( alumna的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Alumnae Association is my link to the school's present administration. 女校友协会是我和现在学校行政部门之间的纽带 来自《简明英汉词典》
• My two sisters are both alumnae of George Washington High school. 我两个姊姊都是乔治华盛顿高级中学的毕业生。 来自互联网