Business group makes pitch to middle-schoolers
Lisa Rosenthal, left, and Lenaw McKee are the organizers to 10th annual Our Kids in Action event. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Business organizations generally deal only with business people or other business organizations, not with school-age kids.
But this morning, more than 1,600 middle-school students from schools across Long Island are expected at Farmingdale State College at an event organized by Our Kids In Action, a nonprofit founded by the Melville-based business group Action Long Island. The actress Allisyn Ashley Arm, 14, from the Disney Channel series "Sonny with a Chance," will be the keynote speaker.
It's a half-day event that provides the kids with a few hours off from the classroom, but the affair has a serious purpose. The core idea is to get ahold of the kids at an early age, familiarize them with Long Island businesses and hopefully instill in them the desire to live and work here after they graduate from college.
The Our Kids In Action program, now in its 10th year, follows middle-school students as they enter high school and will provide them with mentors from Long Island companies, said Lisa Rosenthal, director of development for Our Kids In Action.
"Long Island has serious issues around keeping talent," Rosenthal said. "The cost of living here has been a problem for years." Perhaps, the theory goes, if the kids meet up with mentors from companies and secured internships, the chances of their getting jobs here would improve.
"Our mission is to make sure we start with the kids in middle school," Rosenthal said.
Four nonprofit organizations that the middle-school students started themselves - Children Helping Children, One is Greater Than None, Project HEAL, and Long Island Go Good Campaign - will receive awards. Rosenthal said the four nonprofits helped raise "hundreds of thousands of dollars" over the years.
Next year, Action Long Island's Wellness Challenge, which asks companies to provide health and exercise programs for their employees, will be instituted at Long Island schools in some modified form. "It's the next step for Long Island companies to support people who live here, including, their own children," Rosenthal said.
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