Youth
There’s a skill to jumping double Dutch. The feet have to move fast, almost instinctively, to the rhythmic patter of ropes hitting concrete. At 12, Ah-Miya Miller has it down. “The thing I like about jumping rope is that it keeps my body moving and keeps us in shape, and when you get the rhythm, you can see it’s not that hard,” she said. “It makes me feel excited to know that a crowd is watching me perform double dutch.”…
The Richmond Work Experience Program is accepting applications for 2024-2025, giving young people job experience and help with career building. What was the Summer Youth Employment Program now offers more opportunities. Richmond YouthWORKS is collaborating with about 164 work sites to give Richmond residents between 16 and 24 years old the opportunity to work up to 300 hours at $17.20 per hour. In 2021, the City Council approved a $1.9 million increase in funding for YouthWORKS as part of the…
At 15, Demaria was arrested for carrying a gun to school and was sent to West County Detention Facility for 10 days. Tall in stature and brusque in manner, Demaria said he remembers the nights there as lonely. “The lights were switched off at 10 p.m., and you couldn’t distract yourself with a book or anything else,” he said. To avoid any chance of returning to juvenile hall, Demaria — whom Richmond Confidential is identifying only by his first name…
A junior at Kennedy High School in Richmond, Willow, a transgender and pansexual student, had experienced a hard time in freshman year, being bullied both verbally and physically. Once, Willow recalled, a boy tried to hurt them by hammering nails upright into their chair. “So I would sit on them and I would obviously poke myself or stab myself on them,” said Willow, who uses the pronoun they. A friend noticed the nails and pulled Willow away. In a shop…
Andrea Pierce, who has lived in south Richmond for more than 60 years, is contemplating moving to a better environment for her grandchildren. “It is just not a good place anymore,” Pierce said about Richmond. “Even though I have been here 60-plus years, I have watched it change.” Many people align with Pierce’s views. According to the National Community Survey released in 2021, only 1 in 4 respondents found Richmond to be a good place to raise children. Though that…
When Donté Clark talks about poetry, his entire demeanor shifts. His cheekbones rise to reveal a knowing smile, and his whole body hums and bobs and bounces as he speaks. In these moments, it feels like he’s on the verge of breaking out into verse. Clark, an award-winning spoken-word poet from Richmond, hopes the passion he brings to his craft rubs off on his audience. Since April, he’s led bi-monthly poetry workshops for boys at John A. Davis Juvenile Hall…
Armed with a trash picker, plastic bag and garden gloves, Ahmaya Maroney, a senior at John F. Kennedy High School, snagged the paper, wrappers, bottles and cans that dirtied the sidewalks and gutters along 23rd Street in Richmond Thursday evening. With a corps of about 25 other community members, Maroney picked up litter in preparation of the annual “Trick or Treat on 23rd Street” on Halloween, which is Tuesday. “I think it’s really important to pick up trash around the…
Celebrate the arrival of fall at the Richmond Plunge Saturday, when a sea of floating pumpkins will be taking over the swim lanes. “Some people can go to a pumpkin patch, and go through a corn maze, and go on a hay ride. And sure, that’s one way to make that memorable,” said Paula Cooper-Tipton, the aquatics recreation program coordinator. “But another memorable way is to go jump in the water and swim with your pumpkin.” In its 12-year history,…
On a bright and sunny day last week in Nicholl Park, Ariana Martinez, 16, stood with her black hoodie pulled over her head as she and other participants in Richmond’s new youth outdoor program played rock, paper, scissors, laughing as they fumbled the timing. “I’m excited for her,” said Ariana’s mother, Jovita Andrade. “For her to be able to like, socialize and do more things outdoors. Because she tends to stay indoors and on her computer and stuff like that….