Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In 2020, Cookie Cart engaged 192 teens in 454,351hours of job experience, job readiness workshops and community engagement. Within those programming hours, youth were to accomplish the following programming activities: 83 teens completed Foundations training, 114 engaged in Leadership training, 114 attended Bright Futures training focused on job search, resume preparation and interview skills, 115 completed Customer Service training, 112 attended Financial Literacy training, 37 achieved an industry skills certification. Cookie Cart tracks 36 measures of youth development/proficiency across five areas:
• Interpersonal skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Goal orientation
• Employment readiness
•Connectedness to new communities
Cookie Cart youth consistently achieve high levels of social-emotional growth and proficiency. After engaging in our program in 2020, all youth were at least 80 percent proficient in all measures and six measures showed 100 percent proficiency (these were in the areas of goals, adaptability, valuing others’ opinions, and belief in the ability to “make a difference”). Also,17 metrics showed average growth of at least 10 percentage points and many of these showed greater growth than in 2019. The biggest 2020 gains were in: • Comfort with speaking in front of people (30.0 point increase), • Financial literacy (up to a 26.1point increase), • Connectedness to community (16.0-19.7 point increases), and • Goalsetting and achievement (16.4-19.3 point increases).
Current Goals
Cookie Cart will engage 210 youth in 31,750 hours of job experience and job readiness training in 2021, 70 percent of our typical annual goal of 300.This reflects the need to engage youth remotely for part of the year and our desire to ramp up quickly once it is safe for youth to return to our bakeries. Training targets reflect the varying levels of skill and experience among our youth employees. By the end of the year, we expect that: • 105 teens will participate in foundational skills training, • 105 teens will complete customer service training, • 105 teens will attend financial literacy training, • 66 teens will engage in leadership training, • 66 teens will attend career advancement training, • 50 teens will obtain an industry-recognized credential, • 46 teens will work in advanced leadership positions, and • 20 (virtual) workplace visits will be offered with employer partners.
Community or Constituency Served
Teens ages 15 to 18
Geographic Area Served
North Minneapolis, Saint Paul's East Side
