CJR Development Announces New Internship Program for Young Men

By PRESS OFFICER
CJR Development

Hillcrest Heights, Md. (Aug. 3, 2022)—The partners at CJR Development, Nicole Cober and Harold Johnson, created an internship to encourage career exploration among young boys ages 12 and 15. “There are so many careers in the development world. We wanted to be proactive and show the young men how many opportunities exist when we are building and taking care of our neighborhood,” said Cober. “Not only do the boys do daily chores of cleaning up the neighborhood, but they also serve as greeters in the neighborhood, specifically for the senior citizens who are members of the Lewis, a new active seniors’ community,” she continued. Initially, the program was a response to the spike in property crime among the Towne Square community by young boys around the same age as the participants. With the introduction of the internship, the community is starting to see positive changes in their youth. Gavin Stewart, a program participant expressed his enthusiasm about the program, stating, “I really enjoyed our engineering week. We got to work on projects, create structures, and ask questions about their stability.”  Even those connected to the boys are witnessing the growth. Gavin’s father, Damien Stewart, mirrored his son’s sentiment, saying, “Thank you for creating this program. My son now talks more about construction and engineering than he does basketball.”

During the program, the boys learned about day-to-day careers and responsibilities for different facets in the development world such as real estate, architecture, engineering, construction management, finance management, and the law. In addition to learning about development, the internship teaches the participants valuable life skills to create well-rounded successful youth. Cober explained, “The boys also received financial literacy information, set up a bank account, and deposited their weekly stipend into their checking account. They now must budget for meals and clothing. To ensure the boys receive the most accurate experience of having a career and maintain consistency throughout the program, Cober and Johnson implemented a system to help the participants learn responsibility. “If they lose a uniform piece or if they are late, it’s deducted from their salary. I wanted to make sure that they really start to see the value of money and the value of their time and mine,” laughed Nicole Cober.

Cober and Johnson hope to expand this program to their other development and hope that the county will be a partner with them in the future. They think that this is an excellent career development opportunity for young people to receive hands-on experience for their professional lives.

CJR Development is a full-service company that prides itself on transforming communities across the globe and partnering with global developers to deliver healthy communities. For businesses interested in partnering with CJR Development, reach out to Karrington Duncan at kduncan@thecjrgroup.com to receive more information.

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