Staff Photo by Angela Lewis FosterDavid Meredith, second from right, talks with Valerie Paris, right, Randy Brady, left, and Edrius Cameron during a program Friday at United Way for students who were chosen for their leadership qualities.Blindfolded and with their arms outstretched, the teenagers shuffled slowly around a large conference room in the United Way’s Market Street headquarters in Chattanooga.
They depended on partners standing behind them for guidance. A tap to turn left, another to turn right, a different signal to quit.
“Stop, stop!” one guide shrieked as two blindfolded teens appeared ready to collide.
The exercise was part of the Emerging Leaders MVP program, in which teens selected for their leadership potential are matched with adult community mentors. The teens, in turn, are sent back into their communities to help mentor younger children at community centers in the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods.
With the help of a Tennessee Volunteers grant underwritten by the federal government and local agencies including 12 Family and Youth Development Centers, Northside Neighborhood House, the Bethlehem Center and the Salvation Army, 30 local students aged 12 to 18 will complete the training and gear up to work as mentors themselves.