BURIEN, Wash. — A Burien nonprofit is giving teens vital resources and support to build a brighter future.
This week the non-profit Choose 180 is wrapping up its summer internship program. It is an eight-week summer internship program that teens 13 to 18 years old are paid to be a part of. They gain entrepreneurship skills and learn how to start and run a business.
All teens in the summer internship program are from Choose 180’s school-based diversion programs.
“When I met them, they were in the office every day, you know, at risk of being suspended or expelled, and now they’re presenting a business plan,” said Lamaria Pope, program manager of Choose 180’s School-Based Diversion and Summer Programming.
Choose 180 runs several programs inside some King County Schools and outside of school hours, like the summer internship program.
For the final week of the internship program, the teens will present the business ideas they created to King County entrepreneurs.
“So, my business is a sustainable clothing business,” said Gia, a 16-year-old participant in the program. “It's Amphitrite Designs.”
Gia is about to enter her junior year of high school and started with Choose 180 about two years ago.
“It was my freshman year in high school, and I was really slacking on my grades then,” Gia said. “Everything was just going downhill, being distracted with the wrong crowd and all that.”
She said the summer internship program taught her about finances, and starting a business. The teen said Choose 180 has also given her community.
“It's like home,” Gia said. “If I ever need anything, I know that I can reach out to them.”
The Program Manager of Choose 180’s School-Based Diversion and Summer Programming said she was once a participant herself.
“I had theft charges, I had a couple of fraud charges, just kind of in like survival mode,” said Lamaria Pope, of when she first was a participant at Choose 180 about eight years ago.
Pope said many times resources are hidden in the community, and she works to connect young people to resources at Choose 180 that can help them in the future, just like she was helped by the non-profit’s programs.
“They gave me a second chance,” Pope said. “With a second chance, I just knew I couldn't drop the ball. I had to pick up and keep going.”
She said the program gives teens mentors and resources to hold them accountable and give them support.
It is the support that participants said is life-changing, and they hope other teens will experience opportunities like this too.
“I would love for them to find their escape, and this should be their escape,” Gia said.
Choose 180 serves young people ages 13 to 24. Since they opened in 2011, the non-profit has served nearly 4,000 teens and young adults.