There have been many community partners with Elpis Enterprises throughout the years, but few have had as long a partnership with Elpis as Bolder Options.
Bolder Options is a youth mentoring program that has been around for over 30 years, helping youth in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Rochester, Minnesota, focused on helping middle school-aged youth partner with adult mentors. These mentors meet with their youth every week for a year for at least two to four hours, participating in various activities with their mentors.
Elpis Enterprises has been a long-time partner for Bolder Options as they have printed shirts distributed to staff, mentors, and youth who are a part of Bolder Options.
“The opportunity for us as an organization to work with an organization that has youth and making them be a part of the process was very, very intriguing to us,” said Darrell Thompson, Executive Director of Bolder Options. “We just believe in supporting an organization that is supporting the community.”
Thompson shared how both Bolder Options and Elips work with their youth to help them grow individually and within their communities.
“It’s a job and a sense of belonging,” said Thompson. “For a young person to start to learn soft skills, learn how to work with their hands, how to do interviews, and have a little more opportunity than they might have in a traditional job setting. So that when they do go into that traditional job setting, they have the skills and the confidence to go in there and represent themselves well.”
Bolder Options has kept its decades-long partnership with Elpis primarily printing all apparel for their company from shirts and hats to hoodies and sweatpants. The growth of Elpis Enterprises over the last two years has increased products for Bolder Options from screen printing on apparel to embroidering, making pins and buttons, and much more.
“I think it’s evolved just through seeing it work. When you see a young lady or young man get an employment opportunity, have a place to go, have a sense of belonging, and gain a skill or trait. Then they start to lead a much more positive and healthy life.
Both Elpis and Bolder Options provide lifelong skills in their programs, whether for careers or personal skills to communicate with people.
“And that’s what all of us want through Elpis Enterprises, through Bolder Options. The partnership makes it so I don’t really want to look anywhere else where I want work done with our organization. We don’t need to bid it out, we’re going to go with Elpis Enterprises.”
The countless number of youth that both Bolder Options and Elpis have helped through the years have been empowering for Thompson. It’s the main reason why he keeps up the partnership with Elpis Enterprises and speaks up for the quality of work they do alongside youth who come through their programs, whether it be making t-shirts, building birdhouses from scratch, or interacting with community members.
“It’s part of what drives me. To see the young men and young ladies grow up, get these skills, and go on to live a healthy and productive life, it’s the reason I go to work every day.”
