St. Paul – Despite the frigid temperatures on Tuesday, several business leaders came out to Elpis Enterprises’ quarterly Hands on Hope Event to meet with interns and speak with them about the workforce. Dara Strickland was one of those who showed up to speak with interns.
She works for Repowered another non-profit in Elpis’s neighborhood that works with adults in need of employment opportunities through social enterprises such as electronics recycling and refurbishing. Elpis has printed work uniforms in their screen printing shop for Repowered over the years and events such as Hands on Hope are a way for Strickland and other Repowered leadership to give back to Elpis.
“What I think is important about Hands on Hope is I think about all the times in my life, I’m very lucky, had a lot of privilege to have talked to my parents, my parents’ friends people I knew in the community,” said Strickland. “We talk to them about different careers, just what work looks like, and what’s possible because I know that there’s a huge section of the population that doesn’t have access to that.”
Not every intern at Elpis wants to go into the same career field that speakers at Hands on Hope are in. However, people like Strickland can provide insight into the general expectations of the workforce that interns will see after their time at Elpis.
“So career advice I give everybody and we’re we’re a work training program too, but with adults, is you can’t work a job you hate. If it’s 40 hours a week or more of your waking life then doing something you hate is just an absolute recipe for disaster,” Strickland said.
When passing on this advice to Elpis interns, Strickland provides the other side of the coin, which is to take some risks early in their workforce development to find out what they like to do so they can avoid landing a job they hate.
“I encourage people to ask as many questions as possible to people to talk about what a regular day at their job looks like. I’m a big believer in work as a stabilizing force, not just economically, I, like a paycheck, but also a stabilizing force for your life for your identity, for the way that you think about yourself. I see a lot with our adult employees and I’m really glad that a place like Elpis exists to get young people started kind of on that journey as well.”
For business leaders who are interested but have yet to attend one of Elpis’s Hands on Hope events. Strickland and other workforce professionals recommend they attend so they can continue to provide more diverse workforce opportunities to interns to help them find out more about opportunities that land in fields they are passionate about.
“One of the things I love about Hands on Hope is getting to close that gap a little bit for students who are motivated, who are thinking about their work now and their future. Giving them something like that same opportunity that I had and didn’t realize was an opportunity until much later in my life to talk to people about how you get into careers they want to be in.”
If you were unable to attend Elpis’s Hands on Hope for the first quarter of 2025, we will be hosting another one on Tuesday, May 20 from 3-5 p.m. With warmer weather almost certainly guaranteed then, we hope to see you there.
