Jun 12, 2008 8:09 pm US/Pacific
A Recipe for Success Cooked Up By Bay Area Kids
Jefferson Award Winner: Regina Jackson
(CBS 5)
The menu sounds like something you'd find at a restaurant: shrimp fried rice, pork egg rolls, orange chicken. But this chefs here average about twelve years old. It's an after-school cooking class that was the idea of Regina Jackson, Executive Director of the East Oakland Youth Development Center. It's one of the first programs she started when she took over the helm 15 years ago.
"Initially kids were signing up because they were hungry and it gave them a healthy meal -- at least one -- but then they began really loving the process," Regina explains.
Most of these kids would be home alone without the program, which is why Regina got to work remodeling the kitchen and recruiting volunteer chefs.
"What we are trying to teach them is how to make nutritious meals," she says. "We're trying to help them to understand what it's like to make healthy choices."
In the process, the youngsters learn math and measuring. They build teamwork skills, and learn about patience and hard work.
The cooking class is just one of several programs that Regina has started during her tenure at the center. All of them prepare young people to be successful adults.
Of the 2500 kids who come through the doors every year, Regina knows most of them personally. She helps oversee 60 classes a week, whether it's the After School Homework Center she started... or one of the acclaimed sports programs. The center has become a home base for kids growing up in a tough urban environment.
Regina says, "Teach young people to have good character, teach them to make good decisions, teach them to work hard and to be nice, to accept accountability for their decisions."
And along they way, teach them to make a mean orange chicken.
"They are having an opportunity to achieve success every single day. It adds to their character, it adds to their life skills," says Regina.
So for giving kids the skills and support needed to become successful adults, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Regina Jackson.
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