{"id":139,"date":"2009-07-19T21:26:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-19T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terragrafix.com\/blog\/?p=139"},"modified":"2009-07-19T21:26:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-19T21:26:00","slug":"federal-stimulus-money-funds-internships-in-emeryville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=139","title":{"rendered":"Federal Stimulus Money Funds Internships in Emeryville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n


by Margaret Leonard<\/p>\n

An Oakland 15-year-old and an Emeryville yoga teacher are among the first to take advantage of President Barack Obama’s Economic Stimulus Plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

One wanted a job and the other wanted to hire a young local person to give her new connections to the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both got what they wanted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chakesha Thompson has just started her summer internship at the Square One Yoga Collective. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not far from her home in Oakland and even closer to her high school in Emeryville, where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a tenth grader in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Katy Cryer, 32, the yoga teacher and studio owner who hired Thompson, plans to teach her as much as possible about starting a new business during a frightening recession. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Cryer has been doing for the past five months.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If I can start a successful yoga studio in the heart of a recession, Chakesha can follow her dreams too,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Cryer said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If her dream involves starting a business, marketing, PR or customer relations, I can teach her many of those skills.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/span><\/p>\n

Thompson got her job, and Cryer got her intern, from EYE \u00e2\u20ac\u201c- Emery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Young Entrepreneurs — an East Bay branch of the federal stimulus plan. EYE’s budget is $84,000, enough for 25 summer internships.<\/span><\/p>\n

The internships have been offered and taken quickly, according to Jennielyn Dino Rossi, EYE’s liaison. In fact, she said, EYE is now trying to raise money to set up more internships for the waiting list of eager students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thompson said she applied because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want the experience.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She also wants to put away a little money for college.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cryer applied for the chance to take an intern because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wanted to help, that it would be a good way to be of service to the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a high school teacher (seven years teaching math to teenagers), and I know how to start a business. I want to teach her about possibilities. If there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good stuff out there, you go after it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

What else does Thompson want?<\/span><\/p>\n

“I want to help her expand her business,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thompson said. One reason Cryer hired Thompson was that the 15-year-old has a lot of ideas for expanding Cryer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s business. For example, she wants to go to the senior center and recruit older people to take yoga. Cryer, whose studio hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen many elderly people so far, likes that idea. Thompson also wants to recruit people her own age to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153youth yoga.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

Square One , which has 12 instructors, charges just $10 a class.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thompson says she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind any of the work. In addition to the marketing she wants to do, she has typical high-school-intern chores: answer the phone, water the plants, sweep the floors, wash the cups, sign in the students.<\/span><\/p>\n

And she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have on-the-job training: five classes of yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I watched yoga; I liked it,” Thompson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give it a try.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get paid to take her first five classes and then have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all the yoga she wants\u00e2\u20ac\u009d without charge as long as she works there. The contract says that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be up to 200 hours, until Sept. 30. Right now, Thompson says she hopes to make it permanent and full-time when the internship expires.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cryer said Thompson will earn as much as $1,600 in wages.<\/span><\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Square One Yoga Collective is located at 4336-A San Pablo Ave., Emeryville.<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>Margaret Leonard<\/span><\/span> is the mother of Katy Cryer. A former newspaper reporter and editor, she lives in Tallahasee, FL.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n