This past year, CASES hired our first-ever Youth Alumni Navigators, two part-time Education, Career & Enrichment (ECE) alumni—Naomi Ramirez and Rayshal DeRiggs. Naomi, hired in December 2023, is a program graduate of our largest work-readiness program, Job’s for America’s Graduates (JAG NY), and she received her GED through CASES education services. Rayshal, hired in February of this year, is also a JAG NY graduate and received her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Brooklyn College.  

The Youth Alumni Navigator role was created and funded with the generous support of the Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Memorial Fund to provide professional development opportunities for graduates of CASES ECE programs and mentorship opportunities for our current ECE participants. Since Naomi and Rayshal have joined the ECE team, they have been excellent peer leaders and advocates for CASES youth by supporting youth engagement, modeling success, and ensuring that programming is closely aligned with the wants and needs of CASES young people. 

Career Panel at Drip Cafe
A key part of being a Youth Alumni Navigator is organizing events to engage youth around their educational and employment interests.  In February, Naomi and Rayshal successfully carried out their first event of this kind through a career panel at Drip Cafe, a Black and Caribbean owned cafe that opened in Flatbush, Brooklyn in 2019. To an audience of CASES youth enrolled in JAG NY, Reframing Opportunities, Alternatives & Resilience (ROAR) and Pathways to Education, Achievement & Knowledge (PEAK) programs, Naomi and Rayshal interviewed Drip’s owner to learn about the successes and challenges of starting and running a business. Towards the end of the interview, the floor was opened up for the audience of youth participants to ask questions about entrepreneurship as well. This panel allowed CASES youth, most of whom are Black, to see a Black entrepreneur succeed and to gain valuable insights about entrepreneurship to apply to their own aspirations. 

Women’s History Month Panel
In addition to the career panel at Drip, the Alumni Navigators held an event to celebrate Women’s History month in March. Naomi and Rayshal gathered arts and craft supplies for ECE staff at CASES Brooklyn office to make vision boards that allowed them to visually express and encapsulate women’s empowerment. The Navigators then replicated this event at Rising Ground’s Transitional Independent Living Center (TIL), CASES partner provider that regularly hosts our JAG services and offers support and respite to youth who are unhoused or in foster care.  Youth participants used a vision board activity to celebrate their identities as young women as well as the history of women’s empowerment through art. 

Youth Orientation
In a third event designed for Works Progress Program (WPP) and Summer Youth Employment (SYEP) participants, the Navigators held a work-readiness orientation. During the orientation, Naomi and Rayshal spoke with young people about workplace etiquette and expectations, including proper work attire, punctuality, attendance, and communication skills. The Navigators also shared tips for speaking up for oneself and demonstrating how to set up direct deposits. By utilizing their own experience with employment to organize the orientation, Naomi and Rayshal served as essential models for work-readiness.  

What’s Next?
As Naomi and Rayshal pass the halfway mark in their time as Youth Alumni Navigators, they have started to brainstorm activities that will best meet the needs of their peers. Based on feedback from CASES youth through surveys and one-on-one conversations, Naomi and Rayshal are excited to propose a Learner’s Permit study group to support youth in obtaining their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). Naomi and Rayshal are developing a presentation to explain the process of obtaining a CDL step-by-step and gathering important materials and resources to help youth study. As well as providing physical resources, youth can turn to their fellow study group peers or the Navigators to seek support once they delve into the process. In addition to the study group, Naomi and Rayshal hope to hold a wellness group for young women at Rising Ground’s TIL and plan excursions, including a recent field trip to Six Flags. 

Growth & Lessons Learned
During a conversation with Naomi and Rayshal, the two reflected on the valuable lessons learned during their time as Youth Alumni Navigators. Not only are they grateful for the services they received as former JAG NY participants, but they are also deeply appreciative of the opportunity to connect with CASES staff and their young peers—connections which have demonstrated the importance of relationship and community building. In community with staff, Naomi and Rayshal connect with staff’s desire to give back to young people who share similar lived experiences to them. In community with youth participants, Naomi and Rayshal have learned how genuine support and engagement builds trusting and safe relationships as foundations for peer support. Ultimately, giving back to their community has been a consistent and transformative point of learning and growth for the Navigators. 

Stephanie Stamp, the Director of CASES Education & Career Services and the Supervisor to the Youth Alumni Navigators, has also witnessed Naomi and Rayshal’s growth. Ms. Stamp is proud in particular to watch their confidence in their work grow as evidenced by their clearer and improved speaking skills as well as their increased ability to advocate for themselves. CASES cannot wait to see Naomi and Rayshal continue to succeed in their Youth Alumni Navigator roles!