Contrary to the popular notion that no one works very hard or has much passion for their labors in the Virgin Islands, there are many who toil with great energy and conviction to bring about positive change in our community.
In a small, nondescript office on the first floor of the Professional Building across from the Fort Christian Museum on St. Thomas are two excellent examples that I think of as the "Mighty Mites." The young women, each 5 feet plus power, are Carmen Nibbs-O’Garro and Bettina Carroll. They are the effective heart and soul of the Job Corps program for St. Thomas/St. John, making major differences in the lives of many young people.
The Job Corps has become an alternative rite of passage to that historically offered by military service as an effective training ground for young persons who might not graduate from high school, are not career oriented and need training and growing space away from home. Every year more than 300 young Virgin Islanders enroll at a Job Corps center on the mainland to learn a trade and develop more maturity.
"Mighty Mite" Carroll is responsible for recruiting appropriate candidates and providing initial training, counseling and follow-through on placement in a Job Corps center. As the daughter of a career military man, she knows how to be an effective drill sergeant. Her "tough love" attitude works well with her clients, and the experience and knowledge gained from her previous position in the Labor Department is another asset.
Carroll doesn’t accept that her clients "have to"drop out of high school. She’ll take their Job Corps applications but stays "in their face" until they get their diplomas. She doesn’t accept parents controlling the application process, answering questions and trying to make decisions for their passive children. Before she sends those accepted off to begin skills training, she teaches them some skills here at home — from proper handshakes to appropriate job attire to taking responsibility for planning the use of their time.
"Mighty Mite" Nibbs-O’Garro’s function is to find employment for those Virgin Islanders who graduate from Job Corps programs and to assist them through further counseling and training. She doesn’t have a lot of patience for young people who return with valuable training and want to go back to old habits of "chillin" with friends.
She also is a powerful advocate for making the centers live up to their promises. "Don’t send students back without GED’s," she insists. "Don’t train them for occupations we don’t have here in the islands, and don’t let them come home around Carnival time, when low season begins and we don’t have any jobs available."
The energy and compassion that these two women exhibit is a credit to the Job Corps and should be cause for pride within the Virgin Islands community. There is no way to measure their ripple effects — improving the lives of specific families, helping young people set goals and follow dreams, providing valuable employees to businesses and tax-paying citizens to the economy and, quite likely, reducing crime.
The "Mighty Mites" have a definite place in The Plus Column.
