Did you know that when you buy an ice cream from a vender at an Earthquakes game, you could also be contributing to the future of a local student? JUMA, a nonprofit based out of San Francisco who strives to break the cycle of poverty within America’s youth, makes this possible. With their partnership with Spectra Hospitality, they employ local, underprivileged youth as venders at Avaya Stadium.
Emma Cruz and Eduardo Cuevas are two of the youth currently taking advantage of the program and can be seen selling ice cream and other treats in the stands at Earthquakes games. They were introduced to JUMA at their high school and were immediately intrigued by the opportunity.
“I saw interest in it because you’re going to Levi’s [Stadium], Avaya and all these events that you want to go to and you get to work at them and I thought that was fun,” Cruz said.
Along with getting the opportunity to earn money working local sporting events like Earthquakes games, 49ers games and even the Super Bowl, JUMA opens up an Individual Development Account (IDA) for the youth, matching every dollar they save two-to-one for college expenses. On average, the students in the program can earn up to $1,000 per year, and they decide how much of that goes into the account to be matched after they graduate high school.
“I heard about the IDA account, which interested me a lot that they would help me save money for college,” Cuevas said. “I really want to go to college so that was one of the main reasons I actually did it.”
In addition to giving the youth a head start on college funding, these customer-facing, socially engaging job opportunities provide training and hands-on skill building in customer service, cash transactions, work readiness, and personal responsibility that they will use in the future.
“One of the benefits I see is the people skills [you acquire],” Cuevas said. "It’s something you use at every job, that I’m even going to use after this at any other job that I’m going to get, so that’s one big benefit that I’ve enjoyed.”
Last season marked the first that JUMA partnered with Avaya Stadium’s concession company, Spectra. At an average event at the stadium in 2015, JUMA provided up to 25 shifts for aspiring college-goers. The youth in the program earned a combined $17,000 in wages through Avaya Stadium in the first year. Many of those dollars were deposited into the student’s savings account, with JUMA matching their earnings two-to-one for college expenses.
Moving into their second season within Avaya Stadium, JUMA has already made a positive impact on the futures of numerous Bay Area youth and they hope to continue to grow. Right now they are supplying IDA accounts for 17 students in the area, but they are looking to double that by the end of this year. Cruz and Cuevas have both enjoyed being a part of the program and even inspired their friends and family to follow in their footsteps.
“I’ve talked to my family about it and now my sister wants to do it,” Cruz said. “I’ve been recommending it to people. I turned in nine applications for more people from our school to come and work for us,” added Cuevas.
JUMA’s inception in the San Jose and Santa Clara market was a reflective move to the 49ers, which relocated from Candlestick Park in San Francisco to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in 2014. Since then, they have provided jobs for over 400 high school students and created 150 jobs slots for low-income youth in the area, with a combined $120,000 in earned wages to date. In 2016, JUMA will have their first graduating class from Santa Clara.
