Salute to Young Leaders: Jason Watson

Jason Watson

Director Of Beyond Jobs

Mission: Saint Louis

St. Louis, MO

Beaumont 

Tell us about the work of Mission: St. Louis and your role?

Mission: St. Louis exists to empower men and women from under-resourced communities. My role is more specifically connected to our Beyond Jobs Programming. I manage a team of 3-5 staff and a volunteer base of 75 people a year to help serve men and women throughout St. Louis.  I focus on vision casting for our programming as well as developing relationships with local business that could offer job opportunities to the people we serve.

What led to a career focused on at-risk men?

I am the guys I now serve. I grew up on the north side of St. Louis and was raised like most of the guys we serve. I started selling drugs around 13 years old, was kicked out of high school and went to jail for a short time. I know that through all the shootouts and robberies I’ve been involved in, I should not even be here. My life changed over 15 years ago and my heart has always been not to just look back at where I’ve come from but to reach back to where I’ve come from. My background and authentic connection to guys from my environment is what gives me the continual desire to work with at-risk men. I believe they don’t need to be made valuable but that they already are valuable.    

Can you describe the component of the Job & Leadership Training Program?

We take men between the ages of 22-35 through what starts as an eight week boot camp. These guys have three classes they attend that focus on Job Training, Financial Empowerment, Identity, Health and Manhood. Each guy gets an individual mentor that they meet with once a week and a support team around them. Their third week into the program these guys start a 16 hour a week internship with a local business that we have built relations with such as BJC, Swiss American and Cintas. We pay our guys $92 a week to be in the program which serves as a type stipend to keep finances in their pockets during the boot camp time. The guys that graduate and do well in their internships are normally hired by those internship providers. Our focus is to deal with the whole person and not just the job piece. We have found that guys who truly work on the life skills make a much better transitions into the work field.  

Can you share a success story of a graduate from your program?

One guy that has come through our program that immediately comes to mind is Cory. He grew up in north St. Louis and had been selling drugs most of his life. Cory found out about our program after spending several years in prison. Cory came through our program and was the shining star, even winning our excellence award. Cory is still connected to our phase 2 programming and is currently at Jesuit Hall on the SLU campus. He has made the decision to completely leave the street life behind him