Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) has spent more than 160 years creating brighter futures for its members. As part of its mission, it offers programs designed to prepare youth for entering the workforce.
The 2003 Youth Right Now survey suggests BGCA is succeeding. According to the survey, 62 percent of Club members believe they’re already equipped with the skills they need to excel in a job.
However, being prepared for a job and getting a job are two different things. To assist youth in obtaining employment, BCGA has released tips on how to build a great resume. The tips, which were created in partnership with hiring managers at Coca-Cola and Toyota, provide guidance on everything from emphasizing soft skills to formatting a resume so that applicant tracking systems can read it.
Additional findings from the Youth Right Now survey reveal that over 90 percent of high school juniors and seniors know the costs associated with the training and education required to pursue their career aspirations. According to BGCA, teaching its members financial literacy is an important step in ensuring they have bright futures. With this goal in mind, BCGA has named a financial literary ambassador.
Announced in September, Kyle T., a college freshman at the University of California, Irvine, will connect his fellow Club members with resources for learning how to manage their finances. Kyle, a longtime member of his local San Francisco Club, developed financial literacy after getting his first job as a ninth grader.
The job left him with more money than ever, and he admits he spent recklessly at first. After enrolling in Money Matters, a BGCA program offered in partnership with the Charles Schwab Foundation, he developed financial skills such as handling and saving money. In spreading the word about these skills in his role as financial literacy ambassador, Kyle will play a key role in preparing BGCA members for financial success as they enter the workforce for the first time.
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Meta Description: Stephen Peagler was shot three times while serving in Vietnam. Recognition for his sacrifice finally came in 2023.
Title: How a Purple Heart Finally Arrived for a Marine Veteran
According to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, an estimated 1.8 million Purple Hearts have been awarded. While many men and women have been rightfully honored for their sacrifices, there are many for whom proper credit has never come.
The reasons for a deserving servicemember not receiving a Purple Heart vary, with everything from discrimination to administrative errors being factors. Fortunately, the last few years have seen several veterans finally secure the distinction long due to them. In March 2023, the VA reported that veteran Stephen Peagler would finally receive a Purple Heart, 55 years after sustaining the injuries that made him eligible for the award.
As a 19-year-old Marine serving in Vietnam, Peagler was shot three times—in his left leg, arm, and chest. Miraculously, he survived and eventually returned to the United States.
Feeling happy just to be alive, the honorably discharged veteran was not interested in pursuing medals upon returning home to Birmingham, Alabama. Decades later, however, after graduating from college and enjoying a 33-year career with the US Postal Service, Peagler says his mother told him that he deserved a Purple Heart.
This inspired Peagler to begin pursuing the award, with a fellow Marine veteran he had met through the American Legion helping him to file the requisite paperwork. (As the Purple Heart Foundation points out, there’s no deadline for applying for the honor; any injured servicemember or veteran can apply at any time.)
Eventually, Peagler heard back from the US Marine Corps. He would be receiving his long-overdue Purple Heart. Not only that, but the Marine Corps would be presenting him with eight additional commendations.
The 75-year-old Peagler was honored on March 16 at the Birmingham VA Clinic ahead of a scheduled awards presentation at the clinic on April 7. For Peagler, the awards “mean something” to him, saying that “it feels good” to have his combat service recognized. He’s also happy that his family—including his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren, and, most notably, his 95-year-old mother—will see him get the credit that’s long been coming to him.