Young People

DAVOS, Switzerland - Be optimistic, and invest more in hiring and training young people, instead of complaining about their lack of skills. That was, in short, the message from two Philadelphia academics who came to the World Economic Forum here last week. Peter Cappelli and Katherine Klein were part of a delegation from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School that came to this ski resort. They advised the world's most influential business leaders - the CEOs of Citibank, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Goldman Sachs, to name just a few - on how to achieve economic growth and job creation.

The phone rang at 3 a.m., an unnerving noise at a bad news hour. It wasn't life and death, but it was an emergency just the same. A 22-year-old man enrolled in a Vineland, N.J., program where dropouts can earn high school diplomas while receiving vocational training had a question: Should he move out of his parents' house and move in with his girlfriend? Sam Mercado, who helps run a local version of YouthBuild, a nationally lauded program helping dropouts get diplomas and find jobs, spent 90 minutes on the line with the caller.

Jeremy Smith's first vision - a gourmet crabcake sauce - didn't pan out, so as a more seasoned entrepreneur he's now pinning his hopes on Hunter's Recipe, which is specifically concocted to enhance wild game. "I love business and entrepreneurship and I love food," said Smith, 30, of West Chester. "My goal basically is to combine those and create a product that will serve the market well. " Smith, who had been a casino chef and a restaurant manager, is among the legions of young people inspired to start businesses but struggling to succeed.

John Richard Mynar, 82, a retired vice president of Keebler Foods and a leader of youth groups in Philadelphia's Somerton section, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, at Elkins Crest retirement home in Elkins Park. Mr. Mynar was a vice president with Keebler from 1977 until he retired in 1995, said his son Jack. He started with the company in 1966 as a salesman. He was on the board of the Somerton Youth Organization for many years. The organization, which serves about 4,000 young people from the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia, offers sports and other activities.

RALEIGH, N.C. - For many years, the conventional wisdom in the United States has been that the more people who graduate from college, the better off we'll be. It's time to challenge that "wisdom. " The evidence says it's wrong. In his first major address early in 2009, President Obama set forth a national goal of becoming first in the world in the percentage of college-educated citizens. Supposedly, that would make our economy more productive and competitive. The notion that the economy can be pulled up by processing more young people through college has lots of allure at the state level as well.

Almost Home Helping Kids Move From Homelessness to Hope By Kevin Ryan and Tina Kelley Foreword by Cory Booker Wiley. 256 pp. $16.95 (paperback)   More than a million youths were homeless in the United States last year, and their numbers are growing. Almost Home , by Kevin Ryan and Tina Kelley, tells the story of homeless young people who find their way to Covenant House, and its promise of safe harbor, emotional support, and a chance at a better life.

NEW YORK - The social media savvy that helped Occupy Wall Street protesters create a grassroots global movement last year is proving to be a strength in the aftermath of Sandy as members and organizers of the group fan out across New York to deliver aid including hot meals, medicine, and blankets. They're the ones who took food and water to Glenn Nisall, 53, of Queens' hard-hit and isolated Rockaway section who lost power and who lives alone with no family nearby. "I said: 'Occupy?

By Robert Kane Jr. Children without positive guidance from adult role models are more likely to engage in self-destructive behavior. They miss out on chances to learn, grow, and become productive citizens. But when a child forms a relationship with a caring adult, the impact is often immediate and transformative - even for those who face serious challenges in their families and neighborhoods, as so many young people in the Philadelphia region do. Over six years of experience with Mentoring Matters, a charitable program that offers financial and volunteer support for mentoring programs in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, First Niagara Bank has seen significant, tangible improvements in at-risk children: better school attendance, better behavior, better grades, and evidence of a brighter future.

So little time, so many galas, so many 10Ks, 7Ks, 5Ks. OK, and way too many bake sales and golf tournaments. So much money, so exhausting, so worthy, yet so boring: What's a charity to do? How about asking people to pay $2,000 to rappel off the side of a 20-story building to benefit Outward Bound Philadelphia? That's what will happen on Thursday and Friday as 61 people - including Mayor Nutter - get themselves strapped into harnesses and lower themselves, step-by-step, 280 feet down the glass-windowed walls of Penn Center Plaza Tower 3 in Center City.

Astonished and grieving, members of the Indian community in the region could make little sense of the notion that one of their own allegedly kidnapped and killed a 10-month-old child and slayed her grandmother. Both the suspect and the victims' family come from the same part of India, Andhra Pradesh, a state about 300 miles south of Mumbai, executives of various Indian associations said Friday. It's hard for people to understand that Raghunandan Yandamuri shares cultural ties with the people he allegedly killed, tiny Saanvi Venna, and her grandmother, Satayvathi Venna, 61. "It is really shocking that somebody from my part of the world would stoop this low in such a callous, cruel way," said Korah Abraham, president of KALAA, an organization of people from southern India.