PBS NEWSHOUR | Paramedic Training, Poetry Change Lives for California Youth with Few Options

Their determination was palpable, and the room buzzed with the energy of a committed group wanting to do “big things.” That was the sense I got while recently listening to a group of EMS Corps students near Oakland, California, who were reading poems they had written about “persistence.”

EMS Corps is a relatively new Alameda County program that trains young men from disadvantaged backgrounds to be EMTs. With an entry level position in the paramedic field, some EMTs can make up to $49,000 their first year, plus benefits. For a community where unemployment and incarceration rates are among the highest in the nation for men of color, the program offers a rare on-ramp to a profession in demand.