Club hosts career expo for first birthday

Youth members of the 790 Youth Rec club DJing Programme, are from left Kyle October (DJ K.O), Jahiam Oliver (DJ Poison), Jaylin van der Ross, Cole Jacobs and Dalyin Moses (DJ Zimpie).

The 790 Youth Rec Club turns one this month and to celebrate, they will host a career expo on Saturday September 10 at the Hout Bay Sport Centre.

The club was founded by Hout Bay Civic Association secretary, Roscoe Jacobs and for the past year, it has been running recreational activities and a DJ programme at the sport centre in Hangberg on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Mr Jacobs said there was a great need in the community for the club as it provided a safe haven for many children and the activities kept them off the streets.

Earlier this year, the club attended a music conference, where members interacted with South African musicians, producers and DJs such as Ready D, AKA and Jack Parow, as well as a music workshop hosted by the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and the club hosted a camp for members.

Club members also gave back to the community by providing sound for the Valentine’s Day show at Sentinel Primary School.

Deputy minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo will be the guest speaker at the career expo and the theme for her talk will be “Making Higher Education and Training Accessible Together”.

False Bay College, College of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape have confirmed attendance and the Department of Labour and City of Cape Town have also been invited to enable unemployed youth to register on the respective jobseeker databases.

Mr Jacobs said to make the career expo a success, the club needed the support of businesses and individuals to cover the cost of transporting youth to and from Imizamo Yethu for the day and for lunch, as well as logistics.

The club thanked the owners of Oakhurst Spar, Hout Bay residents and Sea Point resident Jeremy Rich for their initial contribution of a laptop and DJ controller.

“Without their assistance we would not have achieved the many successes we have thus far. The club on average has 70 to 100 young people partaking in its activities daily and the absence of such a programme moving forward will see many of these children left to their own devices,” Mr Jacobs said.

The club offers DJing, table tennis, badminton, dominoes, pool, chess and kerrim and also wants to add activities such as photography, homework sessions and mentorship to the programme.

“Currently the DJing programme has a lot of interest but due to limited equipment, the size has to be limited,” he said.

Anyone who wishes to assist the club with making the career expo a success and with donating and sponsoring equipment, can contact Mr Jacobs on 082 261 1174 or via the group’s Facebook page: 790 Youth Rec Club.