by Jamil Ragland CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT — Local youths will be going to work this summer to build important life skills, thanks to a partnership between Hartford, the state and local organizations.
Leaders from Capital Workforce Partners, the Connecticut Department of Labor, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the City of Hartford announced $1.4 million in investments in programs to employ 800 Hartford youth this summer. Of that total, $1 million will come from the city and the balance from the Hartford Foundation.
That money is on top of $7 million that the state has budgeted for summer youth workforce development to be dispersed across the state.
The announcement came at Our Piece of the Pie (OPP), a nonprofit organization in Hartford that works with at-risk youth that is one of the participating providers for the Summer Youth Employment and Learning Program (SYELP), a six week program for students age 14-18. The program provides career training, mental health support, and credit retrieval help for students who have fallen behind in school.
“At any given point in time, there are over 20,000 jobs available [in Connecticut] to individuals within the state, yet we’re challenged with ensuring that those employers have the talent that they need to meet those demands and at the same time give them the talent to expand their businesses with additional individuals,” said Alex Johnson, president and CEO of Capital Workforce Partners. “The Summer Youth Employment and Learning Program is a key program that provides young people with the opportunity to learn careers, learn work readiness skills, and understand the relationship between education and work. And it enables us to put them on a career path so that they can meet the demands that we have for them within our economy.”
Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said more than 3,000 young people in Hartford applied to SYELP, and that shows that the youth of the city are eager for opportunities to work and gain career training.
“The greatest stars of this show are the young people,” he said. “You guys are showing up. You guys are working each day to get better, to get smarter, to learn new skills and we appreciate that.”
The summer jobs are not just a job for now, but a pipeline to the careers of tomorrow, Arulampalam said.
As the state continues to grapple with the issue of disconnected youth highlighted in the 119K Commission’s Young People’s Report, Eddie Cajigas, manager of community advocacy for the Department of Labor, called the youth employment program a win-win.
“It helps young people gain work experience, build networks, and earn a paycheck, and helps create a stronger workforce pipeline for employers,” he said. “While we hear about the impact of disconnecting youth, Capital Workforce partners, Our Piece of the Pie, and other organizations today are on the front line to help reconnect those young people to community, jobs, and their future.”
A number of the youth who will be participating in the youth employment program were present at the announcement. DJ Thomas, a youth leader with OPP who is a student at Manchester Community College, will be working at a youth site this summer. There he will work with younger children to help build their capacity as future leaders.
“People come here because of the help that they give you and the support you get,” he said. “You get help in so many different areas that you would never think that they can help you with, and I feel like that’s something that needs to be heard more, and more opportunities need to be given to more kids.”