3Dventuracountystar.com

<= /p>

Program helps Ven= tura County youths gain = work experience

By Maria Saint
Saturday, October 17, 2009

= STORY TOOLS=

More from Business

More than 600 young people have recei= ved help preparing for and participating in work internships with Ventura County employers through a $1.75 million California Youth@Work program.

Kicked off this past summer, the prog= ram was funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and administe= red by the Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County.

“There have been summer youth programs in the past, but it’s been quite some time, and so this is t= he first time in a long time that there have been these federal funds specific= ally earmarked for this kind of program,” said = Cheryl Moore, WIB’s executive director.

Path Point and the Boys & Girls C= lubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme coord= inated youth enrollment in the program, in partnership with local community organizations and the Ventura County Human Services Agency.

California Youth@Work provided early work experience for young people, ages 14 to 24. The program for younger teens e= nded Sept. 30, but continues for out-of-school young people, ages 18 to 24.=

“We were able to get a waiver t= hat would enable us to continue providing work experience for out-of-school old= er youth through March 30,” Moore said.

Participants have or continue to rece= ive work experience from private, nonprofit and public companies while earning = $8 per hour. They also were provided eight hours of job readiness training in career planning, job search, leadership, teamwork and interpersonal skills. Employer payroll costs are covered by ARRA funding.

One of the 114 employers who particip= ated was the Limoneira Co., an agricultural and real estate holding firm in Santa Paula.=

“It is a very worthwhile program,” said Alex Teague, the company’s senior vice president= and chief operating officer, as well as a WIB board member. “Obviously, I think anytime that we can try to employ youth to get them more used to the = work force, and the responsibilities and accountability of working, it’s a= ll worthwhile.

The program had a little rough start = from an administrative standpoint, but once it started going, I think the kids w= ere well prepared by Path Point and the Boys & Girls Club, and you know when you have a group of people you always have some problems, but for the most part, these kids were ready and willing to work.”

Teague said that there were six young people who worked for the company and did very well.

“I think Path Point, the group = that took care of the Santa Paula area, did a good job preparing them. We had a few kids, I think, that this = was a new experience for them, so they were a little bit of a deer in the headl= ights, but I think for the most part all the kids really did a fine effort,”= he said. “We were very pleased with it, and, hopefully, we can continue = on with the program next summer as well.”

Another employer involved in the prog= ram was Old Navy at the Esplanade shopping center in Oxnard.

“We thought the program was rea= lly awesome,” said Debbie Woods, Old Navy’s assistant store manager. “It was really good for the youth that they had sent to us as far as = them being able to learn a job skill.”

As for companies who may be wary of hiring inexperienced workers, Teague offered: “It’s imperative = of the local businesses to step up. It’s often difficult to hire the inexperienced, but it kind of goes back to that old adage, ‘How do you get experience if you don’t experience it?’ We believe that for building our actual work force today and for the future, you got to invest a little bit back into it, and I think that’s what works. Hopefully, th= is program will kick that off for everybody.”

On the Net:

http://www.wib.ventura.org