WCAC hosts Kickoff for YouthWorks Summer 2022
Dynamic speakers help inspire summer job participants
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2022
CONTACT: Ellen M. Ganley, Director of Development
EGanley@wcac.net
O: 508-762-9807
|
|
Worcester, Massachusetts - Worcester Community Action Council, Inc. hosted a Kickoff for the 2022 YouthWorks Summer Jobs program at the JMAC Theatre in downtown Worcester. WCAC's Job & Education Center (JEC) oversees the program which will place more than 400 youth into jobs with nearly 70 employment partners across the City for a six-week, subsidized work experience starting July 5th.
The kickoff featured remarks by a host of dynamic individuals, designed to inspire and celebrate the youth's participation in the program including Acting City Manager Eric Batista, Executive Director of the MassHire Central Region Workforce Board Jeff Turgeon, WCAC Executive Director Marybeth Campbell, and Worcester Youth Poet Laureate Adael Mejia.
Local self-change advocate and motivational speaker Jorge Sierra provided the morning's keynote address, offering an inspiring story of triumph and perseverance. He uses his life experience to motivate and guide individuals to destroy their own 'mental wheelchairs.' Jorge became a paraplegic at the age of 17 when he was gunned down due his former affiliation with gangs. Over the next 23 years, he had dedicated himself to changing his mindset and environment. He threw himself into his craft, becoming a Licensed Master Barber and Class 1 Cosmetologist. He and his wife own MVP Barbershop in Worcester. You can view his full address at the 2022 YouthWorks Kickoff below.
|
|
The goal of the state’s subsidized summer employment program, YouthWorks, is to help ensure young people are ready for work and are acquiring skills that will make them marketable in a competitive environment. Research indicates that young people who work in their teens are more likely to work as young adults. The anticipated outcome of YouthWorks is to provide young people with the skills, experience, and networks to be able to secure employment in the unsubsidized labor market. YouthWorks represents a statewide effort of local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) and Career Centers partnering with businesses, state agencies and local community-based organizations to recruit, train, place, and supervise teens and young adults (ages 14 to 21) in job opportunities in public, nonprofit, and private-sector placements.
As part of an effort to strategically target high-needs youth, priority placement is given to those with the following risk factors including : Court-involved youth – DYS-committed, on juvenile probation, gang-involved, homelessness or being a runaway; Foster care or being close to aging out of foster care; having aged out of foster care Additional risk factors include: poor academic performance or a school dropout; being the child of a single parent; having a disability or special needs; lack of fluency in English, or being a foreign immigrant; being a teen parent.
YouthWorks Program Partners include: Commonwealth Corporation, MassHire Central Region Workforce Board, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, City of Worcester Division of Youth Opportunities, Worcester Public Schools, Bank of America, and employer partners across the City.
Individuals interested in participating in future employment opportunities and/or local employers interested in becoming a host for youth can contact JECInfo@wcac.net.
|
|
About WCAC
Since 1965, the Worcester Community Action Council has served as the federally designated anti-poverty agency for central and southern Worcester County, with a mission of helping people move to economic self-sufficiency through programs, partnerships and advocacy.
Serving the City of Worcester and 45 neighboring communities of Auburn, Blackstone, Boylston, Brimfield, Brookfield, Charlton, Clinton, Douglas, Dudley, East Brookfield, Hardwick, Holden, Holland, Hopedale, Hubbardston, Grafton, Leicester, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Monson, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Northborough, Northbridge, Palmer, Oakham, Oxford, Paxton, Rutland, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Spencer, Sterling, Sturbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Wales, Warren, Webster, West Boylston, West Brookfield and Westborough.
|
|
www.WCAC.net Info@WCAC.net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
