Funds help stimulate employment for youth

Chavonte Bragg has changed his outlook after enduring years of struggles.

The 17-year-old Rock Island teen is ready to write another chapter of his life by participating in a  summer jobs program specifically designed for young people.

In all, several hundred Quad-City area youth will be employed this summer through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act youth summer job program. That includes 120 youth in a four-county area of eastern Iowa through Iowa Workforce Development and a few hundred more in the Illinois Quad-City region.

“As Iowa’s economy and job opportunities continue to evolve, it’s important that our youth develop the necessary skills to succeed in the new opportunities,” work force development state director Elisabeth Buck  said.

A quick learner 

Bragg has applied for the program and hopes to save enough money to buy an old car that he can fix up — his ultimate job dream is to be an automotive mechanic.

“I plan to go to college,” he said while at the Safer Foundation in Rock Island, where he is taking classes and close to earning his general education development, or GED, certificate.

Through the Safer Foundation, he is part of its Youth Empowerment Program, which assists students in a variety of areas, including job referral, placement, life skills training, oversight of community hours and pre-employment training.

“He has been in the program three weeks and he already is taking GED tests. He has passed three of five tests,” said Lorrie Blumberg, supervisor of the program. “He is a very quick learner, very motivated, very disciplined.”

“We struggled for a lot of things,” Bragg said of his early years with his mother. “We had food, but didn’t have enough clothes to go to school.”

Eventually, he went to live with his grandmother. As a teenager, Bragg spent two years in a juvenile prison on aggravated battery charges. But since he was released in January, he has been on the “straight and narrow,” he said.

 “I feel like I changed for the better,” he said. “Now, I want to show other people and to help them. You have to have people find a purpose.”

Bragg hopes the summer jobs program helps him continue his new journey.  

Program for youth

Nationally, the summer youth program is open to individuals 14-24 years old who are considered low income and meet other criteria. Iowa Workforce Development chose to make the age requirement 16-24. It is for 40 hours per week and will last for eight weeks.

“If the family is low income, they probably are eligible,” said Cathy Wiebel, director of Iow@Work, which is overseeing the summer program. “It is based on the last six months of family income. If you think you are eligible, call us.”

Wiebel said the program has received $456,000 through the Workforce Investment Act to fund operations from June 8 to July 31. “They will earn $7.25 an hour, which is minimum wage,” she said of the  participants. “It will be for public or non-profit businesses. It will focus on ‘green’ jobs, like cleaning up the environment, recycling, anything in the community, like parks and libraries, police department.”

She said there will be 60 jobs in Scott County and another 60 jobs total in the other three counties served: Muscatine, Clinton and Jackson.

Once the summer program ends, Wiebel said the agency will have a career day for the youth.

“These jobs are just like a real job; it is a real job, just for only eight weeks,” said Rhonda Wittmer, the Iow@Work coordinator of the summer youth program in Scott County.

“We have had job sites, like the City of Davenport, request youth to work at various parks, picking up trash, weeding plant beds, cleaning shelters, restrooms. Other requests have come from Davenport Community Schools and Eastern Iowa Community College District.

Opportunities

In the Illinois Quad-Cities, the program is administered by Partners in Job Training & Placement. Jeanette Dawson, division manager in the programs unit, said the jobs will be in Rock Island, Mercer and Henry counties and will be open to youth ages 14-24. She said $769,300 was allocated for the summer jobs and year-round programs.

“Our goal is to service 200,” she said of Rock Island County alone. “It has been about 10 years since the work force area has put on a summer youth program.”

There are some differences in how the programs operate from one state to another. For instance, in the Illinois, organizers hope to begin June 1 and could run until Sept. 30.

Unlike the Iowa Quad-Cities, where employers will come from public and non-profit organizations, Dawson said the list of potential Illinois employers includes private businesses, not just non-profits, in addition to those from the public sector, such as municipalities, counties, school districts and and park districts.

“Historically, they do not have to be non-profits,” Dawson said. “The federal government sets the guidelines; states can tighten things up.”

Dawson said her agency has year-round programs available for youth that are staffed by contract workers. She said there will be additional funds for the year-round program, which concentrates on improving participants’ life skills as well as helping with resumes and cover letters, and offering job leads.

“The year-round program is for in-and-out-of-school youth,” she said. “There are income guidelines. Maybe they are teen parents, potential dropouts. Some have criminal histories. We work with contractors, helping them stay in school, helping them get their GEDs. If that is the case, there are a variety of things to help in the success of these youth.”

The Iowa side also has year-round programs.

“We work with them on job training, getting skills they need to get a job, or an associate’s degree, applying for financial aid for college,” Wittmer said. “A lot of them are first-generation college students. We just support them while getting training. Many do not know what they want to do.”

Karen Till, lead employment specialist for the Jackson County office of Iow@Work, and coordinator of its summer youth job program, said 11 youth will be hired this summer.

“The work sites that we have contacted are ecstatic,” she said. “It’s been so long since we had one. They are just thrilled to death to get some help for the summer.”

‘Will do anything’

Meanwhile, Kayla Kelley, 19, of Rock Island, is another GED student at the Safer Foundation who   hopes to find work this summer through the jobs program.

“I will do anything,” she said. “It really doesn’t matter — inside or outside work.”

She worked for a few months in a janitorial job, but is finding it difficult to land another job. She hopes to save money this summer but also use the job experience to expand her resume. “If you go apply for another job, they will look at that, too.”