Nearly 1,000 Participate in ARRA-funded Summer Jobs for Youth Program

On several days in early July City Hall was filled with youthful energy as nearly 1,000 teenagers and young people lined up to participate in the City’s Summer Jobs for Youth Program. This is a federally-funded stimulus program which allows impoverished young people to learn valuable job skills while earning a paycheck over the summer.

The youth need to be recipients of CalWorks, Food Stamps or meet other low-income requirements, such as meeting Workforce Investment Act (WIA) eligibility requirements. The goal of the program is to prepare participants for future career opportunities by providing a meaningful work experience, work readiness training and learning about civic engagement.

The jobs offered include temporary positions at local non-profits, such as the Heart, and retail establishments such as Target and JCPenney’s, as well as two new city-run programs: a Neighborhood Beautification Project and an E-Waste and Recycling Project.

Youth ages 15-17 may work up to 26 hours a week and earn $10 an hour, while youth ages 18-24 may work up to 40 hours a week at an hourly rate of $11 an hour.
Ten young people will be working at the Heart this summer, helping out in a variety of ways such as in the pantry, the clothes closet and at the welcome desk.
The program is run through the city’s Office of Economic Development and is coordinated by ARRA-funded employees. Many of the youth come to the program through the Work-2-Future job program. The youth go through the same basic orientation that other city employees go through.

City of San Jose employee Helen Norman helps to coordinate the program and says that the kids get a lot out of these summer jobs. “I see a lot of kids who are uncertain when they start because it’s their first job, but they have confidence by the end of the summer and feel hopeful about their future,” she said.
Norman says she is impressed that the city was so supportive of the program that when they lost their location to run an orientation the city council offered up their council chambers for the orientation.

The city also attempts to teach the youth how to handle the money they earn by providing workshops on financial literacy, and by putting 3.75% of their paychecks into a deferred payment plan which they can cash out at the end of the summer or continue to use as a savings plan.

We will be introducing you to some of these youth in upcoming blogs.