Program helps young people learn skills necessary to obtain and keep employment

Jun 30, 2009 — Aiken Standard

Rob Novit

Jun. 30, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Sasha Canty is spending the summer in an internship with the Margaret J. Weston Center and plans to enroll in college this fall.

She takes phone calls, assists patients with appointments and files papers. Each Friday Canty, 21, comes to Aiken Technical College for workshops on job skills.

"That does help about attitude and talking to a boss and handling interviews," she said. "I've also been taking care of my 11-month-old son. He's my motivation for everything."

Canty is among 140 Aiken residents, ages 16 to 24, participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program, financed with stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). All have been placed with summer jobs through government agencies and corporations.

The Lower Savannah Council of Governments, which covers Aiken County and five other neighboring counties, submitted an application through its Workforce Development Board, said that division's director, Sam Jordan. The COG received $1.7 million over two years but with a focus on disbursing the funds as quickly as possible.

There's an ongoing program for young people ages 16 to 21, upgrading basic skills and getting them into occupational training. The new project essentially is bringing back a summer youth program that was not funded when the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was established in 1998.

"The difference is that we can now work with the private sector," said Jordan. "We're following the educational cluster that students are working to match with their summer occupations."

The summer job coordination is being handled through two subcontracts -- the Aiken Housing Authority and Second Baptist Church's Project Excel. AHA's Hope Williams and Sharon Woods of Project Excel are housed at the Aiken One-Stop Center, along with AHA's Angela Mackie, a senior career development specialist. The stimulus funds provide a training stipend for the young people.

"The community was very accommodating," Mackie said. "The contracts were easy to obtain, as all the employers I spoke with wanted to hire individuals. It's really a nice deal for them, especially those who had budget cuts and also gives small businesses some extra assistance for the summer."

Aiken Technical College provides the space for the participants to attend orientation each Friday. Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College and Denmark Technical College are providing similar services for summer programs in those areas.

"They get 24 hours of training in the areas of life skills and work readiness skills to help them get and maintain a job," said Steve Simmons, account management director for ATC's training and business development division. "Another hope is that they not only succeed in job training, but that they also see there are opportunities here, where they can find additional training for a long career."

Many summer participants are already enrolled at ATC or plan to, among them Jennifer Selby. She obtained a GED last December and is currently studying multimedia and marketing at the college. She's interning with Global Spectrum, the company that manages USC Aiken's Convocation Center.

"Getting my GED was a big step," Selby said. "Now I'm working with the biggest people in sports and entertainment, and it's awesome. I'm learning how to do it right."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0324-36118876