At the height of the recession, when it was almost impossible for a young person to find any kind of job, the 420 youth of the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) earned more than one million dollars in wages, while gaining invaluable work and life experience.
The Summer Youth Employment Program was funded by the Santa Barbara County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) through American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, via the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).
Over two summers, 2009 and 2010, participants were placed in a wide spectrum of jobs that reflected the diversity of our local community. You could find youth hard at work in local parks, Boys & Girls Clubs, county and city offices, garages, a horse rescue ranch, animal shelters, waste water plants, restaurants, and stores, doing tasks from pet grooming to computer networking. The common thread through all of these work sites was the commitment to mentoring and real-world work experience. For many of these young workers, this was their first job. The program included a week of pre-employment soft work skills training to prepare them for success on the job.
Who benefited?
· Participating youth, with income, work experience, and employment skills.
· The work sites: local businesses, nonprofits and agencies, where much work was accomplished.
· The whole community, through wages paid and spent.
The SYEP provided an immediate economic stimulus, while laying a lasting foundation of employment skills and a work ethic that will benefit these 420 young people, ages 14 to 24, and our community for decades to come. The success of this simple but powerful program was evident in the proud faces of the youth, families and employers at the awards ceremonies at summer’s end.
