The Village of Walden’s first ever Youth Employment Program began on Monday October 12th, 2009. It is to be 6 weeks long and each youth participant will be paid $8 an hour while working 12 hours a week. Eligible participants had to be a Village of Walden resident between the ages of 14 to 17.
The purpose of this program is to provide real world work experience to our youth in an effort to promote the ideals needed for them to excel.
A committee was formed at a Village Board meeting by motion. The committee consists of Trustees Midge Norman and Richard Hurd and I serve as the chair. There were also three volunteer committee members; Walden residents Terry Cody, Jennifer Macri, and eleven year old Jessica Kurtz.
Why an eleven year old?
It has been my experience that children often have the clearest conscience and the purest of hearts. Our eleven year old committee member made comments during the selection process and was an invaluable member to our committee. Making children feel that they are important, and engaging them at a young age is an integral part of their development.
Outreach was done to local businesses in the Village of Walden who were more than willing to take part in the program. Ciardullo Printing, Walden Animal Deli, Walden Day Care, and Walden Department of Parks and Recreation all pledged to take on kids. Five jobs were created.
Other local businesses who could not take on a youth worker donated to the program as Gold Sponsors. Businesses such as Sweeney’s Irish Pub, Masci and Hale, Bonnie’s Secret Garden, Donna Hall’s School of Music, and many others contributed. This program cost just under $3000. Only $576 of Village of Walden tax payer money was spent.
Half the wage for each youth worker was paid by the participating business and the other half was paid by our collection of Gold Sponsors. The entire program cost each local business who took on a worker $288.
There were over 30 original applicants for our program. 13 youth followed through the entire process. There was an initial orientation where each applicant had to come to Village Hall, preferably with a parent or guardian, and hand in an essay explaining why they wished to be considered for a job. They also were given work papers to be filled out and handed in to an administrator at Valley Central High School.
The committee read through all of the essays and did their best to choose who the five participants would be. Those that were not selected into our fall program were put on a list and automatically accepted into our Summer Youth Employment Program. We hope to grow and employ 30-50 kids for our summer program.
Mathew Smith(16), Kaitlyn Kovacs(16), Matthew Hoffman(17), Wyatt Lendle(14), and Alexander Sanabria(14) were the five applicants selected into Walden’s first ever Youth Employment Program.
Volunteer Committee member Jennifer Macri was put in charge of handling each youth employee’s bi-weekly workshop. The idea behind a workshop was to add an educational component to our program. Workshops include, but are not limited to, how to write a resume and how to perform in an interview.
Our workshops also address our Managed Savings Plan (MSP) Accounts. These accounts were set up by Walden Savings Bank so that our young workers could begin to develop good saving habits. It will be to the parent and workers discretion, but the idea is that at least 25% of each participant’s earnings will be placed in this account in order to teach our youth fiscal responsibility and help plan for their future. Likewise, the MSP will allow them to witness first-hand how hard work does indeed pay off. The committee will encourage youth participants to keep their earnings in the account until needed for future vocational goals.
I ran my campaign promising to develop a Youth Employment Program for our kids. It is rewarding to be able to come through on that promise. I am proud of my first Government Program and look forward to putting more of Walden’s youth to work. Stay tuned for details on how to apply for our Summer Youth Employment Program!