MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release CONTACT:
June 1, 2010 Karen Fies
*********************************** (707) 565-8501 ***********************

$849,000 Summer Youth Employment Program Approved by
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors

Santa Rosa – Today the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency approved a program that will provide summer jobs, ecological education and workforce readiness training for 175 local youth.

The program, the Summer Youth Ecology Corps, was launched last year with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. The 2009 program was so successful that the Board of Supervisors approved use of federal youth employment dollars, plus Water Agency stream maintenance funds and a $3,000 contribution from Kaiser Permanente, to fund the program again this summer. Total program costs will be approximately $849,000. The majority of the175 youth workers (age 14-24) will work in crews, with adult leaders, on ecological restoration programs.

“We are thrilled to continue this award-winning program into its second year,” said Supervisor Efren Carrillo. “Kids get a paycheck, learn job skills and spend their dollars locally. It’s a win-win-win.”

The Water Agency matching funds will be used for stream maintenance and restoration projects. Crews will remove invasive species and replant stream banks with shade-bearing native plants. The projects will create habitat for threatened coho and steelhead and will minimize flooding risks.

Other restoration projects will be conducted at regional and city parks and for local nonprofits. Projects are currently being solicited. Last year, projects included trail maintenance, construction of bird boxes and beach clean-up. Some youth will work in government or nonprofit offices, providing administrative assistance or working on special projects.

“The work these youth will provide is invaluable. Whether they are cleaning up creeks or answering phones, they are doing jobs that would otherwise not be done this summer,” said Supervisor Shirlee Zane.

Eligible youth, age 14-24, must meet federal income and other criteria. The at-risk teens and young adults will be recruited through schools, nonprofit organizations and local agencies and hired by five non-profit agencies located throughout the county. Eligibility and other information can be found at SoCoYOUth Splash, by clicking on “2010 Summer Jobs Program, Program Information.”

As part of today’s action, the board approved contracts with the five nonprofit administrators: The Center for Social and Environmental Stewardship, Petaluma People Services Center, Social Advocates for Youth, Sonoma County Adult and Youth Development and West County Community Services. The nonprofit New Ways to Work is helping to coordinate the overall effort and the Sonoma County Office of Education is providing youth with an opportunity to create a lifelong career assessment tool.

“By working together, our team of local agencies and nonprofits are making it possible for 175 at-risk young people to get jobs this summer,” said Ed Barr, Workforce Investment Board chairman. “In these tough economic times, this program will be a boost to the economy and provide great work and life experience to these young adults.”

The Summer Jobs Program begins in mid-June and will continue for eight weeks.

For more information about the Summer Jobs Program, contact Karen Fies, director of the Sonoma County Workforce Investment Board, at (707) 565-8501.


Ann DuBay
Sonoma County Water Agency
707.524.8378
707.322.8185
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