By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Many kids look forward to summer as a time to get away from school. But others take advantage of the opportunity to work, earn money and learn job skills for the future.
There was concern last winter that the Summer Youth Employment and Training Program might not be funded by Congress. The good news came last month when Lisa Macias, the program's supervisor, found out that the program would receive 75 percent of the money it received last year.
The program, run by the North Valley Private Industry Council and administered by the city of Sunnyvale, will be able to serve about 165 kids with its $562,192. Last summer, 220 kids participated in the program.
Macias said this summer the program will run seven weeks instead of eight, so more kids can take part.
"Seven weeks of training and employment is still a significant part of the summer, and we felt it was worth it in terms of reaching the extra youth," she said. "The bad news of a funding cut was good news for us because it meant funding."
The Sunnyvale training program is geared toward economically disadvantaged youth between the ages of 14 and 21. Larry Pitchford, the program's coordinator, said qualification can be determined in many ways, including if the family is on food stamps or welfare or if kids receive free lunches at school.
The program gets under way the third week in June, when kids are placed in jobs with public service and other nonprofit organizations, such as HOPE Rehabilitation Services, Project HIRED, Sunnyvale Community Services and the city's Parks and Recreation Department.
"We want to make sure we're not taking jobs away from other people too much," Pitchford said.
The kids will do clerical work, stocking, work in cafeterias or a combination of jobs. Pitchford said they are paid the minimum wage of $4.25 per hour.
"The labor laws are not as strict during the summer, so 14-year-olds are able to work," he said.
SYETP offers an educational component to the program so kids don't lose anything from one school year to the next, he added.
"There's a strong emphasis on math and English and, in most cases, it's vocationally directed," he said.
A handful of kids are served by in-house staff members who monitor them at work sites, while others are sent to agencies the group contracts with, such as De Anza College and the Fremont Union High School District's Adult Education program.
"In a journalism program, kids will learn desktop publishing. They actually work on putting out a newsletter for this summer program," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.