Santa Maria youth can find summer jobs through the county-funded Career Pathways for Youth (CPY) project, which aims to prepare and connect young people in Santa Maria to employment and career opportunities.
Luis Servin, program manager for the Santa Barbara County Workforce Development Board, said in a press release from the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce that the employment project partners local industries with young people to deter youth from gangs and violence.
“The need for this sort of opportunity for our youth in Santa Maria comes after not only the lack of resources in the community, but also due to the high youth unemployment and high poverty rates,” Servin said in the release. “We can do better for them, and CPY provides that opportunity.”
The program accepts candidates between the ages of 16 and 24 with little to no work experience, low-income youth, high school dropouts, in-school youth at risk of dropping out, and gang-involved youth or those in the juvenile justice system.
The program partners its participants with industries that provide potential career paths, giving them training and job experience in those areas of work. More than 20 people are currently enrolled in the program, and Servin said in the release that his goal is to hire 260 people in a two-year time period.
“We’ve seen great success with the students so far, and are looking forward to hopefully having an even larger number go through the summer session of our program,” he said in the release.
As of press time, 50 openings remain for the Summer 2017 program. Orientations take place every Friday at 4 p.m. at the Goodwill Workforce Center in Santa Maria, and interested participants can contact Goodwill Industries for more information at 928-5282.
This article appears in Mar 16-23, 2017.