Home
News Grid
Local News
- Briefs
- Obituaries
Green Hawk
Business
Politics
School Zone
- Kids Speaking Up
Nonprofits
Missing Pets
Multimedia
- Photo of the Day
- Pictures in the News
Arts
Movies
- Times
- Reviews
Outdoors
Sports
News Releases
Columnists
- Leslie Dinaberg & Zak Klobucher
- Capt. David Bacon
- Paul Burri
- Bill Cirone
- Russell Collins
- Hal Conklin & Denny Wayman
- Karen Dwyer
- Jeff Harding
- Joan Mayer
- Hospice of Santa Barbara
- Karen Telleen-Lawton
- Ken Williams
- Carrie Wilson
Blogs
- Hawks Nest
- Craig Smith
- calbuzz
- The Daily Capitalist
- Miller-McCune News
- City 2.0
- Cliff Redding
Opinions
- Lou Cannon
- Michael Barone
- Debbie Brasket
- Susan Estrich
- Jim Hightower
- Tam Hunt
- Larry Kudlow
- Michelle Malkin
- Robert Scheer
- Harris Sherline
- Mark Shields
Classifieds
Advertise
Donate
Partners
- Presidio Sports
- Santa Barbara Surfer
- SBParent.com
- Partners in Education
- United Way of Santa Barbara County

New Santa Barbara County Programs Invest in Youths

Youth Corps and the Summer Internship and Public Service Initiative will put local students to work and help them transition into careers

Santa Barbara County administrators and local mayors present a $1.1 million check to the Community Action Commission for creation of the Santa Barbara County Youth Corps. The program will begin Oct. 1. (Giana Magnoli / Noozhawk photo)

By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Published on 07.15.2009

E-mail
Print
Post | View Comments (5)

A brainstorming meeting of Santa Barbara County administrators and local mayors has led to the creation of two $1 million youth work programs.

First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, an initiator of that meeting last year, “couldn’t be happier” with the results: the Santa Barbara County Youth Corps and the Summer Internship and Public Service Initiative.

“As an elected official, I get goosebumps, because (this is) what we should be doing,” he said Wednesday.

The county supervisors and Workforce Investment Board announced a $1.1 million two-year contract creating Youth Corps, a program that will “foster in youth a positive work ethic, commitment to community and models of teamwork,” WIB executive director Ray McDonald said.

The program was funded by the Workforce Investment Act and will begin Oct. 1. It will be overseen by the Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara County.

Youth Corps is designed to be a communitywide, structured youth work program, Carbajal said. The program will target at-risk students, mostly ages 16 to 21, who are not planning to attend college.

Youth Corps members, expected to number about 125 to start, will work in many areas, including public works, volunteering, tutoring, and parks and recreation projects throughout the county, McDonald said.

Many members will start with volunteer positions and move to paid jobs, which “absolutely” have the potential to lead to full-time occupations, he said.

“We have so many projects already, the first year is probably taken care of,” McDonald said.

The summer internship program for high school students, which is contracted for this and next summer, pays $8 an hour and matches the students with careers they want to pursue. The $1.9 million funding came from federal stimulus money and will be carried out countywide, WIB public information specialist Victoria Sanchez said.

“I know the good these programs do firsthand,” Carbajal said.

He said it was his responsibility as an elected official to take the initiative to look for youth violence solutions.

“Gangs are the jobs (for many of the kids); that’s how they make their money,” he said. “If we take them out of gangs, we have to replace it with a job.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Comments

Noozhawk's comments are moderated, but by posting here you accept your responsibility to follow our rules as part of Noozhawk's shared online community. Please keep your comments civil and helpful. Don't attack other readers personally, and do not use vulgar, abusive or discriminatory language. Use the "Report Abuse" link if a comment violates these standards or our Terms of Use.

» Supervisor Salud Carbajal on 07.15.09 @ 10:26 PM

Giana,
Thank you and Noozhawk for covering the press event for this great program and for the brief interview afterwards. I appreciate your work. I wanted to correct the quotes that were attributed to me. I did not say…“Gangs are the jobs (for many of the kids), that’s how they make their money,” he said. “If we take them out of gangs, we have to replace it with a job.”

I purposely did not use the word gang even once to ensure that we avoid stigmatizing the program participants in an innapropriate and negative manner.

At-risk or disadvantaged does not necessarily mean that the youth are gang affiliated.

Thank you for your consideration. I certainly can understand how challenging it can be to always capture everything accurately.