The University of California Cooperative Extension and the Santa Barbara County Workforce Investment Board are offering free train-the-trainer courses for local organizations and agencies.

The hands-on training aims to provide agency capacity building in workforce readiness for 14- to 24-year-olds. The training will focus on the cooperative extension’s “Should I Be Working?” curriculum, which includes information on how to search for a job, career personality tests and entrepreneurship for youths.

The program was designed to benefit diverse youths, including pregnant/parenting teens, those in the juvenile justice system, and youths in traditional and nontraditional schools and youth organizations.

“In these times of economic uncertainty, it’s important to prepare teens and young adults for positive work experiences,” said Shirley Peterson, extension adviser for UCCE. “Thanks to the Workforce Investment Board, youth now have an opportunity to be introduced to this national award winning curriculum.”

Any North Santa Barbara County organization serving 14- to 24-year-olds can participate, including community-based organizations, youth organizations, faith-based organizations, schools, law enforcement and others. The train-the-trainer approach enhances the capacity of those agencies that provide direct services to the targeted youth population by providing a flexible education resource that can be used by agencies with little or no cost, presented to youth at times and locations convenient to their learning, and using educational methodologies that engage the youth through a “learn by doing” approach. Each agency attending will receive a free copy of the “Should I Be Working?” curriculum.

The national award-winning curriculum will be offered for the first time in Santa Barbara County this month: from 1:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 15 at the Minami Community Center, 600 W. Enos Drive in Santa Maria, and on Wednesday, June 16 in the Board of Supervisors Conference Room at 401 E. Cypress Ave. in Lompoc.

For more information about the free training, contact Peterson at 805.781.5951 or sspeterson@ucdavis.edu. Click here to register.

— Victoria Sanchez is a public information specialist for the Santa Barbara County Workforce Investment Board.