Economy has negative effects for teen jobs By Remi Levoff Twenty-year-old Courtney Wrather's contagious laugh echoes across the blacktop as he plays a spirited game of basketball with students from Johnson Elementary School. This is his summer job. A few months ago, however, he was not so fortunate. This Spring Valley native attends Miramar College and was forced to quit his previous job so he could play college basketball. Since then, he has been unable to find work and when summer rolled around he began to feel the pressure. Like Wrather, many young adults are feeling the effects of the economy when it comes to the search for a summer job. In the past year, San Diego's unemployment rate has almost doubled to reach a staggering 9.3 percent, leaving teens in competition with recently unemployed professionals. That's where San Diego Workforce Partnership's Hire-A-Youth program comes in. In June, the federal government allocated $7.7 million to San Diego as part of the federal economic stimulus. Twelve community-based organizations throughout San Diego County received money, planning to create summer jobs for 3,000 low-income youth ages 14 to 24. The participants will work from May 1 to Sept. 30. "There are jobs for youth in both the public and private sectors," said Jared Aaker, the Hire-A-Youth program manager. "We hope to place youth in a position this summer that will help frame their career path." Wrather heard about the program on television, and said, "It was like a blessing." Thanks to Hire-A-Youth, he found much more than a job. Wrather's paid internship is spent planning the after-school program at Johnson Elementary five days a week. Wrather does it all-from arts and crafts and trips to local museums to helping the children with homework and playing afternoon sports. His favorite part is "being in class with [the kids]; when they put their minds to their work, you see what kind of people they really are." Wrather plans to save his $10-an-hour paycheck for school because his college financial aid is less than accommodating. The 12 companies in the Hire-A-Youth program are gaining as well. To enjoy the benefit of increased staff without having to pay is a luxury in today's economy, Access Inc.'s Web site pointed out. Access Inc. is one of the local companies that received government funding. Hire-A-Youth's Aaker said that while the program is not currently funded for another year, they are hoping to continue the program next summer. This would give others-in similar situations to Wrather-a needed opportunity. • • • Vox is the newspaper of the 2009 CCNMA-San Diego Multicultural Journalism Workshop. Return to index | See also: Vox on Blogspot