Does state have right funding, focus for summer job training?

EARLY EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF: Helder Ferreira, superintendent of construction for Pawtucket Central Falls Development, foreground, and Samuel Andrade, site supervisor, work at rehabilitating a residence at 121 Garfield St. in Central Falls. Ferreira learned his trade as a summer employee with the nonprofit in 1998. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
EARLY EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF: Helder Ferreira, superintendent of construction for Pawtucket Central Falls Development, foreground, and Samuel Andrade, site supervisor, work at rehabilitating a residence at 121 Garfield St. in Central Falls. Ferreira learned his trade as a summer employee with the nonprofit in 1998. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Each summer Lifespan hires approximately 80 socially or economically “at-risk” youths, many of whom end up landing permanent jobs throughout the five-hospital health system.

Since the state became involved in the program in 2008, Alexis Devine, Lifespan’s youth-development coordinator, estimates the company has received $250,000 in funding. The state aid helps cover the costs for 30 of the youths, who gain experience in jobs that include food and nutrition, operating-room prep, patient transport and information technology.

“It didn’t take the cost burden off of us, [but state funding] allowed us to reach more youth and expand our programming services,” she said.

Devine believes by providing employee-driven training and personal case management, youth in the program are receiving the development tools necessary to succeed in the workforce. Up to 25 percent of the summer employees are hired to permanent jobs, she says.

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Lifespan’s success in using state-supported summer job training funds to find future full-time employees is far from the rule among employers across the state. While state summer-employment services have had some success linking youths with jobs in food services, manufacturing, government and nonprofits, other interested employers say they were unaware the program even existed.

And while much of the state’s summer-job effort is geared toward getting at-risk youth off the streets through paid employment, that focus often leaves employers looking for more-skilled labor to recruit directly from local colleges and universities for jobs and internships, with limited or inconsistent state support.

Nancy Olson, executive director of the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island, believes the state should do more to prioritize the development of youth job-readiness skills.

“It would be wonderful if the state government and the governor could put some [more] money in the state budget next year specifically for [the] summer youth program. … For every one youth we serve, there [are] five who want to be served,” said Olson.

Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has tried to prioritize education and workforce development, including supporting funding for: “last dollar” college scholarships for computers, books and supplies; the cost of college classes for qualified high school students; and workplace training and community college education for students still in high school.

But state funding for Workforce Partnership’s summer jobs program has remained steady at $1.5 million since 2007, when the current program began.

According to the Governor’s Workforce Board, the number of youths given summer jobs through the program has steadily declined in recent years, from 986 in 2013 to 754 this year. Applicants exceeded 3,000 in both 2013 and 2014 and dipped to 2,371 last year. The workforce board could not say how many people applied this year.

“The biggest challenge is having enough funding for the demand,” said Carlos Ribeiro, youth-program manager for the Workforce Partnership, a division of the state Department of Labor and Training. What the state commits now for summer job training “is not enough, especially with the [minimum] wage increase,” he said. Because the state’s minimum wage this year increased to $9.60 from $9 and the funding for the summer jobs program stayed the same, “there are 200 fewer youth we can serve,” according to Ribeiro.

LIFE-CHANGING

For those who do get into the program, the experience can be life-changing.

Milagros Ramos applied for a state-supported summer job when she was 17, with a 1-year-old daughter to care for. She landed a job at the Blackstone Valley Community Action Program in Pawtucket, after working in other state-supported summer jobs.

The job eventually led to a permanent position at Blackstone Valley, where she’s worked for 17 years.

“I really believe if I didn’t go through the summer youth-employment program, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now,” she said.

Ramos started with mostly secretarial tasks but has since managed multiple departments and considers herself a one-person hospital.

Ribeiro says there are countless such success stories that began with part-time summer job programs supported by the state.

“If you addict a 14-year-old to getting a paycheck, the more successful they will become. … For the $1,200 per youth it takes to run a summer employment program, $1,000 goes back to the Rhode Island economy. They spend it faster than they earn it.”

For Sherri Carello, the Governor’s Workforce Board’s coordinator of employment and training programs, the number of youth left on the state program’s waiting list each year is a testament to its success, rather than its limitations.

“The program is well-received, the youth are aware this is a program from which they can receive work-readiness skills, and it shows their connection with the [state’s] youth center system,” she said.

Last year, 13 state-funded YOUTHWorks411 centers helped place youths aged 14-24 in summer positions at 201 Rhode Island companies, nonprofits and government entities.

Some local communities, including Providence, also provide their own funding for youth summer jobs to go along with those funded through the state. Of the 568 summer youth jobs in the city program this year, 318 are funded through the Governor’s Workforce Board.

According to PBN research, in conjunction with information supplied by the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island, the most popular employers through the state program were nonprofits (71); city government departments (36); food-service companies (15); and manufacturers (6).

General Dynamics Electric Boat is another company that has seen the advantages of hiring state-supported summer employees.

“Summer interns are critical to our future success because we need to develop the pipeline for future employees,” said Brian Howard, chief of human resources at the Quonset Point campus in North Kingstown.

Electric Boat in recent years has offered a 12-week summer internship for youths aged 18-24, which is fed mostly by unemployed, at-risk youth from the state’s local youth centers, explained Howard. The program, for which there are no openings this year, offers an interview for full-time employment upon completion. In total, 48 youths have completed the program. Of those, 70 percent have been offered full-time employment.

“These internships present opportunities these folks would not have otherwise had,” said Howard.

This year marks the third season of Electric Boat’s School to Career youth summer employment program, which hires rising seniors from the state’s 10 career and technical schools for an eight-week introduction to the industry and trade skills. Three high school participants have been offered full-time employment after the completion of this program.

“These internships give us an opportunity to introduce manufacturing to students and, hopefully, they go back as seniors and talk to their friends about the good experience,” said Howard.

Howard says state resources played two very important roles in the execution of these programs: recruitment and funding.

The state meets the company halfway on funding, paying 50 percent of hourly wages for both programs. In 2016 Electric Boat’s 13 School to Career interns will be 100 percent funded from a $369,500 Real Jobs RI grant.

But there are many other employers who either are unaware of the state program or don’t find it to be a match for their needs.

After a 541 percent increase in e-commerce sales this year, Luca + Danni, a Cranston-based jewelry-design company, decided to double, to two, its summer intern force. The company went directly to local colleges and universities to recruit.

Owner Fred Magnanimi considers the two-person, summer-intern program a start in the right direction for the company, which will celebrate its second anniversary in August.

“It’s a commitment on our part, and I like to tap local people when appropriate. The talent drain [in Rhode Island] is something I’m in a position to stop if we offer a position for someone to come and learn,” he said.

Magnanimi said the company currently does not work with the state.

“I wasn’t aware any of this was available. … I would be very interested as a business owner. I’m just not aware of a centralized place to find that information,” he said.

This summer Fidelity Investments hired 132 summer interns to work at its Smithfield campus in a 12-week, competitively paid program, all of whom were recruited directly from colleges and universities across the United States, including Rhode Island.

“It’s a very high priority to have the branding and internship relationship we have with these schools and with millennials as they are increasingly joining the workforce,” said Mimi Neal, Fidelity Investments’ university relations manager.

“We look to them as a pipeline for future generations of Fidelity,” she said.

She said Fidelity has worked with Massachusetts to incorporate “nontraditional” students from Bunker Hill Community College into its intern programs.

Olson, who is familiar with the Bunker Hill program, said Rhode Island currently isn’t doing anything similar with the Community College of Rhode Island.

Neal in a later email added that, “Fidelity is committed to Rhode Island and … we definitely see a need for continued partnerships to tap into the [state’s] talent pool. … [We] would be open to seeing how any state-sponsored programs may align with our intern recruitment or talent-acquisition strategies.”

Meeting with interested companies and getting the message out to the business community about the summer jobs program is one of Carello’s jobs. She believes there’s room for improvement from the state in connecting with businesses.

“The more we get out there and educate businesses and employers about state-run programs the better,” she said. “We’ve tried to take the stigma out of it. The process isn’t a lot of red tape.”

RIGHT TRACK

While businesses would welcome whatever financial help they could get to land interns or other summer help, the state is on the right track in focusing its limited resources on at-risk youth, says Erin Donovan-Boyle, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber is considering hiring a summer intern from the Newport Area Career and Technical Center at Rogers High School, 50 percent of whose hourly wages will be paid by the state.

“The state needs to prioritize how they expend those funds, and assisting with this youth program is targeting a population that for many years has been identified as not having the soft skills they need to be ready for the workforce upon graduation,” she said. “Youth employment has been down for some years and this summer program helps incentivize employers to work with this population.”

Bill McCourt, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, agrees youth summer employment exposes new generations to the workforce, especially trade industries.

“There’s a huge disconnect between what people perceive manufacturing is like and what’s it’s actually like,” and these summer employment opportunities attempt to bridge that gap, he said.

In the manufacturing industry there is no distinction made between an intern and a state-supported employee, McCourt explained. But he estimated the “majority” of the 1,500 Rhode Island manufacturers do use summer youth employees.

“The bigger challenge we have in manufacturing is getting the youth interested in manufacturing in the first place, communicating to these people what jobs are out there,” he said. “We could probably coordinate the [current] efforts better… to make sure [the youths] are aware of the opportunities.”

Helder Ferreira has worked on and off at the nonprofit Pawtucket Central Falls Development since 1998, when he was hired as a state-supported youth summer employee.

Now 36 and superintendent of construction, he says the state program targets future members of the workforce who may not be suited to high-powered, white-collar careers.

“Not all of us are meant to be doctors, scientists and lawyers, and there has to be something to direct kids that don’t have those abilities,” said Ferreira.

He agrees more could be done to link youths not looking to attend college with trade opportunities.

“Right now I can’t find good help, someone who knows the trade, or someone who can come in here and work without constant supervision,” he said. A summer job could prepare someone to fill one of those openings, just as it did for him.

“You can direct millions of dollars to people who don’t appreciate it, and you can push $30,000 and [change someone’s life],” he said. “This [state] program can give youth an idea of what they can be successful at.” •

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1 COMMENT

  1. I am a manufacturer owner of 4 business and I have never heard of the summer youth program nor have many of my peers who either manage or own a manufacturing business. In fact when I called the DLT they stated that the majority of manufacturing summer youth jobs go to EB. I’m not sure if Mr. McCourt can do the math but saying that the majority of the 1500 manufacturers use summer youth cannot possible be true when the state employs less through their program. While I am a proponent of the summer youth program and an advocate for young people getting into the manufacturing industry, I think Mr. McCourt should fact check himself. I would hire any summer youth interested in the manufacturing industry.