Stimulus plan means jobs for 600 youths

More than 600 young people in the Richmond area will go to work this summer because of a big boost in funding from the federal stimulus program.

The newly formed Capital Region Workforce Partnership is channeling about $1.1 million of stimulus money into youth summer work programs, beginning today in Hanover County.

The money represents about 80 percent of the $1.4 million that the stimulus program will provide for youth work programs in the region, and it more than doubles the federal funding normally available for year-round programs for youth job training.

Most of the money spent this summer will go to young people ages 14 to 24 as incentive payments for work and training at job sites in Richmond and seven regional counties.

President Barack Obama said last week that he wants the stimulus money to create 125,000 youth jobs this summer, and the local ones will count toward that.

"It's designed to move money into the hands of young people," said L. Robert Bolling, executive director of William Byrd Community House.

The Byrd House is administering the program for 170 young people in Richmond, as well as more than 130 who already participate in year-round job-training programs under the federal Workforce Investment Act.

Today, the first youths will go to work at parks and recreation facilities in Hanover, where they already have received two days of training for jobs that will pay $7 an hour for 25 to 40 hours a week, depending on their age.

By the beginning of July, hundreds of youths will be working at hospitals, nonprofit organizations, social-services agencies, state and local government operations, and YMCAs around the region.

"It's a wonderful opportunity," said Linda Botts, president and chief executive officer of Ashlin Management Group Inc., a Maryland-based company that is administering the program in Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent and Powhatan counties.

It's also a big opportunity for the regional Workforce Partnership, formed last fall to combine work-force training programs in the city and surrounding region for the first time. The partnership just named a 48-member community advisory board, as well as a policy group of elected officials led by Richmond City Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson.

"One of the challenges here is gearing up to put the money in place and bring the jobs in the short time we have," Robertson said Friday.

Obama made clear last week that he wants the stimulus money moving quickly to boost the economy this summer, with 10 initiatives aimed at creating more than 600,000 jobs in a little more than three months. The programs range from work at national parks and military bases to cleaning up hazardous waste sites and hiring teachers.

The money is a godsend for youth programs in the Richmond area, where just $225,000 was available from the Workforce Investment Act last year for year-round initiatives in the seven counties, and about $676,000 in Richmond, where the concentration of economically disadvantaged youths is much higher.

This year, the region is getting about $1.1 million from the Workforce Investment Act for its normal year-round programs, which include tutoring, occupational-skills training, and paid and unpaid work experience.

"First of all, there hasn't been a whole lot of money, period," said George T. Drumwright Jr., deputy county manager in Henrico. The Workforce Partnership is based in the county, which acts as its fiscal agent.

But the stimulus funding has come on a fast track for a short burst of investment. The government is requiring that 80 percent of the money be spent to create youth jobs this summer.

The partnership has been preparing since Congress adopted the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act in February. It used emergency procurement procedures to contract with Ashlin and the Byrd House, which already were administering the work-force training programs in the counties and city, respectively.

"If we don't get the money out quickly," said Rosalyn Key-Tiller, director of the partnership, "we would never get the program off the ground before kids go back to school."

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .