SEQUIM — Carl Chastain isn’t sure who’s getting the better deal: the teenagers who will come to work for him this summer or the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition, the Forks-based nonprofit he runs.
The coalition, which restores salmon habitat across the Olympic Peninsula, depends on volunteers, and Chastain couldn’t afford to add two paid staff.
But he’ll get them in July, thanks to the federal stimulus-funded Summer Youth Employment Program, which is sending him, and paying for, two workers.
He’s delighted, since he already knows the teens from helping them with their senior projects at Forks High School.
Working with these young people is “so win-win, it’s not funny,” Chastain said. “It’s a great opportunity for kids, an opportunity for them to get involved in something they’re interested in . . . We’re really lucky, and the kids are lucky.”
Scott Robinson of European AutoWerks in Carlsborg, a shop specializing in care for Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari and other imports, is another employer providing a work site for the summer program.
He learned of it through the Sequim Sunrise Rotary Club, and unlike Chastain, he only recently met the young Sequim man who’ll be working with him this summer.
And though he called it a risk to bring a relatively unknown individual into his shop, Robinson said he wants to provide an opportunity for a teenager to move in a positive direction.
“He’s an enthusiastic, intelligent young man,” Robinson said of the youth who’ll be embarking on his first job when he comes to AutoWerks.
“He’s going to learn from the ground up and find out what it takes to run a small business.”
Cheryl Stough of Sequim is the matchmaker behind the pairings of youth with employers such as Robinson and Chastain.
She’s the newly hired coordinator of Summer Youth Employment Program in Clallam County, and together with her Jefferson County counterpart Anne Burns, she’s orchestrating 84 matches of young workers and jobs.
The two counties’ programs, freshly funded by $313,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, aim to provide something that will last longer than a paycheck.
“The goal is for every young person to walk away with skills, confidence and a resume,” Stough said.
Both she and Burns have found many companies interested in working with the young people, ages 16 to 24.
They include the Food Co-Op in Port Townsend, the YMCA in Port Angeles and retailers such as Seams to Last, a children’s clothing shop in Port Hadlock.
But both coordinators are interested in hearing from other employers who may want to provide work sites.
“We could use a couple more in Forks,” Stough said, so program participants from that community don’t have to travel to Port Angeles.
To reach Stough, phone 360-797-4026 or e-mail syep@olypen.com.
Burns is at 360-301-1862 or aburns@oesd.wednet.edu.
The inaugural Summer Youth Employment Program will last for six weeks, from July 6 through Aug. 14, and include workshops on job readiness, resume writing and other career-building skills, Stough said.
The program, not the employers, pays the young workers minimum wage, $8.55 an hour, for up to 32 hours per week.
Clallam County, because it has both a higher proportion of economically disadvantaged youth and higher unemployment, is receiving far more — $259,000 — for its summer-job program than Jefferson County, which is getting just $54,000.
As a result, Stough has the funding to match 70 young workers with sites across Clallam County, while Burns is placing 14.
Olympic Educational Services District No. 114 is administering the program and worked with school counselors and youth organizations to select the young people who are participating.
Both Burns and Stough speak highly of the workers. Many haven’t had much support or guidance when it comes to planning their careers, the women said, but they do not lack the desire to get to work.
“The kids I’ve met are amazing young people,” Burns said, adding that she looks forward to seeing them develop relationships with mentors this summer.
“We’re giving them a lot of support, so they will have the skills to succeed in the work force. I’m really excited about the program,” Stough said. “This is a good start.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
