Worcester News

Summer Jobs To Put Worcester Students On Track

WORCESTER (WBZ) ― With the last day of school for many teenagers in Worcester less than a month a away, there's good news to chase away summertime blues: about a million dollars in funding for nearly 1,200 summer youth jobs.

Lt. Governor Tim Murray said data suggests summer youth jobs make communities safer and healthier. The state's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Judy Ann Bigby, says the two biggest predictors of wellness are education and what type of job one has.

Economic researchers have found summer youth jobs lead to higher earnings later in life.

Shivonne Hyde, a Worcester Tech High senior, says, "I feel like I'm a lot more confident in in everything that I do."

She'll be working two jobs this summer and plans to attend Assumption College in the fall. Audrey Ampiah, a Worcester North High Senior, says her summer job, in the pediatric oncology / hematology unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center, has made her more independent. She expects to go to Worcester State College.

Lt. Gov. Murray announced Worcester will receive $533,081 for the YouthWorks summer jobs program. About another half million dollars will come from UMass Memorial and St. Vincent's Hospital. Altogether that will fund 1,180 summer youth jobs in Worcester. A day earlier, Gov. Deval Patrick announced statewide funding of more than $5.6 million for the YouthWorks summer jobs program -- an increase of $1.2 million from last year.

Terence Buchannan, a Worcester Tech High Senior works at Wolf Coach this summer and said having a summer job makes a difference in his life.

"Well, it's better than being on the streets, running around, getting into trouble," he said.

That gave me the idea of going to the neighborhood of a another high school to see if I could find someone who illustrates the effect of summer job programs.

After watching a young man with a backpack walk up and down Hamilton Street, I approached him, introduced myself, told him about the story we were doing and gently asked if I could talk with him about his job.

He said he hadn't had one for the past six months, since he worked part-time at Table Talk pies. His name is Joel Perez. He's 23, lives with his girlfriend and their baby. He dropped out of Worcester South High School in the tenth grade. He said he'd like to get a job, an apartment, a car and have some money.

I asked how hard it is for him to get a job.

"Very hard, because I don't have a high school diploma." He went on to say a summer job would have kept him in high school and would have helped him get a full-time job.

On the other side of Worcester, a few years earlier Tim Murray, now Lt. Governor, had a summer job. I asked him where. He said he worked in the mail room at the chamber of commerce which put him contact with decision-makers. "It's something I still benefit from today," he said.

Back on his girlfriend's porch, Joel Perez said he's thought about getting a G.E.D. but, for now, he's just waiting for a call from the employment agency.

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