Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 27, 1995 TAG: 9506270035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Chris Radecke nervously fingered his freshly sharpened No. 2 pencil. The 16-year-old William Fleming High School junior had heard about the Summer Youth Employment program from his foster parents, who encouraged him to apply for one of the jobs. Now, as he looked down at the first of two standardized tests he had to take as part of the first day's orientation, he reminded himself that he wanted to do this, that he wanted to learn.
``This is something I need,'' Radecke said quietly, his blond hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. ``I've had a lot of jobs, and I've had trouble keeping them for very long. Usually I quit, whether it's from frustration or irresponsibility or whatever. This program will give me experience, and I'll be learning something, like job management skills and responsibility. This offers that kind of training.''
It is that training in real-world job skills, combined with the opportunity to learn how to do something other than flip a burger, that supplies the summer youth program with a steady flow of applicants for the minimum-wage jobs while other easily obtained, higher-paying jobs go unfilled.
The federally funded program, administered locally by the Fifth District Employment and Training Consortium, annually receives more than 650 applications from economically disadvantaged youths from 14 to 21 years old in Roanoke County. Of those, approximately 400 are accepted and employed, Fifth District Administrator Vickie Price said.
The youths are placed in jobs at hospitals, city offices and day-care centers, Price said, and work Monday through Thursday at part-time or full-time jobs. While all positions are combined with classroom instruction, Fridays are given over to field trips to area museums and businesses. Employees are paid for the classroom time as well as the field trips.
``We provide young people with education, remediation and academic enrichment,'' Price said. ``Part of that is to provide some practical experience in the job market, such as teaching them the importance of being on time and being responsible.''
That type of training, many believe, can and should be done by the private sector.
Accordingly, Congress targeted the Job Training Partnership Act, which funds the Summer Youth Employment program, for elimination. Although this year's funding was spared when President Clinton vetoed the bill, the fate of the program next year is anything but certain.
``They are, in effect, competing with the private sector for workers,'' Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said, adding that while Roanoke employers suffer from a labor shortage, other Virginia counties face the opposite situation.
``This is a perfect example of why communities ought to make the decisions themselves,'' Goodlatte said. ``It seems to me that different communities have different employment needs.'' He said a block grant favored by Republicans, for localities to distribute as they see fit, can do that more effectively than the across-the-board, level funding now in place.
Many of the 50 or so young people in the summer employment orientation at Total Action Against Poverty's Campbell Avenue offices in Roanoke last Friday were unaware of how close the program came to elimination and of the difficulties it faces in the future.
``I guess I'd probably end up looking for another job'' if the program were cut, Radecke said. ``Maybe work in a restaurant or something. I don't know. Probably unsuccessfully, though.''
by CNB