Summer Youth Employment program

Getting married, the birth of a child and maybe that first car are among the many life-long memories none of us forget.

Another is our first job and the experiences gained from the earliest opportunity to earn our own money by providing needed work for others. Of the many services and programs available to Sandoval County residents, few are as life-shaping as the County’s Summer Youth Employment program.

It’s a highly effective way to help our youth earn salaries while gaining experiences that will form their work ethics well into adulthood and even into retirement decades later.

My first job was as varied as some of those offered by the county program.

I was a summer hire for an employment services company and performed a variety of duties ranging from helping to elderly to cutting firewood and maintaining landscaping.

I even learned to make adobes n a skill that proved useful years later when I built my home.

Sandoval County’s summer youth program helps create those memories and work habits in our youth today.

In exchange for my labor as a young summer worker, I earned a minimum wage salary of a couple of dollars an hour that for a 13-year-old was more than adequate.

Times n and prices of all goods and services n have changed considerably since I was a working teen.

This year, the County’s summer youth program will provide hourly wages of $5.85 to about 100 young adults, ages 14 to 17 years.

They will work 20 hours weekly and provide needed services that will help County and local governments and not-for-profit agencies continue assisting residents.

It’s a program the County Commission has funded for many years and one that I strongly support and highly endorse.

Applications for this year’s program opened in March and youth selected for the program were notified of job placements last month.

Work begins with a mandatory orientation session in Bernalillo on June 2 to help the young employees understand expectations and requirements of the program.

At the end of the program on July 25, supervisors will provide the young workers with job evaluations and discuss their work performance with them.

Adult supervisors are key to the success of our Summer Youth Employment program. They are responsible for training the younger employees and provide on-the-job direction and oversight.

To assure the teen employees receive more than a paycheck, they will be assigned a wide variety of jobs that expand existing skills and teach new tasks.

Duties may include washing dishes at senior centers, typing and filing in offices or working with summer recreational programs.

Some workers will be assigned to jobs with local government agencies in the County’s incorporated communities.

Others will provide landscaping maintenance, work with elected officials or assist in various other areas of County government such as public works, personnel or senior programs.

No matter what the task, each job is important for government agencies and not-for-profit organizations.

Each job also shares the goal of providing our youth with the opportunity to obtain experience and skills for building future careers.

In exchange, I have high expectations of participants.

Good, hard work and an effort to make a contribution in the workplace will be required.

Questions or comments for Commissioner Madalena can be mailed to him in care of Sandoval County Administrative Offices, P.O. Box 40, Bernalillo 87004.