WIA Youth Looking for Work Experience

Gateway Youth Programs and the Workers In Action (WIA) Program would like to invite you to be a Work Experience Host Site! The WIA Program assists youth, 14 to 21, in setting and reaching their career and education goals. The WIA Program places young people into Work Experience training with local businesses and organizations to provide basic and soft skills for employment based on a youth’s career goals. We would like to gather information from businesses and organizations in our local Darke County communities who may be interested in partnering with Gateway as a Host Site this summer.

Host Sites provide supervision, accountability, and opportunities for growth to each participant. Youth’s wages are paid for entirely by the WIA Program, Gateway Youth Programs, and Council On Rural Services. The criteria for worksite selection includes both your ability to provide an appropriate, supervised, and meaningful work experience with defined duties, along with connecting the skills needed in the career choices the participant is exploring. Participants working in environments related to career goals are given the opportunity to be exposed to specific transferable skills allowing them to make more informed career choices for their future. Some career choices the youth have are: social work, animal care, cosmetology, childcare, serving (restaurant), healthcare, occupational therapy, art design, editing, fire management, and insurance.

If you would like more information on becoming a Host Site, please contact Kathy Kenworthy at 937-548-8002 to RSVP by April 17, 2015 and put on your calendar to have a representative attend an informational meeting on May 5th from 10:00am – 11:30am at Council on Rural Services located at 116 East Third Street, Greenville, Ohio.

The WIA Program will provide you with information needed to make an informed decision on being a Host Site. This meeting will also allow you to hear about the positive impact Summer Employment has had on our participants. Your attendance is in no way a commitment to becoming a Host Site, though you will have the opportunity to commit after you have received all the information. Please bring job descriptions of positions where you may like to place a participant, as this will help us determine if youth have career goals to match.

WIA is funded by the Department of Labor/Workforce Investment Act through Darke County Department of Job and Family Service and the Darke County Commissioners.

If you would like to know more about other Gateway Youth Programs in Darke County check the web at www.councilonruralservices.org or call and speak with Ruth Barga, Support Specialist, at 937-548-8002. Gateway Youth Programs is a program of Council on Rural Services … programs for innovative learning.