Sherry Elander, left, a transition teacher at Westfield High School, welcomes everyone to the YouthWorks end of the program celebration at the Amelia Park Children’s Museum. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – It was a festive environment inside Amelia Park’s Children’s Museum last night, as around 80 parents, family members and students packed inside to kick back, enjoy some food, and look back on the past five weeks of Westfield’s YouthWorks program.
A second-year state-subsidized summer work program designed to help at-risk youth, YouthWorks was able to put 650 students to work this summer, with 51 of those students living and working in Westfield.
Working with local retailers such as TJ Maxx and at institutions such as the Westfield Housing Authority, Westfield State University and Noble Hospital, students between the ages of 14 and 21 years of age were eligible for employment. But it is the care that each student received on their path to gainful summer work that may separate the YouthWorks program from other summer job opportunities.
“We really try to match students with their interests,” said Kathryn Kirby, youth employment manager for Hampden County’s Regional Employment Board. “We want to give students a worker’s mentality.”
Kirby worked closely with YouthWorks’ Westfield coordinator Sherry Elander, a transition teacher at Westfield High School, to select the 51 students from Westfield’s pool of applicants. The program also had offerings in Chicopee, Holyoke, and Springfield, and in total received about 6,000 applications this summer.
“We were notified that we’d received funding this year four days before the first day of week,” said Elander, before going on to illustrate the three-day training seminar that accompanied the student workers prior to work beginning. “Last year, we had 50 workers. This year, we received level funding from the state and ended up with one extra worker.”
Due to the success of the program, Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik even added three additional job slots with the city.
While the city was able to employ several students at the Department of Public Works, other places such as the Children’s Museum itself were able to employ students to maintain the facility.
“It’s an opportunity to get a job, earn a steady income, and gain some training and education.” said Amelia Park Children’s Museum’s Director Karen Rubin, who employed four students this summer for everything from maintenance to assisting with mail.
“(The program) is not just about money,” said Kirby. “It’s about opportunity. We’re thankful for the state funds, but also local employers for supplying jobs for the summer.”
