HomeMy WebLinkAbout20171106.tiffRESOLUTION
RE: APPROVE PROPOSAL FOR WELD WORKS 4 YOUTH SUMMER EMPLOYMENT
PROGRAM
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, Colorado, pursuant to
Colorado statute and the Weld County Home Rule Charter, is vested with the authority of
administering the affairs of Weld County, Colorado, and
WHEREAS, the Board has been presented with the Weld Works 4 Youth Summer
Employment Program for the County of Weld, State of Colorado, by and through the Board of
County Commissioners of Weld County, on behalf of the Department of Human Services,
Division of Employment Services, commencing March 16, 2017, and ending September 30, 2017,
with further terms and conditions being as stated in said program proposal, and
WHEREAS, after review, the Board deems it advisable to approve said program proposal,
a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of Weld
County, Colorado, that the Weld Works 4 Youth Summer Employment Program for the County of
Weld, State of Colorado, by and through the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, on
behalf of the Department of Human Services, Division of Employment Services, be, and hereby
is, approved.
The above and foregoing Resolution was, on motion duly made and seconded, adopted
by the following vote on the 24th day of April, A.D., 2017.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
WELD COUNTY, COLOI3QDO
ATTEST: d Di4,C.
Weld County Clerk to the Board
BY
cid
uty Clerk to he �c
Board d
/2f
Julie A. ozadad,Chair
Steve Moreno, Pro -Tern
Sean P. Conway
APPR• -' AS TO = iJ ' EXCUSED
ttorney
Date of signature• nl t I /
ike Freeman
rbara Kirkmeyer
C o, 1 tSoccrnISEVJG)
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2017-1106
HR0088
(_.awt ate' lb l 1032
MEMORANDUM
DATE: January 25, 2017
TO: Board of County Commissioners — Pass -Around
FR: Judy A. Griego, Director, Human Services
RE:
Weld County Department of Human Services' Weld Works
4 Youth Summer Employment Program
Please review and indicate if you would like a work session prior to placing this item on the
Board's agenda.
Request Board Approval of the Department's Weld Works 4 Youth Summer Employment
Program. Through Employment Services of Weld County, the Department will initiate a
Summer Employment Program. The program offers eligible youth valuable experiences and the
skills gained through these experiences will lead to opportunities for unsubsidized employment
in the future.
The program will intentionally and primarily serve 14-15 year olds who are currently receiving
TANF, Food Assistance, Medicaid, placed in Foster Care, or have an open case with Youth
Services or participating with the Prevention team in accordance with section 6.008.4 of the
county plan. Due to other employment programs in the community, this initiative will restrict
the participation of Greeley youth to only include 14-15 year old youth who demonstrate a
critical need. Also eligible are youth ages 16-17 who live in rural areas with little opportunity
for unsubsidized employment and are included in one or more of the priority areas.
The program will be funded through TANF not to exceed $100,000.00 for direct services and
associated direct program costs during the time period of March 16, 2017 through September
30, 2017.
I do not recommend a Work Session. I recommend approval of this program.
Approve Request
BOCC Agenda Work Session
Sean Conway
Steve Moreno
Barbara Kirkmeyer
Mike Freeman
Julie Cozad
Pass -Around Memorandum; January 25, 2017 - (ID 1032)
2017-1106
HRoo•ea
Page 1
Proposal for the 2017
Weld Works 4 Youth
Summer Employment Program
Background:
Through Employment Services of Weld County, the Department of Human Services will initiate a
Summer Employment Program. The program will intentionally and primarily serve 14-15 year
olds who are currently receiving TANF, Food Assistance, Medicaid, placed in Foster Care, or
have an open case with Youth Services or participating with the Prevention team in accordance
with section 6.008.4 of the county plan. Analysis of the program design has shown it to be
successful.
The purposes of the Summer Youth Employment Program are to:
• Prevent youth and families from entering the child welfare system.
• Promote a continuum of educational and community experiences through
established work experience and educational programs in the summer.
• Promote work ethics through a work experience program for youth age fourteen to
fifteen that can benefit from those services to be delivered through the Weld
County Department of Human Services.
• Support County Certified Foster Care Parents and Adoptive Parents with summer
activities for foster and adoptive children.
The following activities are included to enhance the youth's participation in the program:
1. Life Skills Enhancement activities such as:
Financial Literacy
Health Career Exploration through a collaborative effort with AIMS Community College
Re -Think Anger Management
Abstinence Training provided by the Weld County Health Department
Pregnancy Prevention
Drop -out Prevention/ Community Educational Resources
Drug & Alcohol Prevention
Conflict Resolution Training
Gang Involvement Prevention
2. Acknowledge youth achievement through a bonus system.
II. Target Group and Benefits:
The purpose of the Summer Youth Employment Program is to target economically disadvantaged
youth ages 14-15. Target groups by priority are families residing outside of Greeley and receiving
TANF, youth placed in Foster Care and those Foster Youth who have returned home or been
adopted within the last six months, DHS Prevention Services followed by Food Assistance, or
Medicaid recipients. Also eligible are youth ages 16-17 who live in rural areas with little
opportunity for unsubsidized employment and are included in one or more of the priority areas.
This initiative will restrict the participation of Greeley youth to only include 14-15 year old youth
who demonstrate a critical need to include youth actively involved with Prevention programs,
Foster Youth and TANF families. While Greeley residents have increased access to employment
through the City of Greeley's Summer Teen Employment Program (STEP), it's highly competitive
and often requires having a connection with a City of Greeley staff person. The ability to
positively impact at -risk youth at an early stage is invaluable however will be limited to ensure the
majority of youth live outside of Greeley.
This program is designed to benefit low-income families by having their child in a positive summer
program while the parent(s) are in a TANF work activity or beginning unsubsidized employment.
An equally important benefit of the program is the relief of parental stress felt when young people
are at home alone with no structured activity, thus increasing the parent's ability to maintain
employment or requirements associated with TANF, Food Assistance or other benefit systems.
The youth participants benefit by gaining positive work and life skills through a variety of activities,
are able to receive remedial or academic enrichment activities, in addition to earning money.
Employment opportunities for 14 and 15 year olds are very limited. The Summer Youth
Employment Program offers the eligible youth valuable experiences, which encourage the value
of work within the participant. In addition, the skills gained through these experiences will lead to
opportunities for unsubsidized employment in the future. The focus of this initiative is to engage
youth, particularly from cities and towns outside of Greeley. Youth residing outside of Greeley will
be given priority. An additional benefit of the program is it allows eligible rural youth to have more
opportunity to participate in positive activities during the summer.
Another advantage of the Summer Youth Employment Program is the ability to track progress,
attendance, and behavior of the participant through supervision and follow up by Employment
Services case managers and worksite supervisors.
III. Brief Description of Program and Activities: (includes coordination efforts with other
programs)
The focus of the Summer Youth Employment Program for youth ages 14-15, and its anticipated
impact, is to enhance the academic, occupational, and citizenship skills of the youth, and to
provide work experience and academic enrichment components for each participant that
encourages the youth to remain in or return to school.
Youth participants will be assessed to determine their basic skills and supportive service needs.
The identified interest/preference of the youth is used to determine job assignments in the
program whenever possible. Upon eligibility determination and program enrollment, each
participant will have an Individual Service Strategy (ISS) developed, which will indicate selected
training components, and any supportive service needs. The ISS will address goals for
employment and education services, as well as positive life skills activities to be received and will
describe how the program will assist the youth in overcoming barriers to employment, and in
setting and reaching goals. Participants will have an ISS included in their client file.
Work experience activities will be provided for approximately 50 youth. The majority of the
participants enrolled in work experience will work for approximately 4 hours per day 3-5 days per
week for a total of 12 to 20 hours per week for approximately 8 weeks.
Other youth serving agencies, such as drug and alcohol prevention/treatment centers, and/or
other community service agencies which serve youth, may participate as a work site, as an
outreach tool, or will provide services to youth as needed. In addition, participants of the program
will be encouraged through a financial incentive to volunteer in the community and attend age
appropriate seminars, which may include but are not limited to financial literacy, soft skills, anger
management, conflict resolution, drug and alcohol prevention, gang involvement prevention,
career exploration, entrepreneurship, pregnancy prevention, and dropout prevention.
The Learning Lab and the A+ Learning System, located at Employment Services of Weld County
in Greeley and Ft Lupton, will be used for remediation/academic enrichment activities unless
noted otherwise in the participant's ISS. Coordination will also occur with the local school districts
for those in need of remedial education in math and reading, as well as with summer school.
Goals:
The goals for the Summer Youth Employment Program are:
1. Youth participating in the academic components will enhance their academic
performance, including their reading and mathematics comprehension, as measured by
attainment of school credit, completion of grade level in the learning lab, successful
completion of other classes, or as determined by pre- and post-tests and/or reports from
remediation/enrichment component instructors.
2. Youth participating in the work experience component will enhance their occupational
skills as measured by attainment of workplace competencies. The workplace
competencies incorporate the SCANS competencies and were developed by the Weld
County School to Career and adopted by the Weld County Workforce Development
Board.
3. Youth participating in the program will increase their skills by using relevant learning
experiences, as well as by using the Weld County Workforce Board's approved
competencies which meet or exceed the SCANS Foundation Skills and which evaluate
attendance, work attitudes, completion of assigned tasks, etc.
4. Youth participating in Life Skill Enhancement Activities will gain the strength to inhibit
negative peer pressure, thus alleviating gang membership, drug abuse, school dropout
rate, and teen pregnancy, while encouraging positive behaviors such as conflict
resolution, controlling anger, budgeting, etc....
V. Funding:
TANF Funds will not exceed $100,000.00 for direct services and associated direct program costs.
These funds will provide the youth with the minimum wage of $9.30 per hour, worker's
compensation and associated FICA costs approximately $9.96 per hour. Actual costs will be
provided by TANF funding based on the projection of 50 youth and the max of 160 hours worked
per youth (20 hours a week for eight weeks). The approximate total cost of wages is
$79,680.00
In addition to the worked wages received, there will also be an opportunity for eligible youth
participants to earn up to two hours per week for life skills workshops attended for a maximum of
$160.00 per youth. The maximum total cost for incentives is $8,000.00 however it's estimated to
be not more than $6,000.00 in actual costs.
Basic skills remediation and educational support is an option of the program and will be
determined on a case by case basis. The approximate lab cost or alternative approved
educational support is $5,000.00.
Additional costs for the program will include costs associated with Life Skill class and Career
Pathways activities coordinated by Employment Services, to include the cost of supplies, and
snacks for youth participants. The estimated total associated cost is $1,500.00.
Transportation costs include the cost of transportation for a Health Camp and or additional Career
Pathways initiatives, Jr. Corps, worksite placements, estimated at $4.000.00. The remaining
amount of the budget will be used to cover staff related mileage reimbursement associated with
the Summer Youth Employment Program during the time period of March 16, 2017 through
September 30, 2017.
Existing staff will support this initiative as opposed to hiring additional staff. An estimated 1.5 FTE
will be allocated to this initiative March through September. This will include recruitment of
employers and job sites as well as eligible youth along with the staff support during the program
and in a follow-up capacity to complete program closeout and reporting; this was not included in
the overall anticipated direct program costs.
Conclusion:
The importance of the Summer Youth Employment Program to the community cannot be
understated. Providing younger youth from low socioeconomic households and who may have
few or no appropriate role models in their lives, the opportunity to learn work ethics, improve their
life skills and educational standing while putting money in their pocket is an invaluable
experience. This may be the only opportunity they have to enhance their skills before entering
the workforce at an unsubsidized level and to acquire the tools needed to be successful. The
majority of the funding of the Summer Youth Employment Program goes directly to the low-
income participants in the form of wages. Providing youth with their own income will help
alleviate the financial pressure the parent is under regarding the cost of clothes, entertainment,
school supplies, etc. for that child, and can give the youth a feeling of pride and accomplishment
upon completing the program.
Section V. Budget and Program Outcomes Charts
Ul-RESEA Original Allocation:
Budget Information Summary Table (BIST)
Period of Performance: 1/1/2017-12/31/2017
Cost Category/Program Code
Approved Current
Budget
Transfer In/Out (+/-)
Revised Budget
Program/2887
$1,485.00
$1,485.00
Total
$1,485.00
$1,485.00
NFA# WE 16-107 Entity Code: 5230
$1,485.00
RESEA Projected Quarterly Expenditures - Cumulative
4th Quarter
COSTS CATEGORY
April 1 to June 30,
2017
Program
$48,525
Total
$48,525
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