800 Youths to Be Offered Jobs Over the Summer : Work: Those who are disabled or economically disadvantaged are urged to apply quickly for the federally funded program.

When school doors from Oxnard to Fillmore close for the summer in June, hundreds of disadvantaged youths will be eligible to go to work in a federally funded summer jobs program.

At least 800 summer jobs will be available this year in the city of Oxnard and elsewhere in Ventura County, said Francisco De Leon of the Job Training Policy Council, which administers the program.

And another 400 summer jobs may be added to Ventura County if the Clinton Administration can persuade legislators to approve an additional $500 million for the summer jobs program, he said.

If the extra money is approved, Ventura County’s share would be enough to double the program’s $1.5-million annual budget, De Leon said. Some of the additional funds would go toward special projects for teen-age parents, gang-affiliated youths, and those who need remedial classes in reading and mathematics.

Regardless of how many positions are eventually funded, program officials are urging youths ages 14 to 21 to apply if they are economically disadvantaged, handicapped, school dropouts or from families on welfare.

Although the jobs won’t begin until June 15, eligible residents should apply quickly before the positions are filled, said Dennis Holloway, a program recruiter.

“Without this program, chances for a summer job are not too great for many of these kids,” Holloway said.

Each youth accepted will be assigned to a $4.25-an-hour job in one of the dozens of public agencies that have agreed to participate. The tasks range from keeping city parks clean to helping with clerical work in City Hall and school offices.

Participants who are 16 or younger will work 32 hours a week for six weeks, while those who are older will work 40 hours a week for eight weeks, Holloway said. The hours and number of weeks can be stretched if more funding becomes available.

While a majority of the county’s eligible youths are from the Oxnard area, need for the program also exists in the relatively affluent east end of the county, said Ruthanne Begun of the Conejo Youth Employment Service, which administers the summer program for the city of Thousand Oaks.

Last year, the Thousand Oaks agency placed about 80 youths in summer jobs and hopes to get the money to place at least as many this year.

“It’s a misconception that people in Thousand Oaks don’t need public services,” Begun said. “Driving down the streets of Newbury Park, you can see the effect of plant closings. We’re not talking about the ethnic poor, but about people who have lost their jobs.”

Begun said the county’s economic troubles have reduced the number of jobs usually available for youths in the summer as out-of-work adults snatch up low-paying jobs formerly held by young people.

In the Oxnard area, both the city of Oxnard and El Concilio del Condado de Ventura will administer summer jobs programs, with El Concilio handling the needs of teen-age mothers in Oxnard and gang members in Ventura.

The city of Oxnard will hire 250 eligible youths for the summer and twice that number if more funds are approved, said Efren Gorre, who oversees the program. Without assistance through the program, many of the area’s eligible youths would not be able to find jobs on their own, he said.

“The disadvantaged kids normally don’t have a support system behind them--the well-placed uncle who can put in a good word at Hughes Aircraft. They don’t have a chance,” Gorre said. “For them, we are their uncle.”

Gorre said the $1,100 salary the participants earn over the summer is only one of the program’s benefits.

“They learn the very basic things that everyone must learn who wants to work, like getting up early in time for work, following instructions, working with others, taking criticism from a supervisor and thinking straight,” Gorre said.

Adults forget how difficult it can be to learn those lessons, Begun said.

“Everyone has had a first job in their life and it’s traumatic,” she said. “Adults don’t realize how frightening it is for young people to go in and sell themselves.”

FYI

For more information on the Summer Youth Employment Training Program or to schedule an interview, call the Job Training Policy Council at 981-8779.