Oneida County Summer Youth Program

Summer Youth Employment Program kicks off

The Summer Youth Employment Program gives at-risk youth a chance to seize new opportunities.

Several hundred Oneida County teenagers took their first step toward their future careers Monday as the Oneida County Summer Youth Employment Program’s Work Readiness Day took place at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica.

“The Summer Youth Employment Program is a chance for local at-risk youth to seize a new opportunity and move toward a prosperous future,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. “Our program places these youth at hands-on sites to develop teamwork, communication and critical thinking skills, and prepares them to become productive employees with thriving careers.”

Picente was joined by other SYEP partners, including officials from the county STOPDWI Program, the Department of Mental Health, Youth Bureau, Department of Health

and Sheriff’s Office. The county partners shared information designed to help youth prepare for their future. Financial literacy training was provided by MVCC.

The SYEP provides youth ages 14-17 with real-world work experience. This year, approximately 400 youth will be placed at work sites around the county to beautify parks and recreation centers, plant community gardens and help operate community programs serving children.

Picente was also joined by MVCC Associate Dean Mark Montgomery and Oneida County Office of Workforce Development Director David Mathis.

Former SYEP participant Fatima Adam, a Proctor High School senior who is a Sudanese refugee, urged that the youth in the program take their summer seriously.

“Today can be the day you show the people you will work for that you have pride in yourself, pride in your work, and that all of us who have come from around the world to this community, and those who were born here, can work together to get the job done,” she said. “The job to which you are assigned will ask you to work in the heat, or work with strangers, or do things you never did and have no idea how to do. Whatever it is, it is an opportunity to show the people that employ us that whatever negative things they have heard about teenagers is wrong.”

Mathis said that the SYEP fills a vital niche for teens who would not otherwise have the opportunity to work. “The Summer Youth Employment Program provides young people with meaningful work experience and also helps them earn money their families can use. This program makes a difference in the lives of the teenagers who will be the backbone of our community and our workforce,” he said.