With federal Stimulus funds soon to arrive, courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a local workforce investment board notified county officials on Thursday that funds will be available to offer employment and place 300 youths from a six-county region with private and public employers during the summer.
The Central Region Workforce Investment Board, Inc., invited county officials to sign-up and participate as a worksite in the fully funded Summer Youth Employment Program.
The program specifically targets 14-to-24-year-old youths. The first push to sign-up employers and potential candidates for the program begins May 1, although the Missouri Career Center in Rolla is presently recruiting workers.
The Phelps County Commission discussed advising all county officials of the opportunity to provide work for county youths and acquire additional summer employees at no cost to the county.
According to Jim Dickerson, chairman of the Workforce Board, $658,000 in federal Stimulus funds has been allocated to the Central Ozarks Private Industry Council (COPIC), which covers a six-county region, including the counties of Phelps, Maries, Crawford, Dent, Gasconade and Washington. The funds will pay 100 percent of the participants’ wages and workers compensation premiums, at a minimum hourly-rate of $7.25.
The 300 youths hired will be expected to work approximately 240 total hours from June through September, or ending when school begins in the fall, Dickerson said.
“The whole purpose is to give them job experience and to get the money out in the community,” Dickerson said of the program.
The Missouri Career Center, located at 1202 Forum Drive in Rolla, is encouraging prospective employers (not prospective employees) to attend a meeting at one of two sessions planned at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday to learn more about the Summer Youth Employment Program.
Other matters discussed or taken action by the Phelps County Commission on Thursday includes the following items:
• Phelps County Treasurer Carol Green advised the Commission local sales-tax receipts for March totaled $218,721, which reflects a 3.70 percent increase from March, 2007.
• The Commission approved a proclamation designating May 1 as the official Relay for Life in Phelps County Day. Relay for Life is a year-round program dedicated to raising money to cure cancer and supporting community members who have been touched by cancer.
• The Commission declined a request from Newburg Mayor Andy Mattison for the county to pay for the licensing and associated costs of installing a radio-signal booster on a tower in Newburg to increase signal strengths.
