The MYC received a $100K grant through the Commonwealth Corporation under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts YouthWorks Program and MassHire Central Career Center. Through this grant, the MYC was able to help employ 17 income eligible youth this summer with over 220 paid hours and career readiness training. Due to this opportunity, we were able to have youth placed at multiple different locations throughout town, including the Milford Youth Center, Milford Public Schools Food Service Department, Parks Department, Highway Department, Milford TV and at Town Hall, allowing additional help at each location at no cost to their individual departments. The youth participated in signal success training at the MYC which helps prepare them for the work force and provides them skills to learn and grow. They also participated in career chats where they were able to listen to professionals talk about their different careers.
A couple highlights from the summer:
- 5 Youth Workers were named MYC Counselor of the week;
- 3 Youth Workers played an important role in preparing and passing out food for our Summer Feeding program with helps families secure a healthy meal every day during the summer;
- 3 Youth Workers took part in assisting in fixing up the bike path around Fino Field by maintaining the path and freshening up the paint on the fences;
- All Youth Workers participated in a mental health presentation where a Youth Works staff member, Kallie Tavano, provided information for youth about mental health and the different resources we have around Milford!
This year we were fortunate enough to have two youth workers interview and be offered full time jobs with help of the program!
Paige is a second year Milford Youth Worker who originally started with us working part time at Milford Food Service last summer. Paige worked with food service prepping meals for individuals and families impacted by COVID. After her first year at Youthworks Paige applied and got a job at the Milford Youth Center where she was able to complete her CO-OP High School requirements. This year, Paige worked at the Milford Youth Center for our summer camp, where she fostered relationships with the youth of the Blackstone Valley area. Paige continued to impress us with her work ethic and camaraderie with the campers and staff. Paige was recently given an opportunity to interview for SCI-AmeriCorps where she was offered a position through the program to continue to work at the Milford Youth Center. We are very proud of Paige and are excited to see where this opportunity takes her!
Paul is a first year Milford Youth Worker who just graduated from Milford High School. Paul was given the opportunity to work with the Milford Highway Department this summer, after working as an after-school Activities Coordinator for the Milford Youth Center. During the program this summer, Paul was exposed to the different aspects of working for a highway department and excelled at all tasks thrown at him. He received a better understanding of the needs of his community through this program! With the program now winding down, Paul received an offer to stay with the Highway Department and join their crew full time seasonally. This is a great opportunity for Paul and we are very excited to see him grow with this job!
We would like to thank the State for this amazing opportunity, to all of our sites, youth, and staff (especially Maddy and Sam Bonvino) involved in making this another successful and fun summer!