Program Helping Youth Find Work

Photo: Mark Leigh gives a thumbs up to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

On July 1, the Kendall Youth Employment Program will be able to serve youth ages 16-24 who are in need of employment.

The change stems from President Obama’s signing of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act July 22, 2014. Before this, the KYEP age cut off was 21.

KYEP Coordinator Mark Leigh said the program is intended to help youth who need help.

“Either help finding a job or preparing for the future to work into a career,” Leigh said. “We work with many different kinds of youth. Many of them don’t have a high school diploma. Others have other barriers. Some are on probation, some are young parents.”

The jobs are usually entry-level positions.

According to Leigh, the response from those helped has been positive.

“Some have gotten their GED,” Leigh said. “We have some money in our program for subsidized employment, that means that we might place them to work for a local employer or organizations, we pay their wages for up to a couple months while they get trained and supervised at the job. That helps youth quite a bit. It gives them some money and some experience and sometimes it works out where they’re hired on.”

In addition to raising the age limit, the KYEP no longer needs to look at income in order to help.

“Income requirements are kind of a hassle for people to verify their income,” Leigh said. “So now if they drop out or if they’re on probation or a young parent, they don’t need to go through that procedure.”

If someone applying for this program does not meet one of those three requirements, then looking at the household income would be required.

Since 2010, the KYEP has helped around 120 people find employment.

To be eligible for this program, you need to be 16-24 years old and live in Kendall, Kane or Dekalb counties.

For more information call 630-553-4166 or send an email inquiry to yep@roe24.org. The KYEP is a program based out of the Grundy-Kendall Regional Office of Education and is located at 109 W. Ridge St. in Yorkville.