Published: 9/3/2009

TPS WorkForce Central students make presentation

In August, two Tacoma Public Schools students made presentations on the age-old topic: “What I did with my summer vacation.” But, in this case, J’mel Williams and Rosalinda Castro were not presenting in front of their fellow students, they were talking directly to Senator Patty Murray.

Murray, who was a driving force on the stimulus bill in Congress earlier this year, was touring parts of the state to see how the money made available by the bill was being used. One of her first stops was at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department building in Tacoma to learn about the WorkForce Central summer jobs program.

As someone who benefited greatly from her summer jobs growing up in the Seattle area, Murray fought hard during negotiations in Congress to set aside money from the stimulus for just that purpose. “Every time I walked into the room, I said we have to have money for summer jobs,” Murray said.

As a result, programs such as WorkForce Central were enabled to find employment for youth such as Williams and Castro. The program allows youth ages 14-24 to work summer jobs, with the federal government footing the bill for their salaries, allowing for more opportunities. In all, more than 1,200 youth from the Puget Sound area were enrolled in the program this summer.

WorkForce Central has been around as an organization since 1982, and it previously ran the summer job program more than a decade ago. However, due to lack of funding, this is the first time in 11 years that the program has been back in place. The job sites range from local community colleges to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and even to local companies such as Net Venture.

Also among the attendees at the event was Superintendent Art Jarvis. He talked about how programs like WorkForce Central help supplement what students learn at the schools in Tacoma. “What a great opportunity to share our students with the community,” he said. “We just ultimately want to find ways of connecting the school and the work place and make sure students see that connection.”

Williams, a student at Lincoln High School, is working at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. He said the program allows him to learn things he would never have understood without having a real job. “I have learned why we should make a change in our community and how to do it,” he said. “And, it’s important to have summer programs because we need to know what it’s like to work.”

Williams’ father, Jamaar Curtis concurred. “I think it helps him because it gives him the opportunity of find out what it’s like to get up and go to work every day,” Curtis said. “He’s learned a lot, and this program gave him a whole different insight. I was trying to teach him but he probably couldn’t understand until now.”

Safe Streets selected one intern from each of the five public high schools in Tacoma to work for them this summer, and Rosalinda Castro, a senior this fall, was chosen to represent Foss. In a normal year, the internships would be unpaid, but because of WorkForce Central, Castro and her four fellow interns are able to earn money through the stimulus plan while learning important leadership and work skills.

“It’s really fun,” Castro said with a smile. “We have to get up really early, but it’s worth it.”

For more information about WorkForce Central, visit the Web site at www.worksourcepierce.com/wdc/index.html.

Superintendent Arthur O. Jarvis, Ed.D., ajarvis@tacoma.k12.wa.us
Superintendent-Elect (Interim) Carla Santorno, csantor@tacoma.k12.wa.us
Central Administration Building, P.O. Box 1357, Tacoma, WA 98401-1357, 253.571.1000

Translate this page: