The federal stimulus package set aside $1.2 billion in funding for youth services, including summer job opportunities, for people under 24. For youth programs or agencies interested in tapping into those dollars, the place to act is at the state level.
The Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration released the summer job money to states in March. Those funds went to each state’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) contact. From there, “the state allots funds to local areas, and local areas have primary responsibility for managing youth programs under WIA,” said DOL spokeswoman Suzy Bohnert.
To find the WIA contact in your state, visit http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/statecon.cfm.
To find out how much stimulus money has been given to your state for summer jobs, look at the “WIA Youth Activities” lines on this regularly updated list: http://www.doleta.gov/Recovery/pdf/WIA.pdf.
Also see Stimulus Funds and Youth Work, a continuously updated guide to funding announcements, under “Latest News” at http://www.youthtoday.org.
