Summer youth recognized by VOC

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE For Christine Sanchez of Chicopee, participating in the Summer Youth Employment Program has given her experiences in various work sites that otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get.

Sanchez, who spent the summer working in the offices of Chicopee Village Town Homes, was one of the youth honored at a luncheon conducted by the Valley Opportunity Council (VOC) at the Elms College on Thursday.

About 40 of the 80 young people who were in the program attended the event and received certificates of participation. The program is open to qualified youth ages 14 through 21.

Sanchez is 20 and has been in the program since she was 14. She recently graduated from Branford Hall as a medical assistant. Marianne Gonzales, the property manager of Chicopee Village Town Homes, had high praise for the program and for the six youth who worked with her.

"It [the program] gives us the extra man and woman power we need," she said.

She added all of the youth were very reliable.

"They were phenomenal," she said.

The youth worked in the administration office, in the maintenance department and with the computer program.

Gonzales said she had increased the number of youth she hired from the number she had last year and would participate in the program next year with the hopes of increasing the number once more.

Leida Cartagena, the coordinator of the program for VOC, explained the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County (REB) and the Chicopee Housing Authority fund the program. Those two entities supply the payroll for the participants and area businesses and agencies supply the jobs.

Cartagena said that last summer 65 youth were in the program and this year there were 80. She received more than 125 applications, but had to turn many young people away.

There were 25 jobs sites with many new to the program, and she noted that the employers hired at least two or three of the participants for non-summer jobs.

All of the youth go through a work readiness program to prepare them for their positions.

The VOC has been working with the REB on the program for three years and with the Chicopee Housing Authority (CHA) for at least 10 years, according to James Lynch executive director of the CHA.