Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Haender Ventura with his new track spikes, which he'll try out at practice after completing his in-school job running the printing press.
The news about this summer’s city offerings for kids was hot off the presses Monday at the Wilbur Cross High School print shop.
Joining public officials at a press conference held there, Cross Senior Haender Ventura spoke of how he was able to buy a new pair of $200 Nike spikes since finding employment through the city’s “Youth@Work” program.
This summer he plans to double his hours on the job so he can pay college tuition and put his shoes to work themselves, by joining the University of New Haven’s track team while he pursues a career in sports therapy.
City officials gathered at Ventura’s workplace — the graphic design shop at Wilbur Cross High School — Monday to spread the word about city-funded youth employment and enrichment opportunities opening up this spring and summer to keep kids like Ventura paid and/or occupied.
Ventura gets paid to print hall passes ...
... while his younger peers, like tenth grader Michael Flagler, print T-shirts for an upcoming college fair for class credit.
“Youth are struggling in the city,” Mayor Justin Elicker said as students milled around the shop printing T‑shirts for an upcoming college fair and producing hall passes. “We’ve seen a lot of challenges in particular in the last couple of years with our youth struggling with mental health, struggling with the amount of family support structures that they have, and we respond by wrapping all the different services and programs around our young people.”
Check out the city’s website to explore the full range of events and public programming here, including a free family Easter egg hunt, open gym hours, upcoming summer camps and employment partnerships like Youth@Work. Or set out on your own scavenger hunt to find posters promoting the event pasted around the city, which students employees like Ventura have been busy printing and trimming for distribution.
Wilbur Cross Print Shop Manager Anthony Latella shows off a poster his students' printed publicizing the upcoming Easter Egg hunt.
Elicker, along with city officials such as Community Services Adminstrator Dr. Mehul Dalal and Director of Youth and Recreation Gwendolyn Busch, pointed to the following list of programming:
The City of New Haven’s second annual Gospel Concert will take place on Friday, April 7th at 6 p.m. the Shubert Theater (247 College Street). Tickets are just $10 with proceeds going to charity and can be purchased at shubert.com.
The City of New Haven’s annual Easter Egg Hunt is happening on Saturday, April 8th at 1 p.m. at Wilbur Cross High School (181 Mitchell Drive), and will feature live music, prizes, and Easter Egg hunting for children of all ages at no cost.
The City of New Haven’s Open Schools / Open Gyms program is starting up on weekday evenings from 5:30 to 8 pm through June 5th. The schedule of evenings and sites can be found on the City’s website here (link).
Applications have opened for the Youth@Work program, which provides New Haven youth (ages 14 – 21) with employment opportunities, workplace exposure, mentoring, and school and community-based enrichment activities. The year-round program expands during the summer to offer hundreds of New Haven youth with $15 per hour jobs, up to 25 hours of work per week, and runs between July 3 and August 4th. The application and more information about the program can be found on the City’s website (link). Applications are due by April 6th.
Registration is opening this week for Youth and Recreation Summer Camps, which provide weekday educational, enrichment, and recreational activities and programming for New Haven children and youth (5 to 13 years old) at city parks, schools, and public spaces across the city. Registration forms and the list of camps and sites will be released this coming week and will be posted on the City’s website (link). Last summer, over 600 children were served at 16 different sites.
Justin Elicker with Latella before Monday's presser.
Ventura and peer Rashawn Williams took a break from work Monday to speak to their experiences with Youth@Work, a city-run initiative that partners New Haveners between 14 and 21 with jobs across the city’s schools and within community organizations like Bregamos Community Theater, the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program and the New Haven Health Department.
Ventura said that he had struggled to fit job searching into his school schedule this year while balancing track and football practices and applying for college. Through Youth@Work, he was able to land a gig printing and cutting papers for $14 an hour at the graphic design shop during his school day.
“I feel like I can be independent now,” he said. “I can take a load off my mom. If I wanna buy something, I can do that myself. If I want something, I can get it — I can work at it.”
For example, he recently saved up to buy his first spikes, a type of shoe that supports fast paced running on uneven terrain. “I just started running sprinting events and my foot was hurting a lot,” he said. The new shoes should help.
The income boost has supported a different habit for Ventura’s friend, Rashawn Williams.
“I eat a lot,” he said. “So I just buy a lot of food.”
Ventura said that over the summer he plans to work 25 hours a week rather than 10 to help save up for college. He’s currently on the waitlist to get into University of New Haven, he said, where he hopes to study sports management or therapy.
Elicker said the Youth@Work program has proved helpful for the city as well as for students.
“How many times have I heard, ‘We gotta send it to the print shop over at Cross to get things done?’ They’re helping us save the city money, helping us get the word out to the community and helping create jobs and inspire opportunities for our young people.”