43
Students learn soft skills to prepare for the workforce
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
A program to teach city high-schoolers soft skills was so successful that organizers want to expand it next year to include Warren City Schools.
The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber received a $92,000 state grant last year to start the Youngstown Business and Education Community Connections program. The effort involves Eastern Gateway Community College, the city, city schools, Choffin Career and Technical Center and the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods.
Wednesday evening capped the program with a recognition for students, mentors, interns and business people who participated.
“It went so well that we’ve applied for the grant again for next year and want to expand it into the Warren City Schools,” said Nick Santucci, the chamber’s manager of education and workforce development.
The chamber is seeking $100,000 for a program in Youngstown and Warren schools.
“The initial goals of the YBECC was to enroll 100 Youngstown City School District students in grades 11 and 12 into the program and match them with 50 businesses and volunteer mentors to assist with teaching them the values of goal setting, positive character and building resiliency,” Loisjean Haynes-Paige, program director, said in a news release.
But 130 students enrolled and 75 mentors volunteered.
Santucci said the chamber heard from its members they were finding a lack of soft skills in younger employees.
“They told us that they had no problem finding people,” Santucci said. “They had a problem keeping them.”
Business people told the chamber younger employees hung up on people, didn’t make eye contact and didn’t dress properly for work.
Haynes-Paige works with students at Choffin, and one coordinator was assigned each to East High School and the Chaney campus.
Santucci said the program included four steps. The first step is to select 11th- and 12th-graders, who must maintain a 2.0 grade-point average and must be recommended by a teacher.
A second step is teaching those students soft skills: making eye contact, dressing properly and social media and dos and don’ts.
A third step was to find the students jobs. Haynes-Paige contacted business people and found jobs.
“Of the 130 students in the program, 93 are working,” Santucci said. “Seventy-three percent are in the workforce.”
The fourth step was to pair students with mentors.
“The community stepped up unbelievably,” he said.