Community Connectors seeking businesses, mentors to help students

YOUNGSTOWN

Wanted.

The Community Connectors program is seeking mentors, internships and externships to help juniors and seniors in the Youngstown and Warren city school systems become workforce-ready.

Community Connectors kicked off its 2016-2017 program Thursday at Choffin Career & Technical Center with a plea from Loisjean Haynes-Paige, Youngstown district program internship director at Choffin, for businesses and individuals to step forward and provide what the program needs.

Haynes-Paige described internships, paid or unpaid, as learning on the job; and said externships are for people who are certified in something but want continuing education.

Anyone interested can call her at 330-744-8759 or email her at lois.haynespaige@youngstown.k12.

“Being a mentor can involve as little time as an hour a week, but it can be much more,” Haynes-Paige said.

One person who stepped up Thursday was the main speaker for the event, Youngstown native Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, a retired boxer who held the World Boxing Association lightweight championship from 1982-1984 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015.

Read more about the speaker and the program in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.