With summer in full swing State Representative Carlo Basile and the East Boston Chamber of Commerce are redoubling their efforts to put local kids to work.
At the recent Chamber “Eastie is Open for Business” event Basile and Chamber President Scott Heigelmann again asked for chamber members and local businesses to hire a part-time teen for the summer.
“With the summer here we are going to have children out on our streets with nowhere to go and nothing to do,” said Basile. “A few months back I got together with my office to see what we could do to help.”
Basile said he reached out to the Chamber who was a willing partner.
“We formed partnership with the Chamber and we are asking you, the small business owners, to step up and help put these kids to work,” said Basile. “We are not asking for much but if every member could hire one teen for $10 an hour, part time we can teach these kids to save money, open a bank account and be productive in the community.”
Basile told the audience that they would be paying for it one way or another.
“For many of these kids it may be their only chance to get on the right track,” said Basile. “The way I see it, if these kids are not working they are going to get in trouble and then we will all be paying for it in the long run.”
Basile said the goal for the new program is to hire 50 11th and 12th grade boys and girls that cannot secure employment through the City or APAC’s SummerWorks programs and put them to work for local businesses.
Already, Heigelmann’s advertising firm, Heavy Advertising, has committed to hiring a student this summer as well as the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.
“The East Boston Chamber has joined forces with Representative Carlo Basile to launch his Youth at Work Initiative, a program designed to place East Boston youth in grades 11 and 12 to work in local businesses for the 2014 summer season,” said Heigelmann. “You can be part of this meaningful program by hiring a young student intern to work in your business for 20-25 hours per week at $10.00 an hour for a 10 to 12 week period.”
Heigelmann added that each youth has been vetted by either East Boston High School or East Boston Social Centers or the East Boston YMCA. All are from Eastie or attend school in Eastie and are deserving of this opportunity that will help each of them open a bank account, earn money, keep them off the street, learn about local businesses and much more.
“With your help, we hope to have at least 50 Youth placed by mid-July 2014,” he said. “They will assist our local Chamber Businesses with administrative work and other tasks that are essential to help with daily operations and other essential tasks during the 10-12 weeks this summer.”
The deadline to hire an intern is Friday, July 11, 2014. For further info and placement – please contact East Boston Chamber’s Sherri Raftery at 617-569-5000 or [email protected]; Representative Carlo Basile’s Chief of Staff Adrian Madaro at 617-722-2877 or [email protected].
A Youth at Work application form will be provided for you to fill out that will include: Business Name/Owners Name/Contact info/ Address/Type of Business/Type of Work/Hours of Hire. Anyone 17 and under will need to apply for this Employment Permit Application to be filled out by both Youth & Employment agency. It can be downloaded at http://www.mass.gov/lwd/docs/dos/youthemployment/youth-application.pdf.