Hawthorn Woods receives workers from state employment program
Unemployed or low-income teens and young adults will be working for Hawthorn Woods' public works department this summer and fall as part of an employment agreement with Lake County.
The Illinois Youth Employment for the Summer (YES) Program was created this year to help employ 16- to 24-year-olds who qualify under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families guidelines. Hawthorn Woods applied for a grant to participate and was given six people who will begin work early next week and continue into the fall.
Hawthorn Woods is among a handful of worksites in YES, said Terri Berryman, director of the Lake County Workforce Development, which provides the program using federal stimulus dollars. Other worksites include Lake Forest and Waukegan High School, but the county is still recruiting sites and workers, Berryman said.
The workers will be employed by Lake County, earning up to $10 an hour and working 30 hours a week, she said. The YES workers come from Lake County communities, she said.
"This is a great opportunity because (villages are) at a point in time when their funds are very limited," she said. "They're getting an employee who can work for them without a cost."
Hawthorn Woods' public works department lost about 60 percent of its work force two years ago and "hasn't recovered since," director Jim Maiworm said. The department has nine employees this summer, and four are college students.
"With being spread as thin as we are, we just can't bring the numbers to bear on the projects," he said.
The YES Program will allow Hawthorn Woods do maintenance work at parks, repaint stop signs and other labor-intensive work, Maiworm said.
The projects will also help improve the workers' job skills and provide them with a source of income, Berryman said. Young adults have been hardest hit by the recession, with unemployment nearing 20 percent for that age group, she said.
"In many cases, they haven't had the opportunity to go to a worksite," she said.
The unemployment rate in Lake County was 9.4 percent in May, the most recent month available, Berryman said. The national average was 9.7 percent in May and has since edged down to 9.5 percent, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.