Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 7, 1 July 1992 — ALU LIKE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ALU LIKE

(presented by Ka VJa\ Ola O OHA and Alu Like as a puhlie seruice)

Summer opportunities for youth

Hawaiian youth on Kaua'i looking for jobs or who need money for summer school should contact the Alu Like, ine. Kaua'i Island Center about its Summer Youth Employment and Training Program. The program will continue until mid-August. There is no closing date for applications. A financial aid workshop is planned Aug. 3 for the coming senior class. SYETP expects to serve about 120 young people this summer. Interested families should eall youth counselors Moira Kalahiki or Alieia Hartsell at 245-8545. The scope of the program is to provide ineome through short-term work assignments. Youths may choose from positions ranging from hospital clerks to taro patch workers. Alu Like has work training agreements with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, the County of Kaua'i, Wilcox Hospital and other public, non-profit agencies. Besides those loeations, participants may choose to work with private, for-profit businesses such as Hanalei Bay Resort and small landscaping or farming enterprises (mostly owned by Hawaiians). If a youngster decides to concentrate on school, Alu Like will enroll them in the classroom training tyThe classroom training activity assists people who are attending summer school on Kaua'i or off-island. The Summer Youth program pays a portion of the tuition, books and fees and bus transportation. In addition they receive $4 an hour while attending classes. Last month the program offered a workshop on pre-employment skills and financial aid for high school graduates to present available

options rather than flooding them with college scholarship or career information. Kalahiki and Hartsell will be developing new training sites and enrolling eligible teens in the community and loeal schools. Increasing enrollment or accessibility of services has always been a challenge. The Kaua'i Island Center is centrally located, but the Hawaiian community is concentrated in the Makaweli-Kekaha and the Kapa'a-Anahola, east and west side areas. Three scheduled island-wide outreach efforts were completed in May. The youth counselors will continue to set up satellite offices during the summer to offer employment and educational services to any families that were missed. Kaua'i and Kapa'a High Schools and Kaua'i Community College, and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa will be working with SYP this summer. On Kaua'i summer school usually runs four hours a day and ends before August. For these students or youths in a work experience activity, the Summer Youth and Employment Training program offers other opportunities.