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Here is Fresno's $7.4 million plan to hire people that frequently struggle to find work

The Fresno Bee - 2/2/2022

Feb. 2—The city of Fresno will use $7.4 million from a new California initiative, Youth Jobs Corps, to fill city jobs by hiring young people who were affected by the criminal justice system and gangs, timed out of the foster care system, or faced substance abuse challenges.

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said the city plans to use the money to partner with a number of organizations, such as Street Saints, Fresno Barrios Unidos, Career Nexus, CASA, and Advance Peace, to provide young people with job training and other services.

Then, that new workforce will be used to staff up to 106 open city jobs ranging from irrigation specialists to sidewalk installation. Initially, the new workers will earn $17 an hour, but they could earn as much as $19 an hour. The new employees would start in an internship-style position, and the goal is for them to advance to a regular city position, Dyer said.

The program will run for at least the next two years, or up to 30 months.

"It's a win-win because we want to provide good-paying jobs, and we're also struggling to get people into our workforce," Dyer said. "We want to target those people that have traditionally maybe not been given the opportunity to enter into the city workforce. We want to not only give them an opportunity but target those folks for hire."

About 10% of Fresno's money will be used for administrative costs, and another 40% will be used for the wrap-around services, such as transportation or child care.

The funding comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, which fueled a spike in gun violence in Fresno. In late 2020, Fresno's young people, in a forum, criticized the city's leadership over the violence and said they would like to see more work opportunities and services for young people. Since his time in office, Dyer also has focused on providing opportunities to the city's younger population.

The money coming to Fresno is part of a new California Volunteers-led program and funded with a total of $150 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2021 budget. The money is divided among California's 13 largest cities, and an additional $35 million will go toward counties and smaller cities.

"Gov. Newsom seems very passionate about creating service opportunities, especially for young people, to bring people together and work side-by-side to help solve problems together in communities and also tackle some of our biggest problems like climate, like food insecurity," said Josh Fryday, chief service officer for California Volunteers. "This is a program that was sort of a win-win in that we could help stimulate our economy and support underserved communities, while at the same time create service opportunities in a way that we hope brings communities together and helps communities tackle some of these really big issues."

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