By RANDY BARTLEY
Staff Writer
The Clarion County Board of Commissioners Oct. 8 approved a letter of support for “Community Connections” a program designed to help “engage youth in a career pathway.”
The program is sponsored by North West Pennsylvania Job Connect and will benefit Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Venango and Warren counties.
“The objective of the program is to recruit out of school youth, ages 18 to 24, who were previously in detention or incarcerated and engage them in a career pathway leading to education and training or meaningful employment,” said Clarion County Commissioner Wayne Brosius. “It is hoped the program will reduce recidivism.”
Brosius added, “It is hard for those people to find jobs. It is important because right now the unemployment rate is so low.”
Each of the participants will be assigned a joint adult mentoring team for advice through their participation in the program.
A coordinator of services will be hired by the Title 1 provider to help the participants navigate the services and insure participant completion of all of the required steps.