Department of Human Services

Summer Youth Employment Program transforms students and government alike

Most of us can remember our first summer jobs. It’s a rite of passage for many teenagers in high school and college. This summer, 223 youths with disabilities experienced this exciting rite in State of Hawai‘i and county internships. On July 8, Governor David Ige, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Linda Chu Takayama, and Department of Human Services (DHS) Director Rachael Wong came together to celebrate these youths who participated in the Summer Youth Employment program.

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is a six-to-eight-week program between June and August for youth ages 16 to 24 years. Participants work up to 30 hours a week for $10.00 per hour for 21 executive branch agencies and even more city and county entities.

One SYEP participant told DLIR that “It’s been a good experience for a number of reasons, including for my resume, preparing for college and a career.”

Rigorous and Rewarding
The experience has also been positive for programs that employ these young people. Pina Lemusu, a supervisor with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), a part of DHS, directly supervises three interns. There are three other interns working with DVR.

“It’s amazing. It was rigorous, but it was also very rewarding … From my supervision and the way I observe them, they are so able and capable of doing so much more than what they think they can do. And making these opportunities for them has given them an understanding of what it is to work and not only to work but really to get paid for what they can do,” said Lemusu.

Lemusu, who helps coordinate the program, has also heard positive feedback from other departments and the students who are interning. “They’re doing really good hands-on experiences. They’re also learning different skills – interpersonal skills, communication skills. The other thing that this program has given them is their work tolerance – the ability to work more than two hours or three hours straight.”

A Collaborative Effort
Beyond providing students with a quintessential life experience, SYEP has also had positive impacts across the State of Hawai‘i Executive Branch. DVR, which provides funding for the internships and helps with coordination, was able to expand the program because of the collaborative efforts of other state and county entities. This year the program expanded from serving 12 youths previously to more than 200.

“I love the route that we’re going right now – collaborating and coordinating services,” said Lemusu of the expanded SYEP.

Collaboration isn’t new for DVR in serving these young people though. Lemusu noted that DVR already works closely with the Departments of Education and Health to serve students in more than 20 high schools and young people transitioning out of school.

They are so able and capable of doing so much more than what they think they can do.

In fact, Lemusu is already looking toward the future and increasing collaboration across departments. “Because I work so closely with the parents, with the Department of Education (DOE), Department of Health, now with Department of Labor and City and County, there is such a need for us to find a way to collaborate.”

Lemusu would love to focus even more on students preparing to exit the DOE to improve their transition from school to adult lives. “My goal is to get to those departments and divisions on how we can better coordinate. Because we have mutual clients, I want to know how we can all work together as a team for a better or seamless transition for our students while they’re in school and getting ready to exit school into adult lives. It’s exciting.”

Eventually Lemusu hopes that as collaboration across departments increases, we’ll also be able to include the private sector in opportunities for students.

Impact Is a Two-Way Street
Interns are now at least halfway through their summer work. It seems though that with as much of an impact a summer job can have on a young person, these young people are having just as much impact on our state government.

You can still grow and you can still do great things, things that you can make a difference for other people’s lives.

“Working with these young people, it really humbles me seeing where they come from, seeing them from when you first take them in and looking at what they can do and the capabilities of the work that they can do. Because society has a label on them because they are disabled, they tend to not see their abilities because they see what’s before them but not seeing what’s inside of them unless you give them a chance,” Lemusu explained how the students have impressed her.

She continued in explaining how it benefits employers too. “That’s really good for employers, too. For our summer program, because we have such a large number, now employers are exposed to what students can do, but not only that, to get rid of our fear of employing students with disabilities. They’re such hard-working young people.”

For Lemusu, the program has a very personal impact. “Now it’s my turn to give back to these young people. And it’s to say, ‘You may be limited but you can still grow and you can still do great things, things that you can make a difference for other people’s lives.’ And that’s given me such a passion,” said Lemusu.

Everyone in the room during the July 8 celebration beamed with pride – whether it was the students, their supervisors, department directors or the governor himself. SYEP’s success goes beyond a rite of passage, it transforms students, the employers they work for, and governments. As the summer begins to yield to autmn, we know that these young people will continue shining brightly in their own lives and in the impact they’ve made on the State of Hawai‘i.