This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One after another at Wednesday's open house, people patted Jude Schmid on the back or shook her hand warmly, thanking her for a decade of dedicated service helping hard-luck teens find their way into the job market.
Schmid's job running Salt Lake County's Youth EmployAbility Services (YES) program isn't quite over. It actually ends in mid-September, when the Utah Department of Workforce Services takes responsibility for delivering federally funded job training and education programs to low-income youths age 16 to 21.
But with the end approaching, the open house gave Schmid, a dozen or so staff members facing unemployment and current and past recipients of assistance a chance to celebrate some of their accomplishments.
And there were many.
"We've done a wonderful job," Schmid said grimly, not bragging. "It's the truth."
She said YES has assisted nearly 10,000 youths in 11 years. In the past year alone, the program served 734 youths, easily topping its goal of 600.
The county-run program also exceeded state-set performance measures for the number of youths who did job shadows, completed certificate programs and did internships, Schmid added.
"I came to this program at its inception, so this is my baby. This is hard," said the 30-year county employee.
"I'm going to miss working with these kids," she added. "Our kids come from difficult situations. The skills they are missing are social skills, the soft skills. Our goal is to help these youth make the transition to adulthood."
Proof of the program's success sat at tables in an agency room at 1385 S. State St.
Cynthia Johnson was 18, pregnant and unwed when she first came into contact with the YES program.
"I really wanted to go to college, but I didn't have the resources to raise my son, Jace, and get into school," she said.
Through YES, she obtained a phlebotomy certificate and tuition assistance while securing an associate's degree from Salt Lake Community College. She continued her education at the University of Utah and now is pursuing a master's in occupational therapy.
"They were very encouraging. Anything you were having problems with, physically or emotionally, they were there to help you," said Johnson, now 23, of Midvale.
Berishaza Nibizi, a 19-year-old from Burundi in eastern Africa, used crayons to write a multicolored thank you note — "I will never forget this program" — on a paper tablecloth.
He studies English with a tutor twice weekly and has landed an internship with the Salt Lake City company WesTech Engineering, where he is learning electrical skills.
Kristin Peterson, who turns 22 on Friday, came in the uniform she wears at Arlington Hills Care and Rehabilitation. She was hired there six months ago after serving a 320-hour internship.
"I couldn't have done it without them," she said, a point echoed by Greg Bane, 21, of Salt Lake City. He's headed to the community college to study welding. "I know I'm going to have a career when I get out of this program," he said.
Workforce Services had no problems with the way the county was handling the program, said the state agency's spokesman, Curt Stewart.
"But with budgets being so tight, we decided we could do it cheaper and more efficiently in-house," he added. "We've run these programs before. We have case-management workers in place."
Stewart said some YES employees who lose jobs may compete for contracts to provide services — leadership training, mentoring and tutoring — YES had provided.
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