Job opportunities, money available for graduates

I will first take up possible job opportunities for a child or grandchild. This is for someone who is not thinking about college right now or has not gone out looking for a job or has but has no immediate prospects.

Maryland has created the Department of Service and Civic Innovation that can be found at dsci.maryland.gov/Pages/default.aspx. If you are a business or nonprofit organization or run a local government, you can sign up to be a host site for graduating seniors or former high school graduates where they can work for a year with the state paying a minimum salary of $15 an hour and health insurance being provided along with $6,000 being set aside for higher education.

If you are a young person with no or unsure plans on what you are going to do after graduation or have graduated and do not have a job, you can sign up and find a position where you might be able to work. Work sites have to sign up by May 1 for this group of young people to work and youth have until later in May to sign up. It is a great opportunity for the community, businesses and nonprofits to help our youth build their abilities to work, be mentored and meet other young people from all over the state.

This year there were no youth from Dorchester County that applied for a job through this program.

With regard to scholarships, earlier this week I learned at a community meeting held by Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-Dorchester, Wicomico) about the Commission on Higher Education. Derrick Colley came and spoke about all of the money that is available through the state for higher education for youth, adults, people who work for the state or local governments and others. The link to that website is mhec.maryland.gov/about/pages/contactus.aspx. I also learned that all of our state delegates and senators have money available themselves for financial aid to students, and they can seek that help by contacting the legislators’ offices to learn more.

The most interesting and unfortunate thing that I learned about these resources is that every year there is money left over and not used because not enough people seek the assistance.

I also learned from the conversation among those attending Sample-Hughes’ meeting that many of our youth are not motivated to fill out the online application forms and that the way many who attended had to do it was to sit their young family member in front of the computer and help them through the process.

If you are reading this and want to help yourself or a family member, go to both websites first and learn more about them and then find that person who needs a job or a scholarship and sit down with them and help them get started.

Stephen Rideout is mayor of Cambridge.