Stimulus funds are sending students across the state to the workplace this week, and for some it’s the first time. About 4,000 additional low-income youth in South Florida alone will now be on summer-job payrolls, thanks to $7 million in stimulus money.

Rick Beasley, executive director of South Florida Workforce, the organization administering this money, says 18,000 people applied for these summer jobs in an area of Florida with unemployment as high as 24 percent. He says they are looking for a hand up, not a handout.

“You really do see lives being changed. Children who were going to be out on the street are now able to help Mom and Dad – Mom, actually – make mortgage because the house was about to go into foreclosure.”

Beasley says many of these young people, ages 14 to 24, are first-time employees who need money to help their families, buy clothes for school or pay tuition for college. For example, he says, one young man is trying to support himself and children of his own.

“He’s trying to change his life around. He says one of the main reasons for this is ‘I have two kids and one on the way. I’m tired of folks taking care of me; I’m trying to take care of them.’ Stories like this just make you want to go out of the way to assist these young people.”

Beasley says, in the short-run, the program will help keep kids out of trouble, teach them to be self sufficient and stimulate the local economy – but in the long-run, it will stimulate the future of the community.

“These programs produce youth who see and understand what it takes to work on the job; the commitment it takes to be a good citizen. Here’s my investment in the future of my community: These children are our future leaders.”

The program provides vital career experience at no cost to the employers, plus training in presentation skills, on-the-job behavior and even opening a bank account, Beasley said. About 200 people a day still apply for the program; Beasley says he would need more than $20 million to fund jobs for all those in need.