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The Communicator
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| Funding restored for youth
program PEF seeks long-term, solid ground for YOP By DEBORAH A. MILES PEF vigorously lobbied state legislators to restore $1.3 million in funding to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) budget to keep the Youth Opportunity Program (YOP) afloat. That hard work paid-off in May, when the lawmakers passed the budget with the funding for YOP. “We were very concerned when the governor announced his budget proposal in January and funding for YOP was eliminated,” said Greg Case, PEF chair of the Joint OMRDD Labor-Management Committee. “We made this a legislative priority. Our success was due to a lot of hometown lobbying.” “I’m pleased to get the money restored. The program — which gives students paid on-the-job experience helping disabled consumers — has a lot of value. Students benefit, as well as those who are mentally disabled,” he said. PEF members who work in the youth program, plus students and parents are equally thrilled. “It’s wonderful that we got the funding back. This program is special-and it works. YOP is a two-fold bonus program. Students get an opportunity to assist staff and work with a special needs population. And they gain the necessary tools to graduate from high school,” said Janet Bennett, youth program supervisor at Central New York Developmental Disabilities Services Office (DDSO). “This program has an outstanding track record,” said OMRDD youth program supervisor Gail Patalino. “It gives high school students an opportunity to gain real work experience and supplement their families’ incomes, and it inspires them to further their education.” Students motivated to excel Take Christina Vazquez, for example. The 16-year-old Albany High School student was failing last year. Since she began working in YOP, her report card glows with high grades. “Students improve academically after being in the program,” Patalino said. “Working gives them a sense of worth and pride, and that’s reflected in their desire to earn higher grades, as in the case of Christina.” “It changed my life,” Vazquez said. “My job here is to take care of mentally disabled kids. YOP taught me how to do that. “I really like the job a lot,” she added. “I keep my grades up now. I want to be a doctor when I grow up.” “Because of YOP, she’s become very responsible and really wants to do something with her life,” adds Vazquez’s mother. Consumers benefit too Bennett said students who participate in YOP often enhance the lives of developmentally disabled consumers. “One of our goals is to get consumers involved in more community activities. The students in YOP can be a large part of this,” she said. This year, more than 200 students from many areas of the state are participating in YOP. Last year, more than 80 percent of the program’s graduating seniors enrolled in college and more than half planned careers in health and human services. Even with statistics that prove the benefits of the program, youth supervisors fear YOP will be targeted in future state budget cuts. “Everyone wins with this program,” Case said. “But it is also vulnerable. The union’s lobbying efforts made a difference this year. I have already scheduled meetings with YOP supervisors across the state to develop a long-term strategic plan to keep the program alive in years to come.”  HELPING
— High School
student Sam Ford of Albany helps a disabled youngster
develop eye-hand coordination. Ford is one of many
teenagers participating in the state’s Youth
Opportunity Program. |
