Youth to get a slice of the pie

24.04.2008 03:01 Home - Source: JS Online

As a child busing tables and washing dishes at his family's pizzeria on the east side, Giacomo Fallucca experienced the value of work and learning from an older generation.

After hearing Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's pitch for the Earn & Learn summer youth employment program, Fallucca decided that his business, Palermo Villa Inc., should enlist.

"It really just spoke to my heart," said Fallucca, president and chief executive officer of the maker of Palermo's frozen pizzas. "I'm a business owner, and I need to do my part and bring in some kids that don't have an opportunity to find a job through contacts, that want to work."

With more than 300 employees in manufacturing, sales and administration, Fallucca said he appreciates the effects Earn & Learn can have on the young work force in the Milwaukee area.

"It gives them a little bit of a taste of what it's like to work. They're going to make a little money," Fallucca said. "We want to build these kids up and get them off the street."

For his part, Fallucca has agreed to hire 10 young people through Earn & Learn this summer. Palermo's will provide each with an alarm clock, a bus pass, two uniform T-shirts, a baseball cap, an assigned mentor, weekly training on work readiness and career presentations from each department.

"They will get minimum wage, and they'll get all of the pizza that they can eat," Fallucca said. Minimum wage is $6.50 an hour, and the pizza not only includes snacks at work, but more to take home at the end of the day.

Work days will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., four days a week, which allows the students some free time to enjoy the summer, Fallucca said.

Over the course of seven weeks or so, the summer workers will rotate through all phases of Palermo's operations, including its public events at Summerfest, Festa Italiana and the Milwaukee County Zoo. Fallucca said there also will be opportunities for extra work for anyone who's ambitious.

After Fallucca informed Barrett's office of his interest in Earn & Learn, Barrett recruited him to rally other businesses to participate.

"I'm one small player," Fallucca said. "We're bringing in 10 youths for the summer. It's what we can do. But if 50 businesses do that, or 100 businesses do that, just took a couple kids . . ."

Last summer, 1,215 Milwaukeeans worked through the city jobs program. That was up more than 200 from the year before but short of the target of 1,365 jobs.

So far, nearly 3,000 young people have applied for Earn & Learn positions, according to Andrea Rowe Richards, communications manager for the Milwaukee Department of City Development. City government agencies and nonprofit organizations have set aside about 870 jobs for Earn & Learn this summer. So far, Palermo is one of 13 businesses committing to another 200 summer jobs, Richards said.

With the aim of employing 1,550 applicants, Barrett is seeking more private-sector involvement. Together, he and Fallucca have sent requests to about 850 companies.

Jobless rate rises

The attempted expansion comes as Milwaukee-area employers continue to cut jobs.

The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that March payrolls in the four-county area had 1,300 fewer positions than in March 2007.

It was the third month in a row that Milwaukee-area job counts sank from the year before.

The area's unemployment rate - measuring the degree to which jobseekers can't find work - rose to 5.4% last month from 5.2% the year before.

"We know that this is a challenging time," Richards said. "We're making the pitch to employers that they can't afford not to hire a teen today. It'll ensure that we've got plenty of skilled workers to take over for all the retiring baby boomers."

Richards reasoned that the investment of a summer youth job is cheaper in the long run than the cost of remedial training later for a work force that doesn't meet employers' needs.

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