WELLINGTON – June 12, 2015 – The Francophone Youth Services Co-op, which is getting a new boost of energy this year, is now seeking young workers aged 12-17 years from the Evangeline and Charlottetown regions who are looking to make a bit of money this summer and who aren’t afraid to invest time and energy into a project.

“We returning to our roots this year,” explains Stéphane Blanchard, youth economic development officer with RDÉE Prince Edward Island, who is supervising the establishment of the co-op in collaboration with the Conseil de développement coopératif de l’Î.-P.-É.

“We will provide our young members with basic training on the co-op movement. Then, they’ll form their own board of directors to manage their co-op and to find work contracts for the whole summer.”

This year, the supervisors will ask the teens to invest 25 hours of work per week, either doing work in the community (mowing lawns, gardening, cleaning, painting, babysitting, etc.), producing merchandise to sell or managing the co-op’s business affairs.

“This summer, we’ll be more proactive than we’ve been in recent years. We’ll be knocking on the doors of businesses and organizations to offer them an opportunity to hire our members, rather than just wait for them to call us. In fact, we’ve already got a few work contracts lined up for our youth,” adds Blanchard. “However, we will still continue to accept requests from individuals wishing to hire our services.”

But before these services can be promoted and delivered, workers are needed in both regions. “We’ve already recruited a few members in both locations but we need several more,” he notes. “Ideally, we’d like to have 15 youth at each of our two branches.”

Throughout the summer, the youth, with supervision from the co-op’s coordinators, will get to meet and work in their school’s trades workshops.

Blanchard invites parents to encourage their children to join the co-op, which will provide the youth with a great opportunity to develop good work habits and ethics, which will of course be extremely important in getting and keeping future jobs.

Those wishing more details may contact Blanchard at (902) 370-7333, Ext. 402, or stephane@rdeeipe.org. Youth are invited to sign up, with parental permission, at http://garago.net/forms/csj.

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CUTLINE: Danielle Doucette and Jean-Phylippe Provencher, coordinators for this summer’s Francophone Youth Services Co-op, show a few of the tools that the young workers might get to use this summer as they provide their odd-job services to the community. The co-op is currently recruiting young workers aged 12-17 years.

 

For more information:

Stéphane Blanchard
Youth Economic Development Officer
RDÉE Prince Edward Island
(902) 370-7333, Ext. 40
stephane@rdeeipe.org