A Six Week Program Designed to Help College Bound Youth also Benefits the Animals and Staff at Arlington Animal Services
The Youth Services division of Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County offers interactive job readiness training to help prepare youth for college and learn occupational skills. Together, in partnership with Arlington Animal Services, several motivated youth were provided summer positions working in various areas of the animal shelter. Many of the youth worked in the kennels, some worked assisting the veterinarian, while others performed administrative duties, and assisted with radio dispatching for field staff.
This ambitious group of youth worked 30 hours per week for six weeks perfecting time management and interpersonal relations skills while working with shelter staff, volunteers, and customers.
Bryanna absolutely loved helping at the front counter assisting with paperwork and being given special assignments. At the conclusion of the six weeks, Giovani admitted he "did not like cleaning at first", but later realized a rewarding aspect of his service provided was that he "was taking care of the dogs by giving them a clean place to live, which made them feel better". Giovani especially liked working at AAS because he felt he got a good workout doing his job. Steven loved working at the AAS Center, with his favorite area to work being helping in dispatch. Steven also cleaned kennel drains, prepared newspapers for kennels, and helped keep the triage area clean. Steven really likes the staff and hopes to one day work at the shelter.
Chris Huff, AAS manager, shared that this group of youth was a delight to work with, and will be missed tremendously. Huff stated they "gave every effort to do a good job and I am extremely proud of them".
A special thank you is extended to James Mears of Workforce Solutions for partnering with AAS to bring the appropriate individuals on board.
All services for this program are funded by the Department of Labor, and based on the availability of funding.
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By Carol Weemes
Animal Services, News