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Show DAILY A8 HERALD Thursday. September 24. 2009 Stimulus money failing to help teens find work i Garance Burke v '..'-- THE i ASSOCIATED PKJSS The FRESNO, Qilif. Obama administration's economic stimulus program to find jobs for thousands of teenagers this summer couldn't overcome one of the bleakest job markets in more than 60 years that had .desperate adults competing for e kind of work. r Almost of the 297,169 youths in the $1.2 billion jobs program didn't get jobs, as more adults flooded the labor e market seeking similar positions at hamburger stands and community pools, according to an Associated Press review of government data and reports from states. Congressional auditors warned Wednesday that the government's plans to measure the success of the federal program are so haphazard that they "may reveal little about what the program achieved." The new report from the Government Accountability Office also said many government officials, employers and participants believe the program was successful. "After a decade without a dedicated federal summer jobs program, the effort created opportunities for young people that would have not existed otherwise," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in a statement Wednesday. "We have succeeded in our efforts to increase job skills and career readiness for our nation's youth through this .1 '""1 T Vice President Joe Biden described the Workforce In-vestment Act summer program as a way to keep teens out of trouble and off the streets while reinvigorating the country's summer youth employment J.D, POOlErAssociatod Press Ohio couple giving up baby after clinic mix-u-p c GARY program, which had gone dormant for a decade. But the program didn't prevent youth unemployment rates from soaring to 18.5 percent in July, the highest rate measured among 16-- to in that month since 1948. "The summer program was basically half disaster," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. "It was too little, too late and too poorly constructed to have any lasting effect on our youngest workers." Cameron Hinojosa, 16, went stimulus-funde- d through a two-daon workshop how to write a resume. But he didn't end up with a job because the summer program in Fresno County, in the heart of reces . y Press KAZANJIANAssociated at the d d . PRESS " TOLEDO, Ohio Carolyn Savage didn't know what to think, what to say, where to wrong frozen embryo to Carolyn's womb in early February. Ten days later, Sean Savage got a call from a doctor saying his wife was pregnant as the ultrasound wand glided over her belly. It was supposed to be her baby inside. Not someone else's. Yet here she was in her doctor's office with the baby's biological mother, both brought together by a terrible error at a fertility clinic. A doctor, they said, had given Savage the wrong embryo, and now she was carrying the other woman's child. "The wand is on my abdomen and the technician's talking to someone else: 'There's your baby's nose. There's " your baby's head,' she said. "It was surreal." at fertility Embryo mix-up- s clinics are extremely rare. In those few instances, they've degenerated into custody battles, ugly lawsuits and at least one abortion. But not this time. Savage and her husband decided that the right thing the only thing to do was to give the baby to the biological look central California, necticut, bureaucratic holdups had already ended kept some young workers from "I was hoping I would get a entering training programs until July, cutting into summer job job and was looking forward to getting that extra money," opportunities, the APs review said Hinojosa, who had planned found. In California, which received about 16 percent of all to share his earnings with his funds nationwide, less than half mother to pay bills for their household of eight. "You get the participants in all stimulus-funde- d some adults that got laid off youth job programs from their jobs, so you still have reported getting jobs by the end of July. to work against them." In Illinois, the GAO said, "Things are still totally chaotic with this program," said some local officials didn't follow eligibility rules. Paperwork Rachel Gragg, federal policy was missing from some files in director for The Workforce California. Some youths who Alliance, a Washington-basegot jobs through the program group that advocates for more had trouble collecting their national job training funds. "In paychecks, waiting in lines up many communities they will tell you that they are still strugto four hours in the rain, and sometimes police were called to gling to understand where the help with crowd control. money is coming from." In Pennsylvania and Con- Many states put together programs that gave needy teens experience in everything from banking to restoring Direct Repair d nature trails, as well as menskills and training For Most Insurance toring support, Gragg said. Companies, Including: Labor Department officials Farmers California say they are still working out the kinks, and if not all particiCasualty - Safeco Bear pants got jobs, the program has River, AAA Ins. Co. & helped youth build valuable professional skills that will serve Many Others them and the national economy; "There is a lot of good news jComing out of this program," said Jane Oates, the ment's assistant secretary for employment and training. "If 'there were mistakes made we're happy to correct them, because we want to make sure that this program sticks around." J v Shannon Morell said. "I could say thank you a million different ways." The Savages say the fertility clinic transferred the John Seewer ASSOCIATED Cameron Hinojosa talks with his sister Renee Rodriguez before handing in his resume Family Clothes store on Tuesday in Fresno, Calif amr. Mmsiamon v I Carolyn Savage, 40, sits in her home, Wednesday in Sylvania, Ohio. Savage is pregnant with another couple's child after a fertility clinic mixed-u- p embryos. year-roun- 1 ' A low-wag- targeted program." I JU'V I N with someone else's child. "By God's grace, there was never a moment where we thought we were going to have another baby of our own," Carolyn Savage said. The doctor told them they could abort, but the couple didn't consider that a viable option. "It wasn't even something we had to discuss," said Sean Savage, 39. The Savages won't reveal the name of the fertility clinic, saying only that it's not in Ohio. They have hired attorneys who say they are working to make sure the clinic will accept full responsibility. A message was left Wednesday for the Savages' Detroit attorney Brian Mc-Kee- The Morells, who live north of Detroit, learned of the mis- parents. "This was someone else's child," she told The Associ- ated Press on Wednesday. "We didn't know who it was. We didn't know if they didn't have children or if this was their last chance for a child." "We knew if our child was take a day after the Savages. They were just about to start the process of having another baby with their last embryos when the clinic called. The two couples knew nothing about each other. Shannon Morell feared that out there, we'd go to the ends the pregnant woman would of the earth to get our child choose abortion, ending their chance to give their back," she said. twin girls a sibling. Savage, 40, is due to give "I didn't think she'd want to birth to a boy within.the next two weeks via cesarean sec- - ' carry the baby to tawn,? Shantion. When it happens, biologi- non said. "I felt helpless." cal parents Paul and Shannon . A few days passed before Morell, of th6 Detroit Suburb'' they learned that the Sav'i' " of Troy, Mich., will be nearby, ages were not only willing to continue with the pregnancy, waiting to meet their son. but also to hand over the baby "How do you thank somebody for what they've done?' without hesitation. MENTION THIS AD AND WE'LL GIVEj', YOU A 20 BONUS PER POUND SosD vfean sees 07 ON ALUMINUM CANS 1 Looking for a close convenient place to turn your scrap into cash, We buy all types of Metals, Steel, Autos, Appliances, Aluminum, Aluminum Cans, Copper, Brass, Radiators, Stainless Steel, and Batteries. We offer Competitive Prices, Fast Friendly Service, and a True Commitment to our Customers, Stop by and Give Us A Try) 550 No. Geneva Rd. 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