Youths achieve 'huge successes' in job readiness programs

DECATUR, Ala. (AP) — Twenty-one-year-old Angel Zanetti is taking classes at Calhoun Community College while working at a Decatur animal clinic, with the goal of becoming a vet tech and, ultimately, a veterinarian.

She's come a long way since Nov. 27, 2018. That was the day Zannetti was released from Morgan County Jail on theft and burglary charges, and moved into the Neighborhood Christian Center’s Transitional Home.

“I realized, something’s got to change,” said Zanetti, who first used meth at age 12 but is now sober.

Zanetti took advantage of the Launch program, one of three workforce readiness programs for youths provided at the Decatur Career Center, with the assistance of numerous partner agencies. All three programs serve out-of-school youths, ages 16 to 24.

“It’s been a great support system for me,” said Zanetti, who joined the Launch program in March, earned a GED in May and completed work-based learning placement. She’s now taking part in on-the-job training, working full time at Osborne Animal Clinic in Decatur.

“It’s more than people helping youth,” Zanetti said of the program and its staff. “They genuinely care; they become family.”

She's not the only one who has benefited from the program.

“We have huge successes with our youth — a GED, a college degree, a job,” said Summer Morgan, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act youth case manager at the Decatur Career Center. Launch is a WIOA-funded program, in association with WellStone Behavioral Health. Participants are assisted in developing educational and career goals, enrolling in training and degree programs and gaining meaningful and self-sustaining employment.

According to Launch counselor Stephanie White, the program now has 31 participants in active and...