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Worcester Recreation Offers Free Summer Programs

June 25, 2015

Mayor Joseph Petty and City Manager Edward Augustus today officially launched two programs aimed at keeping city youths active and engaged this summer – Recreation Worcester and the Summer Youth Corps jobs program.

Recreation Worcester is a free summer program for youth ages 7-13. It includes a week of swim safety classes and five weeks of free, supervised, drop-in recreation programs at 11 parks across the city.

Swim Week: June 29 – July 2

Kids will take swimming safety classes and learn about water safety in a fun program that features a swim test to determine individuals’ abilities.

Sites:

Boys and Girls 2:00 - 6:00PM

YWCA 2:00 - 6:00PM

Girls. Inc 2:00 - 6:00PM

Jewish Community Center (JCC) 2:30 - 3:45PM

YMCA Shore 10:00 - 2:00PM

YMCA Central 10:00 - 2:00PM

There will be bus transportation from: Autumn Woods (to JCC), GBV (to YMCA Shore), Lakeside (to YMCA Central), Plumley (to Boys and Girls), St. Bernard’s (to Girls Inc.), and SWNIC (to YWCA).

Participants may register on-site at any participating swim site. For bus transportation, participants must pre-register (before 6/24) by bringing forms to the Worcester Public Library Children’s Section. After 6/24, registration will be on-site or at the following locations: One City One Library locations, Senior Center, Boys and Girls Club, YWCA, Girls Inc., JCC, YMCA Shore, and YMCA Central.

Parks Component: July 6 – August 7  9:00AM – 5:30PM

Recreation Worcester features organized sports, and literacy and arts activities. Special guest appearances include: Worcester Bravehearts, Worcester’s Library Express, National Grid, HOOP Central, Mass Audubon, and more. Programs will be offered at the following sites:

Beaverbrook Park (9 Mann St)

Burncoat Playground (525 Burncoat St)

East Park (180 Shrewsbury St.)

Greenwood Park (14 Forsberg St.)

Kendrick Field (40 Brooks St.)

Lake Park (281 Lake Avenue)

Logan Field (539 Mill St.)

Oread Castle Park (20 Alden St.)

University Park (965 Main St.)

Bennett Field (1260 Main St.)

Vernon Hill Park (87 Providence St.)

Registration forms are available at http://www.worcesterma.gov and at all Worcester Public Schools. Kids can also drop-in to any site at any time and register on-site.

Program sponsors include: UMass Memorial, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Consigli, Century Healthcare, Harvard Pilgrim, Reliant Medical Group, Holy Cross, WPI and more.

Summer Youth Corps: July 7 - August 21

The Summer Youth Corps, funded by a partnership between the City of Worcester and the Worcester Community Action Council, is a new opportunity for young people in Worcester to gain work experience by working closely with a variety of departments in city government.

This summer, 16 Worcester youths from low-income families will gain work experience and a paycheck by working in the City of Worcester’s Human Resources Office, Department of Inspectional Services, Worcester Public Library, and the Division of Public Health.

The program will be run as part of WCAC’s YouthWorks summer jobs program, which offers low-income youth ages 14-21 a chance to work in local for-profit, non-profit, and public sector jobs. The City and the YouthWorks Program are funding eight positions each for the summer.

This year, approximately 300 youth will participate in YouthWorks. Participants work for 20 hours per week and receive 15 hours of work readiness training and career guidance planning as well as mentoring and support throughout the program from their work site supervisors and WCAC staff.