Coastal Villages rewards Youth-to-Work employees with performance based bonuses

by CVRF Staff

The Coastal Villages Region Fund (CVRF) board of directors approved the distribution of $100,000 worth of bonuses to qualifying 2018 Youth-to-Work employees last Friday in recognition of their dedication and hard work last summer.

For the first time in the history of CVRF’s foundational Youth-to-Work program, bonuses are being awarded to youth employees based on service and work performance. To be eligible, youth must have completed at least 17 days or 68 hours of work in 2018. A total of 640 youth met that criteria and received performance-based bonuses on Friday, December 14, 2018.

“It is great that the CVRF Board is giving performance bonuses to recognize Youth-to-Work employees for achieving specific growth goals,” said Louise Paul, CVRF Community Service Representative in Kipnuk. “Youth-to-Work is about mentoring, guiding, and preparing youth for their future jobs and careers. Rewarding achievement in a youth employment program is a stepping stone for youth who want to develop their work ethic and to build great leadership skills while they work. This bonus will encourage the youth to return and work for a company that cares and appreciates their achievements and grow with them.”

The amount received by eligible youth participants was based on their performance. Using a standardized evaluation tool, supervisors assessed the performance of each eligible Youth-to-Work employee on a curve. The evaluation tool was modeled after an end-of-season assessment used on board CVRF’s Bering Sea fishing vessels.

The Youth-to-Work program has grown to become a rite of passage for many of the young residents in CVRF communities, and nearly 75 percent of the youth population between the ages of 14-19 participated in this year’s program. This end of the year bonus is part of CVRF’s $1.01 million budget for the Youth-to-Work program in 2018. The investment into this longstanding program has fostered foundational workforce skills that participants can and have used later on in their career as successful employees and interns on CVRF’s team.

“Youth-to-Work is something our communities look forward to every year,” said CVRF Chairman Richard Jung from Napakiak. “For many participants, this is their first job and a great opportunity to gain work experience and connect with local experts to learn new skills that are important in our communities. We are proud of the Youth-to-Work employees and wanted to thank them for the hard work and effort that they put in this past summer.”