Nowhere is that money better spent than in Pescadero, where Puente de la Costa Sur has turned a modest five-figure sum into summer employment for nearly three-dozen local kids who are working to help those in need in their own community. As if that wasn’t benefit enough, the kids are gaining valuable work experience – as well as money that they then are likely to spend close to home. It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend $76,000 of tax money.
The money, funneled from the feds through the county, has allowed Puente to hire 34 local kids who are now being paid as much as $9 an hour to master administrative duties, assist with childcare and a range of other safety-net services that make the South Coast a better place. The good work follows an intensive two-week orientation, during which the students learned the role Puente plays in their own community. Because of the federal money, Puente is the largest employer of South Coast teens.
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The program also shines a spotlight on Puente, one of the most essential service organizations in all of San Mateo County. The organization notes on its Web site that nearly four out of 10 of the people in the community it serves earn less than $15,000 a year. They live in an area with nearly non-existent public transportation, no dentists, pharmacies, Laundromats or supermarkets. Where would they be without Puente, which offers parenting classes, computer labs, translation assistance, health care and other services too numerous to name here.
Perhaps most importantly, the federal money is allowing Puente to spawn the new generation of community activists. We don’t want to know where South Coast residents would be without them – or without Puente.
-- Clay Lambert
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