Educational experience

Columbia Basin Trust is once more investing in the future of our students

Veterinary student Christine Geisreiter, left, works with Dr. Kristy Dennison, right, at the Castlegar Veterinary Hospital, thanks to CBT’s Summer Works Program. — Photo courtesy Columbia Basin Trust

Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) is trying out a new initiative to increase student employment during the school year. The concept of the School Works program originated after the success of the Summer Works program, which has been running for two years. The initiative is part of a $3.5 million investment aimed to increase employment opportunities for Basin students over the next three years.

Under the School Works program, qualified employers can apply for an $8 per hour wage subsidy for hiring full-time high school and post-secondary students in the Basin during the school year. Offering part-time work to these students can be mutually beneficial.

"(Summer Works) was only for small businesses, so we started looking at what other gaps existed for student employment subsidies," said Lisa Erven, manager of planning development for CBT and overseer of the program. "A lot of students need that little bit of income while they're going to school and we found that nothing existed, so there was a significant gap there."

Currently the School Works program is still at the pilot stage. It will be tested out from January to June of 2012. If the pilot is successful then the program may be officially run for the entire 10-month school term starting in September of 2012. Employers can apply for the funding, and then proceed to choose which students they want to employ.

"The employers can choose to seek the students however they want," said Erven. "They can put up ads, they can work with the employment centres . . . we are trying to encourage students to make employers aware of the program."

School Works is geared toward specific types of employers. In order to qualify, the business or organization must meet a set of criteria.

"Generally they have to be a small business, a non-profit, a public or a First Nations organization," said Erven. "They have to be located in the Basin and the employment opportunity has to be located in the Basin. They have to be in operation for at least a year."

For more detailed criteria and updates, or for information on how to apply for funding, keep checking the CBT website.