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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 22 ,2 02 1 | 2 .tF .qS 003 ot pu secapS slooC ngiseD esoH elgniS tatsomrehT lortnoC etomeR :ygolonhceT eM wolloF refiidimuheD dna ,naF ,renoitidnoC riA :ngiseD 1-ni-3 retteB peelS dna looC yatS renoitidnoC riA elbatroP ybnaD )CCAS 005,6( UTB 000,21 | 6-BDW6B560APD* 7491 ECNIS moc.ybnaD ta srenoitidnoc ria fo enil lluf s'ybnaD eeS employment program re- ports a significant number of job listings in the retail and service industries, but not enough young appli- cants to fill them due to CO- VID-19 fears, according to Lily Lumsden, senior re- gional manager, YMCA Employment & Immigra- tion Services. "We are finding that there is a bit of hesitation from the youth as job seek- ers in terms of just feeling comfortable and confident about going to work, so there is a little bit of a dis- connect. Also the parents of the youth are hesitant about having them work in some of those industries so we're finding it a bit of a challenge to recruit the youth to get them into the in-demand jobs." Lumsden suspects that by the end of the summer as things open up and as more people are fully vac- cinated, "people will start to feel more comfortable and I think that youth will start to feel better about go- ing to work." Then there are those young people who strike on their own with help from the Summer Compa- ny program operated by Halton Region. When Stephanie Maz- za's year-long exchange trip to Japan was cut short last spring as the pandemic took hold, she found jobs scarce; it was difficult enough to get an interview, let alone a position, said the 19-year-old second- year University of British Columbia student. "I had always been in- terested in entrepreneur- ship but the lack of jobs during the pandemic was the tipping point to start my entrepreneurial jour- ney a little early. Upon see- ing the dire need for child- care, I developed the idea to make it virtual and then realized that I could make a thriving business out of it so I decided to go for it and start it myself," said the Halton resident. Mazza launched a virtu- al childcare business offer- ing ukulele lessons, math tutoring and craft sessions. Being her own boss al- lows her time to develop her own creativity instead of being confined to the ide- as of others. "I also find that being my own boss gives me the flexibility to work in my own way." STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Every summer students flood the job mar- ket but last year jobs were hard to come by as busi- nesses locked down. We talked to experts to find out if the youth employment landscape looks any brighter this season. NEWS Continued from page 1 COVID FEARS STILL IMPACTING EMPLOYMENT LANDSCAPE "The students have so far demonstrated a really remarkable level of resiliency." - Cory Latimer, Sheridan College's associate director of cooperative and career education SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code for more local news. With an expected in- crease in COVID-19 vac- cine supply, Halton Public Health is opening its ninth community clinic later this month. The new clinic at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Secondary School, located at 1145 Bronte St. S. in Mil- ton, will begin operating on July 26 and will offer first and second doses to residents aged 12 and up. Public health officials say they will also be in- creasing capacity at sever- al existing clinics to offer more opportunities for res- idents to book their first dose appointment or re- book their second dose at an earlier interval. "We are pleased to offer more convenient options for our residents to get their first and second CO- VID-19 doses," said region- al chair Gary Carr. "We are making great progress on our vaccine rollout, with 80 per cent of residents 12 years of age and older having received at least one dose and 51 per cent fully vaccinated. As we receive more supply from the province, we will continue to open up more appointments to get every- one in our community ful- ly vaccinated as quickly as possible." In addition to Halton's community vaccination clinics and the provincial pop-up locations, CO- VID-19 vaccines are also being offered at more than 100 pharmacy locations in the region and select doc- tor's offices. For further details or to book an appointment, visit halton.ca/COVIDvac- cines. NEW COVID VACCINE CLINIC SET TO OPEN MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@ metroland.com