Young Worker Leadership Academy teaches youth workplace safety and more…

Berkeley--The California Partnership for Young Worker Health and Safety is sponsoring a three-day Young Worker Leadership Academy, Jan.18-20 to train and educate California youth about workplace health and safety. The workshops held at the academy encourage participants to play an active role in spreading the message of workplace safety to young workers in California.
The academy will bring together six teams of youth, ages 14-17, from several regions of California with specific goals to:

• Educate participants about worker safety, including, how and why young people are injured at work, their rights on the job and recommended solutions.
• Help participating youth develop promotions for workplace health and safety during Safe Jobs for Youth Month in May 2007.
• Develop leadership abilities among participating youth, including the knowledge, confidence and skills needed to create positive change where workplace safety is concerned.

The 3-day leadership training begins with introductions and lively interactive activities between participants to learn about workplace problems and their rights on the job.
On day two, participants learn ways to solve problems in the workplace by discussing ideas for policy solutions to help protect and educate youth at work and studying the recommendations of former academy alumni and adult experts before developing their own mission statement. Groups will also go -on location- to observe young workers in different work environments and to learn about common job hazards as well as interview young workers on their workplace safety concerns.

Day three involves a mock planning activity with feedback from a panel consisting of participating mentors. The day concludes with team members selecting a project and outlining plans for their follow-up activity during Safe Jobs for Youth Month in May.

The Young Worker Leadership Academy is a collaboration of the University at California Berkeley’s Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP), the University of California Los Angeles’ Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program and the California Center for Civic Participation.

Sponsors include government agencies and private organizations including the Department of Industrial Relations, the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, Employers Direct Insurance Company and the California Wellness Foundation.

For more information about the Young Worker Leadership Academies, please visit http://www.youngworkers.org.

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Editor’s note: Young Academy participants and subject matter experts are available for interviews.