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From left, Pennsylvania First Lady Lori Shapiro; Kahlor Lau, 19, of Fleetwood; Ocean Rocco, 16, of West Reading; and Sara Dunkelberger, worksite supervisor with Humane Pennsylvania, talk at Humane PA’s animal shelter in Reading on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The students are employed through MY Work, a summer program for high school students with disabilities created by the state Department of Labor & Industry’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. (Commonwealth Media Services)
Lori Shapiro, the wife of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, visited Humane Pennsylvania’s Freedom Center for Animal Life-Saving Reading at 1801 N. 11th St. on Tuesday to observe high school students employed there through the MY Work summer program.
The program was created by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation for students with disabilities to be matched with job opportunities and work experience. It is coordinated locally through Goodwill Keystone Area’s Summer Work Experience and Assessment Program.
“I’m thrilled to join the Department of Labor and Industry along with Goodwill Keystone Area and Humane PA for today’s visit,” Shapiro said in a statement released by Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. “Through these experiences, students are gaining valuable workplace readiness skills that are going to help make our commonwealth and our communities better off. Josh and I are thankful for programs like this that are providing opportunities for youth across Pennsylvania to achieve big things.”
This summer, OVR has partnered with more than 150 municipalities and nonprofits to provide more than 700 students with paid work experiences across 47 counties, the statement said. Plans are underway to expand the MY Work program to all 67 counties in the state by 2024.
The program began in 2016 in Allegheny County, and the students’ wages are covered by OVR. The program provides training on the development of communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills and interview preparation. An on-site community rehabilitation provider, paid for by OVR, oversees the students.
“Humane PA’s mission of helping animals by building the capacities of people made for a perfect partnership with OVR and Goodwill,” said Karel Minor, CEO and president of Humane Pennsylvania. “Students with disabilities learned valuable work skills and in turn, helped us to help animals. We were thrilled to be able to share this work with the first lady of Pennsylvania.”
Shapiro toured the shelter and helped students with some of their daily duties. She also took part in a roundtable discussion that highlighted the importance of programs that promote community service and civic engagement.
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