Page 10 - BusinessWest May 12, 2025

EDITORIAL >>
The Importance of Summer Jobs
It is mid-May.
Most college students are back home now, and in a
month or so, they’ll be joined by thousands of high-school
students. Most of these young people will be looking for
work, and we can’t stress enough how important it is for the
region’s business community to help them find it.
We’ve delivered this message often, but it’s even more criti-
cal to send it this year, a time of uncertainty for all business
owners and nonprofit managers, and a time when many in
both categories are experiencing some form of hardship.
Indeed, there have been several reductions in workforce
in our region in recent months. The cutbacks at Baystate
Health, which is undergoing what its new leadership is call-
ing an ‘ongoing transformation,’ have garnered large head-
lines, but many others have gone under the radar.
Meanwhile, many higher-education institutions are also
experiencing hard times, with some implementing hiring
freezes and other strategies designed to control budgets.
So, for many, it will be difficult to bring on more help,
while for others, especially those in the hospitality industry
and retail, it is still difficult to find help, and the arrival of
summer and college and high-school students is a blessing.
We would encourage all those who can to try to find
opportunities for these young people, and for many reasons.
That includes a paycheck, which they need. Beyond that,
though, summer jobs, especially those all-important ‘first’
jobs — be they at a local farm, the Big Y or Rocky’s Ace Hard-
ware down the street, Six Flags, or a landscaping company
— bring with them many lessons and learning experiences.
Young people come to understand how the world of work
operates, the importance of showing up on time every day,
and the nuances of teamwork and being part of a team. And
if these young people are working, they’re often less likely to
be getting into trouble.
At the same time, summer jobs help people make connec-
tions with the local business community. Sometimes — not
often, but sometimes — a summer job at a hospital, college,
manufacturing facility, or accounting firm can lead to a career
with one of those employers.
Everyone remembers their first job. Everyone remembers
those jobs they had while they were in high school and home
from college. They remember them because they were impor-
tant steps in their development as adults and contributors to
a team, a business, and the local economy.
That’s why, even in these difficult and uncertain times, it’s
important for businesses of all sizes to create more of these
experiences by creating some summer jobs. BW
PUBLISHER
John Gormally
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SALES MANAGER &
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Kate Campiti
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EDITOR
Joseph Bednar
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CONTRIBUTING
WRITER
George O’Brien
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OPINION >>
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CONSULTANTS
Kate Campiti
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Foster Parents Deserve Support
BY MARIANNA LITOVICH
EXECUTIVE
ADMINISTRATOR
Melissa Hallock
[email protected]
May is Foster Care Awareness Month, an opportunity
for child-welfare advocates and professionals to shine
a light on our work in the hopes that folks will be
interested, learn about the challenges and rewards of what we
do, and engage with us — because everyone can do something
to make a difference.
Currently in Western Mass., there are almost 2,000 chil-
dren in foster care as a result of their family’s inability to
meet their needs. These families are typically plagued with
social welfare concerns, poverty, substance misuse, and lack
of social support, which renders them unable to care for their
children.
If a relative or other known adult in the child’s life (such
as a teacher, coach, or friend) cannot be identified to care
for them while their parents attempt to rehabilitate, they will
end up on the doorstep of someone like me — a foster parent
who will welcome them, embrace them into the fold of their
family, and care for them as long as is necessary. It can be an
overwhelming commitment, one my spouse and I made for
15 years.
Despite my training as a psychologist, I was overwhelmed
and surprised by how taxing being a foster parent can be,
and how much the journey can impact one’s mental health
and well-being. A handful of years into our journey, I also
started a nonprofit to support other foster families, creating
a community of folks all in the daily trenches of foster care.
Through All Our Kids Inc., I met countless families who were
struggling in the same ways, dealing with the same things,
taxing their mental health through the same means.
The challenges of foster care are numerous. It can be
complicated and messy and frustrating, pushing many of us
to question whether we’re really cut out for this. A lot of peo-
ple assume the hardest part is managing children’s behavior,
or the uncertainty regarding if and when you’ll say goodbye
to a child you love. These are hard, but typically not the deal
breakers.
Working with hundreds of families over the years, I’ve
learned what actually pushes people beyond their tolerance
is the stress of dealing with the system: managing appoint-
ments, court dates, home visits, lack of response from over-
worked social workers, juggling all the therapies, the bureau-
cracy of getting permission for mundane things like haircuts
and out-of-state travel, customer-service representatives at a
child’s health insurance company … the list goes on and on.
These cumulative stressors can really take a toll on a foster
parent’s mental health. We need support. And it’s more sim-
ple than it sounds.
These days, our society is more open about mental health,
giving ourselves and each other permission to seek help
through therapy and medication. I applaud these strategies
and employ them myself. But they do not reduce the stress-
ors that wear us out and spread us thin. For that, we need to
look to each other.
During Foster Care Awareness Month, I encourage every-
one who is not a foster parent, and is able, to seek out a fos-
ter family and offer one piece of support: cook a meal, mow
the lawn, offer a ride, offer childcare … anything that puts
actions to the words, “you’ve got this, and we’ve got you.”
You’ll be amazed at the impact a small act of support can
have on a family struggling to manage it all. You could, very
literally, be keeping a family together. Sometimes the most
powerful medicine is support from each other. BW
Marianna Litovich is the founder and executive director of
All Our Kids Inc.
ART DIRECTOR
Mike Nasuti
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GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Ryan Leary
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MARKETING &
EVENTS MANAGER
Natasha
Mercado-Santana
[email protected]
10 << OPINION >>
MAY 12, 2025
OFFICE MANAGER
Darlene Clarke
officemanager@
businesswest.com
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