Michael Haynes shows Jesse Jacquard, 16, one of the bits from one of the machines in the woodworking shop used to form the material for the snack-bar project.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

WARWICK — At 14, Ashley Weiss is learning how to swing a hammer.

Her first assignment? Figure out how to frame a two-story snack bar for a sports field at Toll Gate High School. Grabbing a tape measure and pen, she makes black marks on a long board, to show where the studs will go.

“It’s challenging,” says the East Greenwich teen, wearing jeans, sneakers and a nose ring.

State officials are hoping Weiss and nearly 1,800 other youngsters will acquire enough skills this summer to compete in a brutal job market. The state is spending $4.7 million in federal stimulus money to teach the workplace newbies how to write resumés, score points in an interview and work in different industries.

The participants –– 14 to 24 years old — are poor or face other “barriers” to employment. Some are pregnant, in foster care or have arrest records. Others have trouble reading. Still others have dropped out of school.

“A lot of these kids are the ones who are last hired,” says Carlos Ribeiro, youth program manager for Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island, one of two groups overseeing the effort.

The training will help them get jobs in restaurants, nurseries, hospitals, boatyards and on construction crews, Ribeiro says.

“Studies show that a kid who works at an early age is more successful in the job market, and at finding a future career.”

For years, the state Department of Labor and Training has helped youngsters prepare for the job market.

But the stimulus money has enabled the state to expand that program by 2,000 youngsters this year, says agency spokeswoman Laura Hart. About $2.1 million will be pocketed by participants, who earn a minimum wage or get a stipend of about $100 a week. The state will spend $2 million for services and $600,000 on administration.

“Some are getting paid for work done and some are getting stipends for training,” including job shadowing, says Hart. “But all are working toward the same end, which is work readiness. They need to be responsible and show up on time.”

Local agencies — Boys & Girls Club of East Providence, Blackstone Valley Community Action, Progresso Latino and Tri-Town Community Action among them — oversee the programs, which differ from region to region.

Most focus on industries such as organic farming, health care, tourism, community service, construction and marine trades.

The training will pay off, says Michael Haynes, a construction teacher at the Warwick Career and Technical Center, where youngsters are learning building and culinary skills.

Although new-house construction has slowed in recent years, good workers can find jobs, Haynes says. “A builder will call me and say, ‘Send me your best.’ ”

The program will help those hit hardest by the economic downturn –– teenagers and minorities, says Joseph McLaughlin, a senior researcher at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

“The hope is that it gives them the experience and the contacts they need” to get a job later, he says, adding that they’ll need it.

In June, the state’s unemployment rate rose to 12.4 percent, the second-worst in the nation, behind Michigan.

The job market has yet to recover from the 2001 recession, says McLaughlin. Last year was bad, he says, but “this summer will be worse. A lot of youngsters are competing with older youths and even older workers.”

State officials are optimistic, in part because many of the participants won’t be looking for jobs until 2011, after they leave high school.

“They should be better equipped in a few years, when the economy improves,” says Sandra M. Powell, director of the state Department of Labor and Training.

The state, meanwhile, could benefit from a spurt of teen spending.

Recently, Weiss bought a cell phone with her first paycheck. “I’ll save the rest,” she says.

Some students give the program high marks.

“I’ve already learned how to make breakfast sandwiches and seafood stuffing,” says 14-year-old Warwick student Destinne Barrette, who qualifies for free lunches during the school year.

A student in the culinary training program, Barrette recently peeled Idaho potatoes and used a deep-fryer to make French fries and chicken tenders at the Warwick Career and Technical Center.

The students learn more than how to cook, says instructor Larry Covellone, who ran two restaurants in Rhode Island in the 1970s. They also learn kitchen safety, math (pints, quarts and gallons) and how to set a table. “It’s a three-year program squeezed into one summer.”

In Bristol, Giancarlos Rodriguez turns over a patch of grass with a short pitchfork. Not the easiest work, but the 17-year-old earns $7.40 an hour.

This summer, he and a half-dozen other young men and women will grow lettuce, carrots and tomatoes in a narrow garden behind Mt. Hope High School.

Others in the program, administered by MY TURN, a community nonprofit organization, are collecting clothes for the poor and starting a food pantry at the school.

In the garden, a young woman kneels in the dirt. “What? Do we have to pull out every single piece of grass?” she asks.

“Those are weeds,” says Colleen Powers, a career specialist. “And yes, you have to pull out every single one.”

Rhode Island communities are spending $4.7 million in federal stimulus money to provide summer jobs for youths. The projects include:

$543,077

to Warwick Area Career & Technical School; 170 youths; focus on green jobs and human services.

$240,164

to Tri-Town Community Action; 120 youths statewide; focus on work readiness and career exploration.

$220,078

to Boys & Girls Clubs of East Providence; 100 youths statewide; focus on green jobs and human services.

$205,988

to Career Pilot; 60 youths with disabilities in South County; focus on work experience and work readiness.

pdavis@projo.com