At age 17, Chase Scolf could take a motorcycle apart and put it back together, but he could not seem to get a handle on high school. The work in the classroom did not come as easy as the work in the garage, where Chase had been tinkering with motorcycles since he bought his first one at age 12.

Chase kept getting into trouble and failing classes and finally quit school. Afterward, his career prospects were about as slim as would be expected for a high school dropout in a downbeat economy.

Fortunately, Chase, now 18, was able to get a GED and now has a full-time job at YPK Motorsports in Jackson that makes use of his mechanical aptitude and interest in working on motorcycles and other machines, thanks to some help from the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program’s (EKCEP) Let’s Go 2 Work initiative and other Workforce Investment Act (WIA) services provided in Breathitt County through Middle Kentucky Community Action Partnership.

“If it hadn’t been for the WIA programs, I wouldn’t have had this job,” said Chase.

At the store he is serious but polite as he waits on customers, moves motorcycles, and talks about his job duties, which include working with the inventory of motorcycles and ATVs the store sells and assembling the new stock as it arrives. Posing for a photograph near an uncrated ATV he goes out of his way to make himself presentable and smile because his grandma might see the picture.

Chase talks about what happened after he dropped out of high school; how a cousin told him he could get work and help getting his GED through a local program called YouthBuild. Chase, no stranger to physical work, found it “a lot easier” than high school to help build homes and take GED preparation classes through the program.

But the YouthBuild program was only temporary. When it ended Chase was referred to Let’s Go 2 Work. Let’s Go 2 Work is an EKCEP initiative that put over 3,000 eastern Kentucky young people in summer jobs this year, paying their wages with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Some of the young people, including Chase, have already obtained full time jobs due to the initiative.

Chase knew exactly where he wanted to be placed for his temporary summer job when he talked with Krissy Simpkins, his Let’s Go 2 Work career advisor.

“I asked for a job here,” Chase said, standing in YPK Motorsports.

After getting the placement he wanted, Chase did whatever he could prove himself to his new employers and try to make his job last more than the six weeks of Let’s Go 2 Work.

“I just did whatever they asked me to do,” Chase said. “And when I’d run out of work I’d find some other work to do.”

J.L. Smith, owner of YPK Motorsports, said he was glad to participate in Let’s Go 2 Work as an employer because the six-week summer jobs the initiative provided “could give a young man the opportunity to prove himself” – the kind of opportunity someone like Chase might not have had otherwise.

“It’s pretty tough to get a leg up on this world and get started,” Smith said.

Because Chase did his job reliably, eagerly, and with “no bellyaching,” Smith hired him when his Let’s Go 2 Work placement ended.

Chase now has a steady job that he enjoys and is making plans to take some college courses. He is glad he took part in Let’s Go 2 Work.

“It’s a good program,” Chase said.

Simpkins said it is exciting to see young people like Chase improving their lives through Let’s Go 2 Work.

“It’s a great success,” Simpkins said.

Let’s Go 2 Work is providing summer jobs for more than 3,000 young people ages 16 to 24 throughout EKCEP’s 23-county area. The initiative will infuse about $6 million in economic stimulus money into the eastern Kentucky economy.

For more information, visit the website at letsgo2work.org.