If you ask Joseph Quiver, President Obama's economic stimulus plan is working just fine.

Quiver, 22, has an $8-an-hour summer job in the maintenance department at National American University, which is paid for with $3 million in federal stimulus money for youth job training in South Dakota. More importantly, with the on-the-job training he's getting in plumbing, heating and electrical systems at NAU, Quiver has already landed a full-time, private-sector maintenance job at Fairway Hills apartments in the fall.

Nationally, Obama's $787 billion stimulus package has failed so far to work its magic on job losses, as May's unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent. But Quiver, who in September will start his first steady job since he dropped out of high school, is feeling "pretty good" about his economic future and the chance to support his young family.

"It means a lot to me. To bring in the bread and find a steady job," he said. "My whole family likes it. They like me working. They hit me up for money, now."

Quiver is among nearly 600 young South Dakotans between the ages of 14 and 24 who will benefit from those stimulus funds between May and September. Workers have been placed at a variety of work sites - both public and private - in jobs that are supposed to educate and train them for the workforce, said Bill Molseed, Work Force Training administrator for the state Department of Labor.

"We really tried to lock them into something that will help them to learn," Molseed said. "Jobs that build work references, work experience and work habits."

In Rapid City, youth are employed with government agencies and non-profit organizations as assistants to nutritionists, teachers, administrators, physical therapists and nurses. Locally, private business is using stimulus money to fund summer jobs for a film production intern, a financial advisor assistant, laboratory technicians, homecare aids, hospice workers, pharmacist aides and groundskeepers and warehouse workers.

Interest in the program from the private sector was overwhelming, said DOL Secretary Pam Roberts. By the end of May, the entire $3 million had been obligated and applications were suspended.

"There was an overwhelming positive response from both the business community and our young people," Roberts said. "These dollars were quickly put to excellent use towards meaningful employment opportunities."

The $3 million was distributed through the 14 local Labor Department offices statewide, including offices in Rapid City, Hot Springs and Spearfish. As the second-largest DOL office, Rapid City got a significant portion of those funds, Molseed said, but there were more work site applications than dollars to support them.

The focus of the jobs program, which is part of the Workforce Investment Act, is on hard-to-employ young adults who are beyond high school age, Molseed said, not younger teens who will return to school in the fall.

That's a description that fit Quiver, who was kicked out of Crazy Horse High School in the 9th grade. Since then, he's worked sporadically at odd jobs and janitorial work to support his family, which includes a 1-year-old son and a 9-year-old stepdaughter. But his lack of education hurt his job search. Without the jobs program, he would have spent the summer "job searching, filling out a lot of applications," he said. "But most employers look at your education."

Jerry Prater, head of maintenance at NAU, said Quiver's ambitions and the jobs program have been a perfect fit.

"There's a lot of us out here who don't learn by books, but give us something hands-on and we can learn anything," Prater said. "Maintenance is hard to learn in a classroom, because you're not dealing with the norm. There's a lot of oddball things that need a creative solution."

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com