As they say, growing up is hard to do.

So, too, is growing a healthy work force, the focus of a daylong conference sponsored by the State Council on Workforce Services.

During the lunch hour at Thursday's event, organizers combined the two concepts to explore how to best serve the some 170 youths who "age out" of Utah's foster care system each year with little to no future support.

"Part of growing a healthy work force is to help those who have been disadvantaged," said Tani Downing, executive director of the state Department of Workforce Services. "They need to learn the written and unwritten rules to getting and keeping a job."

Foster youths traditionally leave the system after turning 18, a critical time in any young life, said Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., the session's featured speaker.

Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye, are raising teenagers of their own and know how important support and mentoring can be. "Sometimes it doesn't matter what your point of origin is, whether you grow up in the governor's mansion or grow up in supportive services," he said. "It doesn't matter what your walls look like in the home, kids are kids."

The governor is a strong proponent of connecting youngsters with the economy. This summer, he announced an initiative to encourage businesses to offer summer jobs to Utahns ages 14 through 21. The program, he said Thursday, created hundreds of jobs for youths during the summer months.

"The greatest thing we can give our young people is a job, an opportunity," Huntsman said.

Thursday's attendees included foster youths, elected officials, state workers and representatives from the private business arena. Each, the governor said, can offer assistance to youngsters entering the work force.

"We have opportunities abounding in this state, so there is no reason for any of us ... to be unable to step up, to provide opportunities to mentor, to guide, to shape, to mold some of our great young kids," he said.

The conference, titled "Growing a Healthy Workforce," also included speakers and breakout sessions focused on "the people side of economic development," said Mike Richardson, spokesman for the Department of Workforce Services. Topics included economic development in rural Utah, the importance of career counseling and the challenges of keeping Utah youths in school through graduation.

---

E-mail: awelling@desnews.com