Washington, DC - A young person’s first job brings more than just a steady paycheck – the experience teaches young people life and work skills that serve them long after the job is done.  Summer is a critical time for young people to get access to first jobs that can provide important skills, experiences and networks for their future. At the same time, summer opportunities have been shown to divert youth from criminal involvement and reduce overall violence in communities. 

That is why, in February, the White House launched the Summer Opportunity Project to increase the number of young Americans participating in evidence-based summer opportunity programs, decrease the percentage of youth experiencing violence over the summer, and—more broadly—make sure that young Americans have the support they need to get their first job. This work builds on the President’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force recommendation strengthening the case for summer youth employment and launching a cross-sector campaign to reduce summer learning loss and increase the number of job and internship opportunities for all young people.

Today, the White House and the Department of Labor are announcing new steps to advance that effort including the release of $21 million in Summer Jobs and Beyond grants to 11 communities to connect disadvantaged young people with jobs this summer and year-round. The White House is also launching 16 Summer Impact Hubs--communities that will receive robust, coordinated support from 16 federal agencies to expand and refine their summer jobs, learning, including exposure to local innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities, meals, and violence reduction programs.

These announcements are aimed at supporting a range of state and local leaders, community-based organizations, private sector leaders, philanthropic leaders, schools, other youth-serving agencies, and young people that are all coming together at the local level to ensure that our youth have productive, healthy summers that enhance their educational and career prospects.

Key Elements of Today’s Announcements include:

• $21 million in Grants to Connect Young Americans to Jobs in the summer and Year-Round. The Department of Labor is announcing that 11 communities across the country will receive a total of $21 million to launch and expand innovative approaches that provide young people with summer and year-round jobs and connect them to long-term career pathways. 
• Launch of 16 Summer Impact Hubs. The White House is announcing an inter-agency effort to provide tailored support to 16 communities to enhance jobs, learning, meals, and violence reduction programs for young people this summer and year-round and to ensure that these programs are well coordinated. Each Hub is paired with a Federal “Summer Ambassador” who will spend the spring and summer partnering with them to meet their locally-driven goals by leveraging Federal resources, breaking down agency siloes, and building new local, regional, and national partnerships.

More Details on Today’s Announcements

$21 million Summer Jobs and Beyond Grant Winners

Today, the Department of Labor is announcing 11 winners of Summer Jobs and Beyond Grants, which will provide summer and year‐round part‐time job opportunities for In School Youth and employment and work experience opportunities throughout the year for young people who are out of school and work, in addition to exposure to career pathways in in‐demand job sectors. Grants will focus on building out innovative strategies to help young people transition from summer jobs into year-round work and career pathways.  Winning grant projects are summarized below.

• Utica, NY: The New Americans Career Pathways project will provide in-school youth with summer jobs and academic support for 400 students in the refugee populations of Utica, NY.  The students will receive summer job work experience and academic tutoring in English and Math, and support in finding part- time jobs.
• Portland, OR: The Pathways to Sector Employment for Youth project in the City of Portland and Multnomah and Washington Counties will provide on-ramps to industry sectors for in-school and out-of-school youth resulting in entry-level jobs along career pathways in health care, IT, manufacturing and infrastructure. All students will take a course in four targeted industry sectors and participate in a paid summer work experience.
• Tribal counties in California, Illinois and Iowa: The Summer Youth Career Pathways Project will provide employment-related services to eligible Native American youth with limited work experience. The project aims to increase career readiness via online training courses that include digital skills, financial education, soft skills, career pathways, and workforce essentials. CIMC will work with thirty partners, including workforce agencies, human service agencies, local education agencies, employers, and community-based organizations.
• Milwaukee, WI: The Milwaukee Career Plus project aims to connect in-school and out-of-school youth to career readiness, summer employment, continued education, career services and year-round employment opportunities. Program staff will be placed in high schools to connect directly with students, and a partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools will help to identify non-attenders as soon as possible and engage them in support.
• Hartford, CT: The Promise Zone YES! project aims to transform and align youth-serving systems and enhance development services for 275 youth. Capital Workforce Partners will partner with the City of Hartford, Hartford Public Schools, Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, and two employers.
• Chicago, IL: Beyond Summer Jobs program will prepare youth and connect them to permanent, unsubsidized employment. The project will serve 300 youth including 240 who are out of school. Youth will begin the program in a summer job and then will participate in an extended paid work experience at one of ten employer partners.
• Santa Maria, CA: Santa Maria Summer Jobs & Beyond will serve 260 young adults by working with six partners to provide services while creating paid work experience opportunities, including summer and year-round employment that lead to skill building and postsecondary education pathways with coordination through the County of Santa Barbara Workforce Development Board.
• Detroit, MI: Grow Detroit’s Young Talent program will create summer employment and year-round work experiences for 1,000 disconnected youth and underserved populations, including Latino and Arab-American youth. The Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation will create a one-stop reengagement center for youth that will: provide case management, career planning and referral services; offer work experiences in high-demand industry sectors among other activities.
• Franklin Hampshire Region, MA: Franklin Hampshire Summer Jobs and Beyond project will target three of the most high-need and least-served communities in the western Massachusetts region with intensive outreach and services to youth. One-hundred-eighty in-school youth with little to no work experience will receive intensive services, including job placement and college readiness.
• Indianapolis, IN: Youth Works Indy program will enhance existing summer youth employment programs and expand work readiness skills training and work experiences for participants in high-poverty, high-crime Indianapolis neighborhoods. Youth Works Indy expects to enroll 834 youth, and place 364 in unsubsidized employment and 182 in post-secondary employment.  Indianapolis Private Industry Council, Inc. will partner with 5 summer employment programs, 4 local education agencies, 3 re-engagement centers, and 49 allied employers.
• Philadelphia, PA: PA CareerLink® Philadelphia: Youth & Young Adult Opportunity Hub (YOH/theHub) project will leverage partnerships with employers, universities, youth serving community organizations, and others to implement a multifaceted approach to providing youth with work experience opportunities that include summer and year-round part-time opportunities for in-school youth and exposure to in-demand job experience for out-of-school youth. The Hub will target 250 youth ages 16-24 in the Philadelphia area. 

Launch of 16 New Summer Impact Hubs

Over the last seven years, the Administration has been working to transform the Federal government into a more effective partner for local communities. Federal government leaders are working hand in hand with local stakeholders to craft solutions that harness resources across multiple agencies in response to local needs and priorities. Since 2009, more than fifteen Federal agencies have launched dozens of initiatives and partnerships with over 1,800 rural, tribal and urban communities. From Fresno to Detroit, Southeast Kentucky to Baltimore, Federal leaders are working across agency lines and offering hands-on support to build local capacity, provide expertise, and unlock resources to help community leaders achieve their goals. 

Building on that work, the White House and 16 federal agencies announce an effort today to provide tailored support from the Federal government to 16 Summer Impact Hubs to upgrade and expand their summer jobs, learning, meals, and violence reduction programs for young people this summer and year-round. These communities have each been paired with a Federal “Summer Ambassador” who will spend the spring and summer partnering with them to meet their locally-driven goals by leveraging existing Federal resources, breaking down agency siloes, and building new local and national partnerships. The Administration is also enlisting the targeted support of companies and philanthropy to create more opportunities for young people in these communities.

Federal agencies will support these efforts. For example, the Department of Agriculture is providing nutritious meals; the Department of Education is offering technical assistance though its Summer Opportunity iForums webinars; the Department of Treasury is offering information on financial education and account access; the Department of Health and Human Services will provide guidance on how cities can use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to support youth employment; the Department of Housing and Urban Development is enlisting the help of its network of 3,000 Public Housing Authorities to secure employment opportunities for more than 1,000  youth this summer.

In February, the President called on state and local leaders, community organizations, schools, and businesses to step up to connect young people to their first jobs and summer learning, meal, and violence reduction programs. If you would like to get involved in supporting a Summer Impact Hub click here.

This summer, the Administration will announce progress toward meeting the local Summer Impact Hub goals and organizations that have stepped up to support them at block parties across the country.  These events will engage youth, families, businesses, local innovators and entrepreneurs, and community leaders around making this summer active, healthy, safe and productive.  

Summer Impact Hubs

1.     Baltimore, MD

2.     Clarksdale, MS

3.     Detroit, MI

4.     Flint, MI

5.     Gary, IN

6.     Houston, TX

7.     Indianapolis, IN

8.     Jonesboro, AR

9.     Los Angeles, CA

10.  Memphis, TN

11.  Newark, NJ

12.  New Orleans, LA

13.  Pine Bluff, AR

14.  Pine Ridge, SD

15.  St. Louis, MO

16.  Washington, D.C

President’s $5.5 Billion FY 2017 Budget Proposal to Open Doors to A First Job

While our new efforts will be crucial to supporting more at-risk youth over the summer, reaching the scale needed to create job opportunities for all at-risk young Americans will require significant new investments at the federal level.

The President’s FY 2017 Budget proposes new investments – nearly double last year’s request – to connect more than 1 million young people to first jobs over the summer and year-round. It would also create a new $2 billion competitive grant program designed to connect at-risk and disconnected youth to educational and workforce pathways. DOL will work with Treasury to ensure that young people participating in these programs have access to safe and appropriate financial products and accounts.