We are pleased to announce that the application period is now open for One Summer Chicago, Mayor Emanuel’s summer jobs program for youth ages 14 to 24.
This year, the program will expand to provide 25,000 paid job and internship opportunities for youth ages 14 to 24 from neighborhoods across the city. Opportunities are available in many industry areas including urban agriculture, bike repair, outdoor forestry projects, and office and clerical work.
The city is also expanding the One Summer Chicago PLUS program with an additional 1,000 opportunities, to reach a total of 3,000 youth. The PLUS program targets youth at higher risk for violence involvement and includes a 25-hour per week summer job, a mentor, civic leadership training and social skill building. A comprehensive, peer-reviewed study from 2014 found that the PLUS program significantly reduced violent crime involvement among participants for at least 16 months after the program ended. The continued expansion of PLUS is made possible by a $10 million investment from Inner City Youth Empowerment, LLC –a private entity created by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Mark and Kimbra Walter.
Once again this year, payroll operations for One Summer Plus will be centralized at the Department of Family and Support Services, a change that was made last year based in part on feedback from the Commission. Centralizing the payroll process allows more and smaller providers to be part of One Summer without having to front payroll costs.
Interested youth and employers may visit www.onesummerchicago.org for additional information and application materials. We hope you will share this application widely within your networks.
