06/09/2022
ONE SUMMER CHICAGO APPLICATIONS CLOSE JUNE 10
Chicago youth have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 10, to complete applications for One Summer Chicago (OSC), one of the largest youth employment and service initiatives in the country. OSC provides thousands of young people ages 16 to 24 the opportunity to receive hands-on experience in technology, healthcare, media, finance, and more while earning $15 an hour. Youth ages 14 and 15 are also encouraged to apply for the Chicagobility career exploration program that pays a summer-long total of $450 dollars in weekly stipends.
"The City is focused on engaging and educating young people throughout this summer," said Mayor Lightfoot. "Through One Summer Chicago, our youth can access job opportunities in technology, healthcare, media, and more — all while working side-by-side with experts in those fields. This program will benefit thousands of young people throughout Chicago by helping them to learn, grow, and earn money."
The OSC 2022 portfolio will support young people as they participate in career exploration opportunities and strengthen their own neighborhoods, providing positive summer activities that support individual and community growth. Of over 8,000 youth surveyed last year, 87% reported strengthening their skills and abilities.
“With over 19,000 job opportunities this year, DFSS is excited to provide pathways for Chicago’s young people to learn, work, and grow,” said DFSS Commissioner Brandie Knazze. “Investing in our young people is a commitment to the long-term growth of our city, and we are proud to work with Mayor Lightfoot and our partners to create experiences that will impact our youth for years to come.”
OSC’s signature Summer Youth Employment Program employs young people ages 16 to 24 in subsidized employment opportunities and helps them build financial capabilities and employable skills through opportunities like the Everyone Can Code (ECC) Chicago program.
The program is supported in part by JPMorgan Chase, which, through the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, announced an extended commitment of $255,000 to Chicago’s initiative, now a total of $1.25 million since 2018. Building on the success and lessons learned from the firm’s nationwide Summer Youth commitments, the public private partnership supports Chicago young people, particularly those from under-resourced communities, enter the workforce and gain meaningful experience that will lead to quality career pathways.
The firm recently committed $20 million nationwide for summer youth employment programs in cities across the country over the next five years.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing racial and economic crises have had a disproportionate impact on young people, especially for those in under resourced communities who have had to juggle supporting their families and preparing for their own futures,” said Joanna Trotter, Head of Chicago Philanthropy for JPMorgan Chase. “Early employment opportunities for Chicago’s youth are incredibly valuable and often provide the necessary skills, network, and experience they need for future career success and economic mobility.”
ECC Chicago is designed as a work-based learning opportunity, where technology professionals mentor small groups of aspiring coding students through hands-on, project-based activities. Employer projects are scoped out in advance to facilitate with candidate matching and to prepare interns with tools for success in their internship.
To date, the program has supported over 1,000 One Summer Chicago youth as they explore basic coding concepts and build fully-functional apps. This year, OSC expects to engage over 200 youth.
“In school, we’re taught what to think, but with Everyone Can Code, we learned how to think,” said Saleh Abuali, former Everyone Can Code participant.
The success of the Everyone Can Code Chicago program has led to the expansion of OSC’s Technology Training, Skill Amplification and Pathways (TSP) programming engine. Leveraging experience from the successful training model, TSP will apply best practices to expand into new technology training pilots focused on Game Design, Augmented Reality and Data Science.
These skills prepare participants for careers in various science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) industries and develop soft skills, like collaboration, creativity, communication, leadership, and responsibility, along with problem-solving, analytic thinking, and core technical skills.
“Creating positive, high-quality spaces for young people to learn and grow is central to the McCormick Foundation’s commitment to Chicago,” said Timothy P. Knight, President and CEO of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. “We are proud to collaborate with JP Morgan Chase and DFSS to offer enriching educational opportunities for young people in Chicago.”
Unemployment rates among youth ages 16 to 24 were exacerbated during the pandemic, which saw the lowest levels of youth summer employment since the Great Recession. Youth ages 16 to 24 in lower-income families were disproportionately affected by these disparities. As work experience and education has become more valuable, the pathway to a good job has become more challenging for young adults, particularly those from underrepresented communities. According to new research from Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, to secure a good job, young adults need to acquire high-quality work experience and more education than was necessary for previous generations. Unequal access to high-quality work experience through work-based learning programs and youth employment further contributes to gaps in good jobs.
The OSC 2022 portfolio will support young people as they participate in career exploration opportunities and strengthen their own neighborhoods, providing positive summer activities that support individual and community growth. Summer work experiences, like OSC, address barriers by exposing young people to careers while connecting them to valuable social networks and employer experiences. Programs like OSC can also support in addressing community-wide challenges, with previous reports from University of Chicago Urban Labs finding that the program reduced violent-crime arrests by 43% over 16 months.
While applications close on June 10, other opportunities for Chicago youth remain available. In particular, the Chicago Youth Service Corps — Mayor Lightfoot’s paid civic service learning and leadership development program — accepts applications from youth 16 to 24 year-round. Apply and learn more at cysc.mychimyfuture.org. Youth can also access the new My Chi. My Future. app, which is available on iOS and Android and provides hundreds of out-of-school activities and events.
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