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Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer today joined SummerWorks staff, participants, employers, and supporters at the Heine Bros. headquarters in west Louisville to celebrate the 2019 SummerWorks season, which saw nearly 7,000 youth, a new record, employed throughout the city.
“SummerWorks is a critical step in building and supporting our pipeline of talented workers,” Mayor Fischer said. “The skills learned and relationships developed during a summer job carry over into the new school year and help set young people on a path to career success.”
This season of SummerWorks saw an increase in first-time employers, including Heine Brothers’ Coffee, Carbide Industries, GlowTouch Technologies, Crowne Plaza, Masonic Homes, Rev-a-Shelf, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Many established SummerWorks employers also increased their participation in 2019, including GE Appliances, which hired 29 youth this season.
GE Appliances SummerWorks student Zaina Katembo gained confidence in the business place during her experience and hopes to have a future with the global company.
“When I started work, I was very nervous,” said Katembo, 19, senior at Moore High School who moved to the U.S. from Tanzania in 2016, “but my co-workers and supervisors made me feel very welcomed and at home. I really appreciated this opportunity and would like to work for GE Appliances after I graduate.”
SummerWorks also expanded its partnership with the Academies of Louisville at JCPS, exceeding its goal of placing at least 200 Academies students in summer jobs that aligned with their career pathway.
During the celebration, the Mayor cited a newly released study, which was commissioned by KentuckianaWorks and conducted by the Kentucky Center for Statistics, that measured the long-term impact of SummerWorks on youth. The study found a variety of positive outcomes associated with SummerWorks, including higher graduation and employment rates.
“The data we’re seeing today reinforces our belief that a summer job experience can have a lasting positive impact on a young person’s life,” the Mayor said. “We must continue investing in SummerWorks in order to make sure all young people in our community, regardless of the barriers they may be facing, have a chance to benefit from this kind of experience.”
To learn more about SummerWorks and how to get involved, either as a participant, employer, or supporter, visit www.summerworks.org.
A stronger pipeline of young talent is critical to Louisville’s future, Mayor Greg Fischer said in launching the SummerWorks youth jobs program for 2018.
“Summer jobs are critical building blocks for young people, and SummerWorks is crucial for the health of the local economy, because it creates a pipeline of future talent,” Mayor Fischer said. “We want Louisville’s business culture to be one where every company, large and small, hires or sponsors summer jobs for youth.”
Last year, more than 160 companies and organizations hired SummerWorks youth. And already, momentum is building for this summer, with many employers hiring youth through the program for the first time, including Hilliard Lyons, Kelley Construction, Kentuckiana Comfort Center, iQor, Louisville Bats and Spectrum. Other companies, including Kentucky Kingdom and Thorntons, are increasing the number of young people they hire.
Today’s program kickoff was at GE Appliances, where 13 SummerWorks participants have gone on to full-time work in the past two years.
“GE Appliances was one of the first Louisville companies to sign up for the SummerWorks program because we saw a critical need to build a pipeline of young talent who want a good career in manufacturing,” said GE Appliances Vice President of Manufacturing Bill Good. “Working with SummerWorks has been a great experience, and I look forward to seeing the program grow as other companies begin to participate. It has been an excellent way to recruit motivated, energetic youth who have brought fresh thinking to our manufacturing operations.”
Additional businesses where program participants have transitioned to full employment include the Hyatt Hotel, Humana, Kentucky Kingdom, Norton Healthcare and UPS.
Starting this year, SummerWorks will play an increasing role in creating more young talent through its alignment with the new Academies of Louisville initiative being rolled out at JCPS high schools. The goal is for every student to have had a summer job experience by the time they graduate their Academy high school.
“The SummerWorks program offers our students a unique opportunity to gain relevant and hands-on experience in the working world, which aligns perfectly with the Academies of Louisville structure,” said Dr. Marty Pollio, JCPS Superintendent. “And the benefits go both ways. This summer experience not only builds on the classroom instruction, giving our students a real-world application to what they’ve learned, but because of the practical experience they’ve gained in the academies programs, they are sharper and more proficient employees for the SummerWorks business partners.”
Companies and organizations that aren’t able to directly hire youth this summer can instead sponsor jobs. A donation of $2,500 funds a summer job at a non-profit organization or city agency.
SummerWorks will continue creating job experiences that build entrepreneurial skills in young people by providing mini-grants to five local organizations: Empowered, Inc., Food Literacy Project at Oxmoor Farm, Jefferson Memorial Forest, New Roots and Pride Leadership Academy. The grants will fund work experiences for youth ranging from helping provide fresh produce in West Louisville, to developing fish hatchery tanks, to creating a business plan and website for a small business. Additional grants will fund job training and career exploration hosted at five local non-profit and public agencies.
SummerWorks is overseen by KentuckianaWorks, the workforce development agency for the Louisville area, in partnership with Louisville YouthBuild, which adds expertise in working with at-risk youth and provides mentoring and job-coaching. The goal is to provide even stronger long-term outcomes for young people involved in the program.
In 2014, SummerWorks was recognized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors as one of the nation’s best summer jobs programs for young people.
The Mayor launched SummerWorks after taking office in 2011, in response to the elimination of federal funding for summer jobs. In that first year, the effort placed 200 young people in jobs. Last summer, more than 5,200 youth found summer work directly through the program and at its champion employers.
Other businesses that have committed to hiring SummerWorks youth this year include 4th Street Live, Dare to Care, GlowTouch Technologies, Interapt, Kindred Healthcare, Kroger, Louisville Zoo, Oxmoor Auto Group, Speedway and YMCA of Greater Louisville.
Employers and youth participants can sign up for the program at www.summerworks.org.
Surrounded by young people who spent their summer working, Mayor Greg Fischer today declared the 2017 SummerWorks season a big success, with more than 5,200 youth ages 16-21 employed – breaking last year’s record total.
That number includes 800 youth employed by companies and organizations that directly teamed with the city and KentuckianaWorks to provide more extensive career training, led by a new SummerWorks partner, YouthBuild. Overall, a record 150 employers hired youth this summer.
“This year’s program was focused on creating deeper, more effective learning experiences for our youth participants, and YouthBuild did a phenomenal job in leading this effort,” the Mayor said. “Our 800 core placements received training to create résumés and prepare for job interviews, as well as coaching throughout the summer from YouthBuild staff or key private sector employer-partners. This effort helps us ensure that Louisville is a city of opportunity for all our young people.”
At a season-closing event at Kentucky Kingdom, two of those 800 young people shared their summer job experiences.
Munirah Sajjida, 17, said she has “loved my work” at the non-profit Plymouth Community Center. Munirah, who had been struggling with school attendance issues and other problems, also participates in the city’s ReImage program, designed to keep court-involved youth from getting into further trouble. She credited the SummerWorks program and ReImage with helping to get her life headed in a positive direction.
Jon Russell, who was hired back for a second summer as an assistant in human resources at Fourth Street Live! said his SummerWorks job “has given me skills that will be valuable to my dream of opening my own department store.”
Fourth Street Live! presented him with a scholarship, which he will use to attend the University of Kentucky. The company plans to award a scholarship yearly to a SummerWorks youth.
Mayor Fischer said such SummerWorks’ “employer champions” hired youth, ages 16-21, for jobs in hospitals, restaurants, groceries, banks and hotels. Working closely with supervisors and mentors, young people worked on manufacturing assembly lines and grocery check-out lanes, assisted companies with their IT and human resources needs, helped process insurance claims, worked in pharmacies and helped ship packages around the world.
Several of Louisville’s largest companies greatly increased their hiring, including GE Appliances, Ford, Humana and Kindred Healthcare.
Employers new to the program included 21st Century Parks, Coastal Cloud, Hilliard Lyons, Hyatt Hotel, McDonald’s local franchises, MedAssist, MSD, Speed Art Museum, University of Louisville and Workwell Industries.
A combination of public and private funding sponsored SummerWorks jobs at more than 85 non-profit organizations and city agencies, including Boys and Girls Clubs, Kentucky Shakespeare, the Food Literacy Project, Louisville Metro Police, Louisville Fire, EMS, Metro Parks, Family Health Centers, Americana Community Center and Louisville Grows.
Funding for those jobs included $600,000 that the Mayor and Metro Council placed in last year’s city budget, as well as $100,000 each from the James Graham Brown Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation and the family of businessman Paul Diaz.
This year, SummerWorks expanded its focus on creating job experiences that build entrepreneurial skills in young people. Small grants were provided to six partner organizations that helped youth learn to start their own business, learn computer coding, and gain invaluable on-the-job training in the medical field, building trades, and technology.
“We are thrilled to see this initiative grow and evolve in both the quantity of and quality of the job opportunities young people are able to experience,” said Michael Gritton, executive director of KentuckianaWorks, which operates the SummerWorks program.
Many of the companies joining SummerWorks this year were recruited by Greater Louisville Inc., the Metro Chamber of Commerce.
“GLI was pleased to partner with the Mayor’s SummerWorks Program and successfully recruit 30 new GLI investor companies and create 225 summer jobs for youth in our community,” said Kent Oyler, president & CEO of Greater Louisville Inc. “Hands-on experience in the workplace is critical for raising young persons’ expectations and building a quality workforce.”
The Mayor launched SummerWorks right after taking office in 2011, in response to the elimination of federal funding for summer jobs. That first year, 200 young people were placed in jobs. The program was recognized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2014 as one of the nation’s best summer jobs programs for young people.
SummerWorks continues to work closely with Jefferson County Public Schools to place students in jobs that match up with what they are learning in school, and jobs in the key business sectors the city is strategically growing, such as technology, healthcare and business services.
Other companies participating included the Belle of Louisville, GlowTouch Technologies, Harland Clarke, Louisville Urban League, Louisville Zoo, Norton Healthcare, Oxmoor Auto Group, Speedway, Thorntons and YMCA of Greater Louisville.
The Mayor urged employers to make plans now to hire or support summer jobs for 2018. More information is at https://www.summerworks.org/
