As a way to keep youth out of trouble this summer, Mayor Joe Hogsett announced Project Indy, a youth jobs initiative in collaboration with the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, EmployIndy, Indy Chamber and other community partners. The program will combine resources from all over the city to provide job training, internships, employment opportunities and more for teens this summer.
“Together with our nonprofit and corporate partners, Project Indy will give hundreds of local young people job experience, useful skills and productive alternatives to crime and gangs,” said Hogsett. “By leveraging our city’s current standalone programs and convening community stakeholders in a visible, coordinated effort, we will be able to better serve the children of our city for years to come at no additional cost to taxpayers.”
The announcement followed the White House and U.S. Department of Labor’s launch of $21 million for summer and year-round jobs for young Americans. That money funds 16 Summer Impact Hubs, one of which is Indianapolis. The funding will go toward the Youth Works Indy program, a youth-specific branch of EmployIndy, to 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.
“Critical to the workforce development goals for the area is to find ways to expand current resources and deliver them directly where they are needed most,” said Joyce Irwin, EmployIndy board chair. “This program will allow us to open doors to much-needed opportunities for Marion County youth and young adults, to end unemployment and low-education cycles that have gone on for generations.”
According to a release from the White House, each Summer Impact Hub will be 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 silos and building new local, regional and national partnerships.”
In addition to the federal funds earmarked for Youth Works Indy, another $2 million federal grant has been secured by Hogsett and Project Indy.
As identified by the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, more than 1,000 teen employment opportunities are available. Following are a few organizations on the list:
Department of Parks and Recreation
The city’s parks and recreation department hires youth as summer counselors, lifeguards and cashiers each summer. Youth are able to achieve certifications in lifeguarding, water rescue, CPR and first aid in addition to gaining experience with customer service and teamwork. This year’s youth employment outreach specifically targeted previously underserved populations of Indianapolis youth.
Groundwork Indy
Groundwork Indy supports the Youth Green Team program, which hires teens ages 14–17 who will take part in hands-on improvement projects, in which Green Team members lead environmental initiatives; learn more about local food and nutrition through gardening and several service projects.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has a proven summer youth employment program, giving teens the opportunity to create pocket parks, beautify existing green space, prevent and clean up litter and educate the community about recycling.
TeenWorks
Assisting Indianapolis youth with resume building, instilling job skills and involving students in volunteer projects to give back to the community, TeenWorks has helped provide summer jobs opportunities since 1981. This year, TeenWorks will add 100 youth employees to its existing program, making the program one of the largest in the city.
The Department of Parks and Recreation has been seeking teens to apply for summer employment opportunities for a several months, but staff explained to the Recorder they have experienced difficulty getting those positions filled.
“I do think a lack of parent push or parents’ lack of holding their children accountable for getting a job is one of the reasons why we’re having such a problem gaining applicants,” said Jennifer Coffin, aquatics director.
In January and in December, the parks team put a list together of the schools in the county to target and has been posting flyers, putting up yard signs, attending job fairs and more to reach students.
“It’s tough. Our staff now, we have a few guys from the neighborhood who are employed through us. We lost many of them because they just didn’t want to work,” said Anthony Johnson, park manager at Riverside Park.
Despite the shallow applicant pool, Indy Parks staff said they will continue to provide employment and activities for youth, such as sports leagues, family movie nights, resume writing classes and more.
In late April, The Marion County Commission on Youth (MCCOY) released its 2016 Youth Activity Directory (YAD), which contains more than 600 listings of summer, after-school and volunteer programs and events for youth. The printed guide can be picked up at the MCCOY’s office located at 1375 W. 16th St., or it can be downloaded on mobile devices by searching “MCCOY Youth Activity Directory” in the app store.
Listings in the book include a variety of museums, street art fairs, resources for families, volunteer opportunities, mentoring programs, summer camps and more.
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Free crime prevention presentations available to summer youth programs
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is encouraging community centers and other organizations that host summer youth camps to include free crime prevention information in their programming. The Prosecutor’s Office provides presentations and information designed for young audiences to any organization in Marion County.
The following presentations and programs are available upon request:
PROJECT CYBERSAFE — A one-hour interactive presentation on the dangers of online behavior, protecting personal information on social media and the legal consequences of cyberbullying are some of many topics covered in this timely presentation. Target audiences: Elementary to 13-year-olds / Teen: 14- to 18-year-olds
TEEN DATING VIOLENCE AWARENESS — A one-hour presentation that teaches teens how to recognize the potential signs of dating violence. Target Audience: 10- to 18-year-olds
EDUCATING KIDS ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE (EKG) — A presentation on the legal, medical and emotional consequences of gun possession and related gun violence. Presented in partnership with Eskenazi Health. Target Audience: 10- to 18-year-olds
CHOICES NOT CHANCES — An online decision tree to help young people understand the possible legal, educational and medical consequences of their decisions. Scenarios involve teen dating violence, gangs and gun violence. This online-based program with a script for adult facilitation can be accessed at indy.gov/ChoicesNotChances. Target Audience: 10- to 18-year-olds
For more information, contact the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office at MCPO@indy.gov or (317) 327-3522.
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Lilly Endowment offers low- and no-cost summer programs
Children and teenagers across Marion County have the chance for a summer of fun and engagement as youth-serving organizations launch day camps, enrichment programs, overnight camps and youth employment offerings for 2016.
Lilly Endowment is supporting these low- and no-cost summer programs as part of the Summer Youth Program Fund, a funding collaborative of 10 partners committed to helping children, families and neighborhoods. The collaborative is supporting 178 organizations in Marion County that expect to serve a total of 63,000 young people — age 4–18 — through summer programs. Activities include sports, arts and culture, academic enrichment, career exploration, youth employment and service learning.
To learn more about the summer offerings, visit summeryouthprogramfundindy.org.
