Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) today announced the launch of the One Summer Chicago application. The One Summer Chicago program will support 32,000 jobs and internship opportunities for youth to gain valuable work experience and critical support services. The application is available for youth ages 14 to 24 through May 20 at www.onesummerchicago.org.

“One Summer Chicago provides more than a summer job, the program helps our young people build the skills necessary to stay on the right track and look forward to the future with confidence and hope,” said Mayor Emanuel. “These are jobs that can help change the direction of a young person’s life long after summer has ended, and I encourage everyone who can sign up to do so today.”

The 2019 One Summer Chicago program will run for six weeks from July 1 through August 9. Opportunities include: infrastructure jobs; camp counselors; urban agriculture and outdoor forestry projects; and private sector experience.

“The strength of the Mayor’s One Summer Chicago program is that year over year, our partners citywide come together to do what is best for our youth,” said Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler. “Since 2011, the program has given more than 193,000 youth an opportunity to earn and learn, and we hope that the opportunity to make an impact on their community will leave a lasting impression on our participants.”

Summer Fast Track is a new program developed by DFSS, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). Summer Fast Track will provide approximately 200 high school seniors with the opportunity to complete high school and college level courses in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway at no cost. Graduating seniors will enroll in CCC and complete one college level CTE course at no cost over the summer. After School Matters will provide stipends to students in this program. Students will also be eligible to continue CCC courses and earn a basic certificate by the end of the Fall 2019 semester. Participating high schools include: Hubbard, Mather, Raby, Roosevelt, Simeon and Sullivan high schools. Participating CCC campuses include: Harold Washington, Truman, Wright, Kennedy-King and Daley colleges.

Also new to One Summer Chicago this year is the next phase of the Everyone Can Code Project, CS4ALL Coding Program. CS4ALL is a partnership with the Department of Family & Support Services, CPS, CCC and Apple, Inc. CS4ALL will recruit 200 youth from CPS and DFSS delegate agency coding clubs with a goal of expanding their computer science skills via a 6-week pre-professional internship program where they will learn from Apple programming pros how to develop computer/mobile apps, attend lectures and gain hands on experiences in the technological field and obtain the early skills necessary to compete in the 21^st Century.

Returning programs include One Summer Chicago Plus and the Summer Youth Employment Program, which was designed for at-risk youth, served over 5,000 youth, fulfilling a second-term goal by Mayor Emanuel.

One Summer Chicago Plus is a specialized violence prevention summer workforce program for high-need youth, ages 16 - 21, who reside in the highest risk communities. Recruited worksites will provide youth with a safe, well-defined experience that allows them to gain valuable work readiness skills.

The Citi Foundation is returning to One Summer Chicago for its sixth year in a row, with funding that has totaled over $5.8 million. The Summer Jobs Connect program, spearheaded by the Citi Foundation and the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, supports young adults seeking summer employment and provides safe and appropriate banking products, services, and education. Citi Foundation is also the largest private funder of the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), a state-wide program designed to employ out of school youth.

“Summer jobs are where strong financial futures begin. That’s why we’ve collaborated with the City of Chicago and the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund since 2014 to help young people gain meaningful summer employment and early money management skills,” said Brandee McHale, President of the Citi Foundation. “Over the past five years we’ve seen how this program builds healthy financial lives for young people and look forward to continuing this work together.” 

Since 2011, Mayor Emanuel has significantly expanded the summer program, more than doubling opportunities while diversifying work opportunities for youths around the city, with over 193,000 youth gaining valuable job training and work experience since the program began. While this year’s program was the largest youth summer jobs program in the City’s history, over 45,000 applications were submitted last year, demonstrating the capacity to grow these critical opportunities to meet the demand by youth.

Under the Mayor’s leadership, the city has steadily increased its investment every year in mentoring and other youth programs to address some of the most urgent needs facing the city: keeping youth safe, improving school outcomes and reducing crime. In the past eight years alone, One Summer Chicago has more than doubled to meet the overwhelming demand for these programs, serving more than 193,000 youth to date with valuable job training and work experiences.