CHICAGO—Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot today joined One Summer Chicago youth, Chicago Public Schools and partners of Apple’s Community Education initiative to celebrate another summer of the successful One Summer Chicago youth work program, which concludes this week. Today’s event provided One Summer Chicago youth an opportunity to showcase their app protypes created as part of the Apple Everyone Can Code program, which gives youth the opportunity to learn, write and teach code.

This is one of many work-based learning opportunities that are part of the 2019 One Summer Chicago Program, which provides youth ages 14-24 the opportunity to participate in a summer job or internship program to gain valuable work experience and critical support services in communities all throughout the city. This year, the program served nearly 32,000 youth in a wide range of job or internship programs with opportunities ranging from infrastructure jobs; camp counselors; urban agriculture and outdoor forestry projects; and private sector experience.

“This wonderful program encapsulates our core mission of ensuring Chicago's young people receive an education that is both strong and challenging and prepares them for engaged and fulfilling careers that will carry them for years to come,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “I commend Apple and our other partners for their shared commitment to continuing to support these types of meaningful, real-world opportunities for our students, providing them the vital 21st century education for a 21st century world.”

At today’s showcase, One Summer Chicago youth presented app prototypes designed to solve community issues such as public safety and how to connect to social services, using free Everyone Can Code resources. Working with the Mayor’s Office, One Summer Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, local businesses and nonprofit organizations, Apple’s Everyone Can Code program works to expand opportunities for students to build skills they need to pursue careers in the technology industry. The program served nearly 200 One Summer Chicago youth, and works with CPS all year round to help students explore basic coding concepts and build fully functional apps. These skills will prepare them for careers in various science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) industries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, computing occupations make up 58 percent of all projected new jobs in STEM fields.

“I am so proud of the One Summer Chicago youth who have excelled this summer,” said Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler. “The willingness of private companies to support our youth is a testament to how others believe in our youth too. I hope our One Summer Chicago participants take that as motivation with them as summer comes to an end.”

In addition to the One Summer Chicago program, the City of Chicago collaborates with local and national organizations and businesses all year round to expand coding opportunities to Chicago’s nearly 500,000 students. For the second consecutive year, JPMorgan Chase supported Everyone Can Code participants with summer internships in Chicago as part of a $40 million, three-year investment to help create more economic opportunities on Chicago’s South and West sides. JP Morgan collaborates with Thrive Chicago to connect youth on the South and West sides with technology skills through an industry-certified training program and work-based learning experiences such as pre-professional internships.

“When communities thrive, business thrives too,” said Charlie Corrigan, Head of Chicago Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase. “Helping Chicago’s youth connect with the skills they need for the jobs of the future is a business imperative and can help more young people on the South and West sides access economic opportunity.” Inspired by the One Summer Chicago youth, other private partners have also emerged to help support the City’s youngest coders and creators including

• Columbia College Chicago Online is offering three scholarships for a second year.
• Flashpoint Chicago is offering two partial scholarships.
• iOgrapher is providing equipment for the Everyone Can Create program.
• Mac Group is providing equipment for the Everyone Can Create program.
• Diamond Assets is providing additional technology support for two Everyone Can Code program teams.

Mayor Lightfoot’s administration is deeply committed to investing in youth and made a series of coordinated efforts to ensure Chicago’s young people remained safe, engaged and supported this summer and will continue this effort into the fall. The City is actively working to build new opportunities for the City’s youth to engage in career experiences while they are still in school. Working with the City’s corporate, philanthropic and education partners, the administration will expand meaningful youth opportunities across Chicago’s evolving industries and create new pathways to economic stability for all Chicagoans.