One Summer Chicago Offers Youth Jobs, Fast Track College Classes

CHICAGO, IL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services will launch the One Summer Chicago application. The 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 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,”Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in news release. “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,” Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler, of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services. “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.”

Also making its debut is Summer Fast Track, a new program developed by DFSS, Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago. 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 pathway at no cost.

Graduating seniors will enroll in city colleges and complete one college level career and technical education 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 city college 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 City College of Chicago campuses include Harold Washington, Truman, Wright, Kennedy-King and Daley colleges.