Jobs program to employ 2,000 young people in city, county this summer
Before she found out about Pittsburgh’s summer youth employment program, Jhonaziya Brooks, 18, thought nobody would ever hire her.
“I was at my ends,” she said Friday afternoon during the East End Works Summer Job Fair at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in East Liberty. “I thought, ‘Nobody’s ever going to hire me, I’m never going to get a job.’”
It wasn’t until she came across the program three years ago that she found out there was a wide range of available options and opportunities for people her age. Now she is about to start a paid internship at West Penn Hospital.
“Programs like these lift you up,” she said. “They let us know there are people out there who care about us and who want to see us succeed in life. They’re the best support system I ever had.”
The job fair was the kickoff to the city’s 2015 summer youth workforce development program, Learn and Earn. It offers internships to 14- to 21-year-olds in the city and in Allegheny County.
“It’s been a successful program, but it’s only been for 300 [kids],” Mayor Bill Peduto said. “So last year we doubled it, and we had 600 kids. But the problem is we had 1,200 that applied, which meant for every kid we were giving that opportunity to we were saying no to another.”
This summer, thanks to the efforts of the county, corporations and foundations, the program will employ 2,000 — 700 from the county and 1,300 from Pittsburgh.
Shianne Brown, a sophomore at Pittsburgh Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill, said the program helped her realize how much she enjoys working with children, something she would like to continue doing for the rest of her life.
“This really took up a lot of time in the summer and gave me something to do instead of nothing,” she said. “I was able to work and make
money and save up and do anything I believe in.”
Hannibal Hopson, 21, of North Point Breeze, worked with city council President Bruce Kraus last summer, and was later offered a job as a community relations assistant because of his experience.
“I was honored that the program placed me in a position where I was able to learn about the city, and what better place than city council?” he said. “I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity if I hadn’t applied for that program.”