EMANUELUNVEILS JOBSPROGRAM FOR‘ DISCONNECTED’ CHICAGOYOUTH
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday showcased an innovative corporate partnership tailor- made to tackle a problem at the heart of Chicago’s crime wave: the fact that 60,000 young people are “disconnected” from school and work.
Theprogramis called, “Beyond the Diploma.” It calls for Walgreens, CDW, Freedman Seating and Rush University Medical Center to provide “jobs with career pathways” for 1,125 high school graduates living in Chicago between the ages of 17 and 24.
The two- year jobs won’t be sink- or- swim. It’s a holistic, “earn- and- learn” program that calls for City Colleges to provide targeted skills training with mentoring support provided by the Chicago Urban League, One Million Degrees and Cara.
Marie Trzupek Lynch, president and founding CEO of Skills for Chicagoland’s Future, said Beyond the Diploma is the product of a six- month analysis that gathered input from disconnected youth, employers and community groups.
Seed money is being provided by: a $ 700,000 grant from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; a $ 500,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust and additional funding from the Aspen Institute, the Osa Foundation, AT& T, the Mayer & Morris Kaplan Foundation and an anonymous funder.
“We started with a job and an employer and built everything around it,” Lynch said.
“What is most unique ... is that these are two- year, earn- and- learn programs supported by mentoring and education that provide a comprehensive career pathway with best- in- class partners at no cost to youth and, in fact, with wages to earn along the way.”
Lynch credited Dakwane Jackson for providing a story that “touched our hearts” and feedback that “changed this program.”
“I’ve had to battle homelessness and many other hurdles. But the [ biggest] problem is, I haven’t had permanent employment,” Jackson, who grew up in Austin, said.
“Skills understands that young people like me need more than just a paycheck. We need support, guidance and education that will empower us to create our own long- term success and our own career path.”
Emanuel said he ran into Jackson at a homeless shelter about a year ago.
“For whatever reason, he had part- time jobs. For whatever reason, he didn’t have a shelter. And for whatever reason, he didn’t go past high school. He made a decision he wants a home. Hewants a job, and hewants an education. We have a responsibility, once he makes that decision, to help him get on his way,” Emanuel said.