ATLANTA — In a fight to save the lives of Atlanta’s youth, Mayor Andre Dickens is leading the battle one initiative at a time. His current weapon that he doesn’t want to be a secret is the Summer Youth Employment Program.
“We have the opportunity for them to earn while they learn - getting this experience to earn money, while they learn a skill, learn a trade, learn how to work in an office environment, or work with businesses or with their government,” Mayor Dickens said.
There are already 3,200 Atlanta youth working this summer through 98 different employers such as Amazon, YMCA, and the Department of Parks and Recreation. Youth ages 14 to 24 are making an average of $15 an hour.
“Some of these folks are actually helping to sustain their families," Dickens added. "Their families are living on the margins. So this money allows them to be able to support their families. And they're doing this during the summer, staying out of trouble, but engaging our city in a meaningful way."
Georgia State University student Nandy Jacobs is one such youth, interning in the office of the Ombudsmen and attending neighborhood meetings, hearing from people in the community. She has been able to witness firsthand how community feedback can influence future policies.
"Sometimes when you look at it from a broader picture, you're like, oh, the city is in shambles or everything's disconnected. And now there are really people that are working together that want the best for their city and their communities," Jacobs said. "That made me kind of believe in the city again, just to see it from there. I needed to see it from that level."
Like many people in our community who see the stories of our young people dying at the hands of gun violence, Mayor Dickens said he won’t stop showing them another way to thrive in Atlanta. He added that the program has led to a direct decrease in youth violence.
“Over the summer, you know, typically in cities all across America and including Atlanta, you see an uptick in youth related crime and youth related violence. And unfortunately, that violence can sometimes end in homicides. And so last year, with 3,000 plus students being a part of our Summer Youth Employment Program, learning de-escalation and conflict resolution, financial literacy - and now we've added even more to it this year - we anticipate to see more violence come down in our communities,” Dickens said.
When it comes to youth who are harder to reach, Mayor Dickens said that’s when the community village steps in, adding "Atlanta is a group project. All of us have to help."
He continued noting "there's a parent here who are at their wits end, they don't know what to do. They come to city hall crying, saying, help us. And so I can't say figure it out, pair it and think that's going to work out. So what we've done is put the whole of government to work and say all of us together are going to raise this village. And when people ask us how we're doing, we're going to say all the children are well, because we want to make sure that we help everybody, every child in our city have these opportunities.”
There are still 1,000 open positions in the Summer Youth Employment Program. It’s not too late to apply and start work right away. For the 18 to 24 year-olds the jobs have a pathway to permanent employment. To apply click here