YouthWorks: Beyond Summer Jobs

Youth­Works, a suc­cess­ful sum­mer jobs pro­gram oper­at­ed by Bal­ti­more City’s Mayor’s Office of Employ­ment Devel­op­ment, is now pro­vid­ing city high school stu­dents with employ­ment through­out the year and con­nect­ing jus­tice-involved young peo­ple with high-qual­i­ty career opportunities.

In 2023, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion-sup­port­ed ini­tia­tive launched ​“Youth­Works Year-Round,” its first year-round job place­ment pro­gram. Since its incep­tion, it has enabled 236 young adults at 42 work­sites through­out Bal­ti­more to extend their employ­ment beyond the summer.

“With Youth­Works Year-Round, Casey’s part­ners are now able to pro­vide Baltimore’s young peo­ple with longer place­ments that deep­en their learn­ing, help them fur­ther devel­op job skills and gain career expo­sure that can sup­port bet­ter, long-term employ­ment out­comes,” said Sara Coop­er, incom­ing direc­tor of Employ­ment, Edu­ca­tion and Train­ing at the Casey Foundation.

What Is Youth­Works and Youth­Works Year-Round?

Youth­Works has con­nect­ed Baltimore’s young peo­ple to sum­mer employ­ment for over 50 years. It pro­vides five-week sum­mer job oppor­tu­ni­ties for 10,000 Bal­ti­more City youth between the ages of 14 to 21. Cur­rent Youth­Works employ­er part­ners include the 29^th Street Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter, Code in the Schools, Vil­lage Learn­ing Place and Lit­tle Dar­lings Child Day­care.

Through Youth­Works Year-Round, select Bal­ti­more City high school stu­dents are invit­ed to con­tin­ue work­ing dur­ing the school year. The pro­gram allows young peo­ple to explore careers that inter­est them and earn a steady pay­check while pur­su­ing their education.

“Work­ing while in school allows youth to devel­op a sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty and inde­pen­dence as they learn to bal­ance work, aca­d­e­mics and per­son­al com­mit­ments,” said Nadia Sims, Youth­Works senior pro­gram man­ag­er. ​“It also teach­es them the impor­tance of account­abil­i­ty, reli­a­bil­i­ty and team­work — qual­i­ties that are high­ly val­ued with­in school and pro­fes­sion­al settings.”

Jaden Dixon learned about Youth­Works’ Year-Round pro­gram through a fam­i­ly mem­ber. Dur­ing his time work­ing as a coach for Cor­ner Team Inc. — an Olympic-style box­ing gym in Baltimore’s Cold­stream Home­stead Mon­te­bel­lo neigh­bor­hood — he learned how to box and bet­ter engage with his com­mu­ni­ty. ​“Youth­Works is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to build your resume, make a lit­tle mon­ey and bring out cer­tain char­ac­ter traits you may not have known you had,” said Dixon.

Glob­al Per­spec­tives on Youth Leadership

Youth­Works Year-Round has pro­vid­ed incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ties for its par­tic­i­pants dur­ing its first year of oper­a­tion. In the Fall of 2024, a del­e­ga­tion of four young lead­ers from the Green­mount West Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­ter Foun­da­tion trav­eled to Lon­don, Paris and Der­byshire, Eng­land. Dur­ing the trip, the youth lead­ers vis­it­ed icon­ic land­marks like Buck­ing­ham Palace and the Lou­vre to learn about each city’s his­to­ry and cul­tur­al her­itage. Dur­ing an inter­ac­tive youth ses­sion held in Der­byshire, they par­tic­i­pat­ed in dis­cus­sions about cre­at­ing inclu­sive spaces for those under the age of 35. Through this cul­tur­al and learn­ing exchange, these teen ambas­sadors returned to Bal­ti­more equipped with glob­al per­spec­tives on youth involve­ment and new lead­er­ship skills they applied to their ongo­ing work at the Green­mount West Com­mu­ni­ty Center.

Bal­ti­more Youth Employ­ment and Empow­er­ment Pilot

A focus of Youth­Works Year-Round is the Bal­ti­more Youth Employ­ment and Empow­er­ment Pilot (BYEEP). Launched in the sum­mer of 2024, it offers employ­ment to 35 young peo­ple between the ages of 14 and 18 who are on pro­ba­tion with the Mary­land Depart­ment of Juve­nile Services.

Dur­ing its first year, BYEEP gath­ered data on strate­gies that help Baltimore’s young peo­ple stay in school, learn new skills and remain out­side the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem. The pilot is direct­ly sup­port­ed by the Casey Foun­da­tion, which pro­vides fund­ing to select employ­ment partners.

“We know that the tran­si­tion from child­hood to adult­hood is an incred­i­bly for­ma­tive time for young peo­ple, includ­ing youth who have expe­ri­ences with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem,” said Rasheem Rasheem, a senior asso­ciate with Casey’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group. ​“BYEEP helps jus­tice-involved youth in Bal­ti­more bypass obsta­cles like an arrest his­to­ry, gain valu­able work expe­ri­ence and skills, and get start­ed on a path to a life­long career.”

Dis­cov­er how Youth­Works adapt­ed to the COVID-19 pandemic