Chicago’s summer jobs program saw another jump in participants this year, according to figures the Mayor’s Office released Wednesday.
So far this season, 28,839 young people between the ages of 14 to 24 have secured jobs, internships or other paid enrichment positions through the city, partner organizations or corporate partners, Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a news conference.
“Our youth, the ones who are standing up here today, they are truly our greatest asset and resource. It’s up to all of us to give them the tools and the resources that they need,” he said.
Overall, the One Summer Chicago program has grown by 40% under Johnson — from 20,544 participants in 2022, the summer before Johnson took office. Johnson campaigned on doubling the program as a violence reduction strategy.
Still, the job initiative lags behind pre-pandemic numbers, when the city was regularly hiring upwards of 30,000 kids — including 31,552 in 2019.
And the demand for summer jobs continues to far outpace the slots available due to a lack of funding and corporate partnerships. Last year, roughly 51,000 kids applied for just 28,000 available positions.
The city endeavored to add 2,000 slots to this year’s program, but that was cut in half during budgeting last fall because of financial constraints.
The program’s growth has included a “peacekeeping” program, which began last year, where young people are trained by the group GoodKids MadCity on conflict resolution and how to intervene in brewing disputes at school.
The program has historically included jobs with the Park District, the Police Department, the Department of Streets and Sanitation and other city agencies.
The city this year is expanding a program within One Summer Chicago that places Chicago Public Schools seniors with the Department of Streets and Sanitation with the goal of securing permanent jobs. Johnson said of 75 young people who worked for Streets and Sanitation last year, 55 of them got hired to stay. The initiative has grown to 100 kids this year.
“There’s a greeting on the continent of Africa and when tribes would greet one another, they would always greet each other with a question, how are the children? And if the children weren’t well, it spoke more to what the adults are not doing than the actual young people,” Johnson said. “And until we can emphatically say that our young people are well, our work is never finished.”
At the start of today’s press conference, Johnson held a moment of silence for Marjay Dotson, a 15-year-old recently shot and killed by a 55-year-old lifeguard at Douglass Park Pool. Dotson was a participant of the city’s summer jobs program, Johnson said.
“Today is a good morning, but yet we are still riddled with many challenges, and so I do want to just take a moment to acknowledge the family of one of our fellow One Summer Chicago participants who was taken away from us through senseless gun violence,” Johnson said.
