O'Malley, Rawlings-Blake Announce Summer Jobs Funding In Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- One sure way to keep kids off the streets is to put them to work. And Baltimore is working on that.
Pat Warren reports on a $2.8 million program that helps secure the future for students and the city.
Let's get these kids to work.
"And our young people want to work. Don't you want to work?"
"Yes," answered the students, to whom Governor O'Malley posed that question Wednesday.
"There we go," the governor said. "I knew what the answer would be."
Governor O'Malley and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake pitched in with the student workforce at Maryland Institute College of Art, or MICA, after announcing a joint $2.8 million investment in YouthWorks--taking the definition of an after-school program to a new level.
After school is out for the summer, young people are placed in government, non-profit and private sector positions.
"This is not about charity. I'm not asking for private employers to give our young people a chance out of some sense of altruism," said the mayor. "It's about training the workforce for the future."
Qualified applicants are 14 to 21 years old, and the six week long summer jobs provide real-world job experience.
Hakeem Muhammad is working at MICA.
"It helps me so I can help my family do what they have to do," he said.
Tiffani Cooper plans to apply her experience to owning her own hotel.
"MICA is helping me to master good customer services and how to interact with other people," she said.
As the mayor say, it's a win win for everybody.
The investments in YouthWorks create more than 5,000 summer jobs.
