On March 23, the City of New Orleans unveiled the revamped summer recreation and job opportunities for New Orleans youth to be offered by JOB1 and the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission.
“Creating meaningful summer opportunities for all of our kids is a top priority for our administration,” said Mayor Landrieu. “Our best tool in improving our economy and reducing crime is by investing in activities for our youth which is why we doubled funding for recreation in 2011 and have completely revamped the summer jobs program. We now have opportunities for youth ages 4-21 with a new focus on teens. We must ensure that our youth will have world-class recreation, work, and educational opportunities that are worthy of their great promise – now and for all future generations. That’s why this improvement in summer programming is so important.”
The City will host a Summer Expo in April that will offer parents an opportunity to sign their children up for City and partner sponsored camps, programming, and summer jobs. Descriptions of the summer opportunities are summarized below. Programming details and site locations are attached.
JOB1 Summer NOLA Experience
The revamped JOB1 Summer NOLA Experience aims to provide quality summer opportunities to 2,000 teenage youth (ages 14-21) to cultivate a career-ready workforce by providing meaningful skill-building support, career exploration and access to entry level jobs in high-demand industries. Mayor Landrieu increased funding from previous summer jobs programs from $1 million in 2010 serving 1,000 youth to $2.7 million in 2011. All programs range from 6-7 weeks.
As such, these programs are intended to have long-lasting and long-term impact on each participant. Youth participants will gain experience that helps them refine and advance their career goals while also earning a paycheck.
Through deliberate program design, cross-sector collaborations and strategic incentives, the Summer NOLA Experience will host four distinct program opportunities: Traditional Summer Jobs, Signature Programs, Intern NOLA and Work and Learn program. Each program is targeted to meet an observed need in the community.
The Traditional Summer Jobs program will serve 16 to 21 year-olds who, with some initial training, require minimal oversight and direction. This program has been strategically modified to broaden the types of placements we are able to offer youth. Approximately 1,000 participants can expect to be engaged in a youth-friendly environment and receive hands-on work experience that is reflective of the job-site placement. Job duty options include clerical, child care, maintenance, customer service, landscaping, sales, culture and tourism, hospitality, banking, parks and recreation, as well as jobs at Audubon Zoo and Aquarium.
The Signature Program is a compilation of unique summer experiences. Each Signature Program will serve a large subset of participants though one entity. Every program is designed in collaboration with the partnering organization in order to maximize the effectiveness of placements. Signature Programs will offer flagship training for participants and unique branding opportunities for the City and our partners in the areas of architecture, science, biomedical careers, computer programming, and community service.
The Intern NOLA program retains local talent and engages the private business sector by offering high-quality internship opportunities to local residents ages 18-21. Internship positions will focus on research and short-term projects that provide impact to the host organization. Participants in this program will be selected to participate based on their responses to a supplemental application. Participants can expect to receive a high-quality intern experience in a local business, firm, or public office. Intern sectors include business, city government, education, finance, health care, human services, and philanthropy.
The Work and Learn program serves our youngest youth, ages 14-15 years old, through incentivized learning, project-based learning, and service learning opportunities. Work and Learn is important because most of our 14-15 year old participants still require a lot of oversight and direct instruction in order to complete work-place tasks. Additionally, many are performing below grade level academically and would benefit greatly from academic support. Most participants in the Work and Learn program will receive grade-level specific instruction half of their day and spend the remaining time doing career exploration, job-readiness and project-based learning. Activities include but are not limited to culinary arts, visual arts, media arts, cosmetology, theater, and community service.
Additionally, the City is launching a seminar series that will afford every participant 2-3 opportunities over the course of the summer to participate in seminars tailored to the needs of our youth.
New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC)
The primary goals of the public-private partnership include creating a sustainable, permanent governance structure; providing governance that includes key stakeholders from the private sector, schools, and city government; and, creating a structure to allow the recreation department to leverage city resources with private funds, grants, and other funding opportunities.
In December, Mayor Landrieu announced that the City entered into an agreement with the American Red Cross Southeast Louisiana Chapter to fund a year-round swimming lesson and lifeguard training program, under the direction of NORDC, to include:
- Fall and Spring swimming lessons in collaboration with the University of New Orleans, Tulane University Reilly Center, Lake Pontchartrain Lake Basin Foundation, and Ashley Marie Kelly Foundation;
- Lifeguard training for NORDC’s aquatics staff.
- The City will open 12 pools this summer on June 6th, up from 8 pools last year. Approximately 6600 youth will be served by swimming lessons and programming in 2011, compared to approximately 500 in 2010. New pool openings will include A.L. Davis in Central City, Sam Bonart in the Lower 9th Ward, Joe Brown Indoor Pool in New Orleans East, and Taylor in Hoffman Triangle.
Additionally, NORDC will offer 31 kiddie (ages 4-12) camps which will serve at least 4,625 kids across the city through partnerships with schools, non-profits and faith-based organizations. In 2010, 1663 kids were served through kiddie camps at four city locations. There will be 7 teen camps (ages 13-17) which will serve 1000 teens across the city. There were no teen camps last year. In partnership with JOB1, teen camps will offer local teenagers career exploration seminars to allow for exposure to a variety of job fields. Additionally, teens will earn a stipend of $75 per week.
Sign up for teen camps and jobs are underway Monday through Thursday from 5-8pm and Saturdays from 10am-3pm at two locations: 3400 Tulane Avenue and 3520 General De Gaulle, Suite 1030. Partnerships between NORDC teen camps and JOB1 allow there to be a streamlined registration process for youth ages 13-21. Kiddie camp registration begins in April.
“Today marks another step in ensuring that New Orleans youth are provided with quality, well-designed opportunities each summer,” said Mayor Landrieu. “We have the leadership, vital new programming, and public investment in place to make a real impact in every neighborhood in our city.”
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment