Mayor Emanuel Announces 25,000 Summer Youth Job Opportunities Available Through 2016

Online Registration Opens for Mayor’s One Summer Chicago Program to Keep Chicago’s Youth Engaged this Summer with Job and Internship Opportunities

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that his One Summer Chicago program will expand to provide 25,000 job and internship opportunities this summer for youths ages 14 to 24 from neighborhoods across the city. This year, an additional 1,000 One Summer Chicago PLUS opportunities will be added to expand access to programs that will enable youth to develop valuable work skills as they remain engaged during out of school time.

“The summer months are when our children need us the most, which is why we now have the largest summer jobs program in Chicago’s history, serving thousands of young people from neighborhoods all throughout our city,” said Mayor Emanuel. “One Summer Chicago opens the doorway of opportunity for valuable work experience and a summer paycheck today, which leads our children to realize a brighter future and their full potential tomorrow.”

This year’s program will give youth a deeper experience than in years past, with new opportunities to contribute their skills and talents to Chicago’s vibrant communities. Opportunities are available in many industry areas, such as urban agriculture, bike repair, outdoor forestry projects, as well as office and clerical work. The online application for minimum of six-week summer employment is available now at www.onesummerchicago. org through May 15, 2016.

Last year’s One Summer Chicago 2015 marked the largest summer jobs program in the history of the City of Chicago. This year’s program is on-pace to again break that record, with new opportunities in a variety of industry and focus areas to satisfy all youth interests.

This year the City will again expand opportunities under the One Summer PLUS Program, building on last year’s investment to double these opportunities for at-risk youth. Mayor Emanuel created this special program in 2012 to keep youth who are at a higher risk for violence involvement safe and engaged with a 25-hour per week summer job, a mentor, civic leadership training and social skill building. A comprehensive, peerreviewed study from 2014 found that the PLUS program significantly reduced violent crime involvement among participants for at least 16 months after the program ended.

In 2015, Mayor Emanuel announced an Inner City Youth Empowerment, LLC—a private entity created by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Mark and Kimbra Walter—investment of $10 million over two years to expand One Summer Chicago PLUS. Since Mayor Emanuel established the PLUS program in 2012, with just 700 participants served in its inaugural year, the program has grown more than fourfold, and will serve 3,000 youth total in 2016.

Program enhancements for One Summer Chicago and One Summer Chicago PLUS 2016 include coding and investment academies, urban planning and architecture opportunities, as well as new work programs under Mayor Emanuel’s Infrastructure team, which works to beautify neighborhoods across the city, one boulevard at a time. Last year, youth participants beautified 87 miles of Chicago boulevards and painted 305 viaducts.

Overall, a year-end report last year demonstrated that youth participating in One Summer Chicago 2015 engaged in over 2.5 million hours of real-world work experiences, earning nearly $7 million dollars in youth wages, and benefitting the local economy while remaining safe and engaged during summer months.

“The Mayor’s One Summer Chicago provides more than just jobs,” said Chicago Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler. “One Summer Chicago teaches youth the essential skills that they need to succeed in career and in life.”

With the support of Citi Foundation and other partners, all participants of One Summer Chicago will receive financial education that will help them develop lifelong positive money management skills.

“We are proud to be part of the collective movement across this country to provide meaningful opportunities for young people during the summer,” said Brandee McHale, President of the Citi Foundation “An investment in our youth is a wise investment in the future of Chicago.”

Growing the program each year remains a priority for Mayor Emanuel, due to the strong demand by youth each year to become engaged. Last year alone 66,000 youth applied for the coveted opportunities. Each year, the One Summer Chicago program grows and diversifies to provide meaningful opportunities for youth to learn new skills through opportunities with city and delegate agencies, as well as corporate and local businesses.

DFSS leads One Summer Chicago in partnership with participating agencies including: Office of the City Treasurer, Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Housing Authority, After School Matters, Forest Preserves of Cook County, Brookfield Zoo, City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, Chicago Public Library and Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities.

One Summer Chicago also receives support from private companies including: Chicago Community Trust, Citi Foundation, Civic Leadership Foundation., University of Chicago Crime Lab, JPMorgan Chase, TCF Bank, Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund, TraceRoute, MHA Labs, and Inner City Youth Empowerment, LLC, and the McCormick Foundation.

Since One Summer Chicago was launched in 2011, Mayor Emanuel has steadily increased the number of available opportunities to keep youth safe and engaged each summer from 14,000 in 2011 to 25,000 this year. To date, more than 100,000 youths from neighborhoods across the city have gained valuable job training and work experience through the City’s burgeoning public-private program. # # #

 

Clinton Presidential Probability Gets Super ‘Super Tuesday’ Boost

Clinton’s gains 5% boost as her Presidential push gathers steam. Trump romps towards Republican nomination.

Hilary Clinton had a super ‘Super Tuesday’, which saw the probability of her becoming the next US President increase by 5 percentage points. The chances of her being inaugurated as the 44th President of the US rose from 59% to 64% since Monday, according to Matchbook.com.

Meanwhile Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday victories see the controversial candidate continue to confound his critics and extend his lead yet again in the race to be the Republican nominee for the US Presidential election in November. Trump’s probability of securing the nomination has risen 1.5 percentage points according to trading on the world’s fastest growing betting exchange, moving to 79.32% from 77.84%.

However, having doubled his probability of becoming president in the last six weeks, the gains are slight for Trump in the Next President market following Super Tuesday, increasing just marginally from 25.57% to 25.6%.

“The insight to be taken from this data, is that our bettors believe the closer Trump comes to winning the Republican nomination, the better Clinton’s chances are for being President.” says Matchbook’s Head of Communications, Ian Noctor.

“With more than £14m already matched on this election and eight months to go, the race to be the 44th US President has already passed out its 2012 counterpart in volume traded on the Matchbook exchange. There’s huge interest.”##

 

PH GAINING GROUND AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING, US OFFICIALS TOLD

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. and Acting Secretary of Justice Emmanuel L. Caparas underscored the strides being made by the Philippine Government’s resolute campaign against trafficking in persons (TIP) during their meetings with high-level officials of the US Department of State today, 16 March.

The Department of State is mandated to issue the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which is the US Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments in dialogues to advance anti-trafficking reforms and to combat trafficking, and to target resources on prevention, protection and prosecution programs.

In the TIP Report, the Department of State divides foreign governments into tiers based on their perceived efforts to acknowledge and combat human trafficking. A Tier 1 ranking signifies full compliance with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” as defined in US domestic legislation, while Tier 3 indicates non-compliance and no significant efforts towards compliance.

Tier 2 is labeled on countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

The Philippines has maintained a Tier 2 ranking since 2011.

“The State Department’s TIP reports have been helpful in our efforts to prevent trafficking, protect its victims and prosecute the perpetrators. The Philippine Government and its stakeholders continue to take the TIP report very seriously,” Ambassador Cuisia assured Susan Coppedge, Ambassadorat- Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State.

“The decrease in the number of recommended actions for the Philippines from 13 in 2014 to only nine in 2015 proves that we are making inroads in the fight against human trafficking. A Tier 1 ranking is definitely within reach,” Ambassador Cuisia added.

Secretary Caparas, whose Department co-chairs the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), apprised Ambassador Coppedge of develop-

 

AMBASSADOR CUISIA RECOGNIZED AS “GLOBAL HERO” BY WORLD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Atlanta-based nonprofit World Chamber of Commerce (WCC) presented the “Global Hero Award” to Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. during the WCC Global Business and the Arts Forum on 09 March 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The World Chamber of Commerce is a public charity that seeks to foster international business, cultural and social exchange worldwide. The Global Hero Award recognizes exemplary work in promoting international trade, cultural diplomacy and humanitarianism.

“The World Chamber of Commerce, and by extension, the Global Hero Award, represents the nexus among international trade and commerce, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian work. In my five years as Philippine Ambassador to the United States, I have endeavored to promote these fields individually, and in conjunction with one another,” said Ambassador Cuisia in his acceptance speech.

“Fortunately, I represent a country experiencing an economic resurgence, a country rich in culture and so full of life, that linking culture, business opportunities and humanitarianism proceeds seamlessly most of the time,” the Ambassador added.

The awarding ceremony was witnessed by Mrs. Maria Victoria Cuisia, Philippine Honorary Consul General in Georgia Raoul Donato, members of the consular corps of Georgia and several Filipino community leaders in Atlanta, among many other special guests.

Eleanor Mae Pascual expressed the Filipino community’s pride in the WCC’s acknowledgement of the Philippines’ top envoy to the United States. She said, “We congratulate Ambassador Cuisia on receiving this award. The Global Hero Award gives due recognition to the bayanihan spirit that allows Filipinos everywhere to come together in achieving a common purpose.” ###

(L-R) John Lemley, WCC Master of Ceremonies, radio host/producer; Philippine Honorary Consul General Raoul Donato; Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose L. Cuisia, Jr.; and WCC Co-Chair and founder Solange Warner.