Matt Helms

Detroit Free Press

Mayor Mike Duggan said today that he’s hoping 100 more businesses sign up within the next month to sponsor young people through the city’s summer jobs program, Grow Detroit’s Young Talent.

And he’s hoping the federal government will help. The city has applied to be one of 10 cities nationwide that will win $1 million a year for two years to support youth summer jobs initiatives.

Deputy U.S. Labor Secretary Christopher Lu met with Duggan and business leaders Tuesday morning as the jobs program signed up an additional 20 companies, with the number of companies providing summer jobs in Detroit at more than 300.

Duggan said the program will need 100 more companies to meet its goal of 8,000 jobs this summer, up from 5,600 in 2015.

“We really need every company in this town to take at least one kid,” Duggan said at a news conference at the offices of the Detroit Branch NAACP. “I’m so appreciative of what the business community in this town has done.”

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Lu said he was impressed with Grow Detroit’s Young Talent and the number of companies stepping up.

Detroit program aims to hire 8,000 youths this summer

“When we talk about summer jobs, we talk about a win for young people, a win for the companies and a win for the community,” he said.

Lu said the winners of the federal funding will be announced in the coming weeks.

The youth program provides six-week summer jobs to young people ages 14 to 24. They make between $8 and $9.50 an hour and can work at a variety of companies and agencies, ranging from city government to banks, architects, restaurants and other firms.

It costs $1,700 per young person for companies, although Detroit can pay up to half of that amount from money raised from philanthropic groups. The aim of GDYT is to provide work experience and a real-world look at what it takes to have a career; participants are screened and matched with companies for which they have interest and aptitude.

Participants also undergo 12 hours of financial literacy training.

Anika Jackson of Jackson Asset Management, which owns Prestige Auto Group’s metro Detroit car dealerships and the Lafayette Towers apartments, said the company brought on eight young people in 2015 and may bring in 10-12 this year. She said the students will work in car sales, car repair, apartment management and other areas.

“We really let them be hands on” so they learn what it takes to become an employee, Jackson said.

More information on the program is at www.gdyt.org.

Contact Matt Helms:mhelms@freepress.com or on Twitter: @matthelms.