Mayor Emanuel Announces Expanded Citywide Summer of Learning and Earning Initiative with Over 10,000 Additional Learning And Employment Opportunities for Chicago Youth
Read the original press release here.
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On April 9, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Chicago’s youth will now have access to an additional 10,000 academic and job training opportunities through partnerships across the City as part of 2014’s Summer of Learning and Earning, a citywide initiative to keep Chicago youth ages 4 to 24 active and engaged this summer. The “Summer of Learning and Earning 2014” will provide more than 215,000 opportunities for Chicago’s young people, including interactive activities at parks, libraries, schools, museums and cultural institutions, colleges and universities; community- and faith-based programs, jobs through at City and County departments and sister agencies; and self-paced, online learning activities.
“In the wake of last year’s incredibly successful summer programming, I am pleased to see our citywide summer initiatives growing and thriving as we work to support the educational and career goals of all Chicago students and young adults,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Providing additional opportunities in the summer months is an important way to keep our youth safe, active and engaged, and ensure our students are graduating 100% college ready and 100% college bound.”
The Summer of Learning and Earning will include the Chicago Summer of Learning, which the Mayor launched last year to call together the entire city to an all-hands-on-deck effort to make summer count and support science, technology, engineering, art, and math learning for students of all ages. One Summer Chicago will also add an additional 2,000 job opportunities. Since the Mayor has taken office, job opportunities for youth have increased from 14,000 to 22,000.
The Summer of Learning and Earning will once again engage youth by challenging them to earn digital badges to mark their successes. These badges are a tangible way for students to display their activities and achievements to teachers, college admissions officers or future employers, making learning pathways visible and recognizing student accomplishments. Last summer, Chicago launched the world’s first citywide digital badging system to recognize out-of-school student learning, and students earned approximately 100,000 badges.
Connie Yowell, Director of Education for U.S. Programs at the MacArthur Foundation, said that Chicago has become a model for the nation. “The first-ever program that treated summer activities as examples of connected learning and provided badges for youth participation and achievement, last year’s Summer of Learning was incredibly successful, awarding more than 100,000 badges to participants,” said Yowell. “In fact the program was so successful that now five other cities are replicating Mayor Emanuel’s signature program, coming together under the cities of learning banner to provide youth with learning and badging opportunities. “