City of Syracuse is part of national, 25-city initiative connecting young workers to financial education and safe banking
Common Councilor Rasheada Caldwell and stakeholders Kickoff Summer Employment Youth Program
Syracuse, N.Y. – The City of Syracuse announced the kickoff of its Summer Youth Employment Program on Wednesday, June 8th. With the collaboration of over 20 partners, more than 1,500 young people in Syracuse will be connected to a summer job or enrichment experience, as well as an option to open a safe, affordable banking product with financial education as part of their six-week summer program. Students can apply for summer jobs at cnyworks.com. The program is operated jointly with Onondaga County through CNYWorks, which is currently still seeking worksites for the 2022 program. By participating, local business leaders can provide young people aged 14-20 with crucial life and job skills that ready them for careers in our community.
“Our economy is still recovering from the pandemic. We have to ensure our young people are learning new skills and being exposed and excited about how they can participate in the workforce, especially after having missed out on opportunities due to the pandemic,” said Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh. “This summer, we’re excited to once again offer the Summer Youth Employment Program which not only sets our young people on the path to success with summer jobs but helps them develop financial literacy.”
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said, “As we continue our recovery from the pandemic, it is critically important that we continue to invest in our young people so that they can have real opportunities to grow and develop with the economy of today and tomorrow. By also offering the option to have a financial literacy component to the program, these young people will learn skills that they can take with them well after they complete this program.” McMahon continued, “Thank you to CNYWorks, the City of Syracuse and all our local private partners for making this program a reality.”
Local businesses can still apply to become a host worksite and provide opportunities to Syracuse young people, and in return receive a number of benefits. Worksites generate interest in youth for local jobs. They also are connecting to local talent at no cost and give current employees opportunities to strengthen management and leadership skills.
Additionally, employer costs to hire young adults can be fully-funded by partnering with the city and county. Payroll costs are managed by CNY Works. Positions are available as traditional, on-site work opportunities, or virtual internships.
The Summer Youth Employment Program is special because it also connects youth to enrichment resources like Summer Jobs Connect to learn financial literacy and how to manage money. The City’s participation in the Summer Jobs Connect program is supported by initiative seed funder the Citi Foundation; the PNC Foundation and The Skillman Foundation are also supporting the national Summer Jobs Connect initiative. Since launching in 2014, Summer Jobs Connect has provided more than 800,000 low-income youth across 25 municipally-led Summer Youth Employment Programs with opportunities for banking access and financial education, and employed over 16,500 young people.
The City of Syracuse joins 24 other municipal partners in adding banking access and targeted financial education to their Summer Youth Employment Programs. The CFE Fund has been working with city and county partners to ensure the availability of safe, affordable youth banking accounts at just the time when they are arranging to receive their income, including through the creation of programmatic Summer Jobs Connect Youth Account Priorities. Across the country, SJC cities and counties have formed partnerships with more than 50 banks and credit unions that will open accounts for participants, including those under the age of 18; in Syracuse, participants will be offered an opportunity to open safe accounts at Cooperative Federal Credit Union.
“An early job is more than just a paycheck – it’s the first step into the financial mainstream,” said Jonathan Mintz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund. “We’re thrilled to work with Mayor Walsh and City of Syracuse to bring the Summer Jobs Connect model of banking access and financial education to Syracuse young people and thank the Citi Foundation for their longtime seed support of this important work.”
“Summer jobs are transformative experiences that provide young people with early opportunities to navigate the workplace, develop leadership skills, and manage paychecks,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Citi Community Investing and Development and President of the Citi Foundation. “For eight years, we have been a proud supporter of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund and its work of providing summer jobs and financial education to young people across the country. We look forward to continuing this momentum in Syracuse to help reverse the trend of youth unemployment that has been exacerbated by the pandemic in recent years.”
Summer Jobs Connect leverages the infrastructure and “paycheck moment” of municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs to embed banking access and targeted financial education, serving as a national model for cities and other stakeholders on how banking access efforts can be embedded in municipal systems. This is a core goal of the CFE Fund’s national Bank On initiative, which works to ensure that everyone has access to safe and affordable financial products and services. The CFE Fund has been working with city and county partners to ensure the availability of safe, affordable youth banking accounts.
About the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund)
The CFE Fund supports municipal efforts to improve the financial stability of households by leveraging opportunities unique to local government. By translating cutting-edge experience with large scale programs, research, and policy in cities of all sizes, the CFE Fund assists mayors and other local leaders to identify, develop, fund, implement, and research pilots and programs that help families build assets and make the most of their financial resources. The CFE Fund is currently working in over 100 cities and counties representing 75 million people, and has disbursed over $59 million to city governments and their partners to support these efforts. For more information, please visit www.cfefund.org or follow us on Twitter at @CFEFund.
