Issue
Learn and Earn and other programs that help residents find work.
City Council
Learn and Earn, the city's youth jobs program, has run only in summers. A $1 million Richard King Mellon Foundation grant will fund a year-round pilot starting this fall. Younger teens would get work exposure, and 18- to 23-year-olds would get hands-on job training. On June 24, council advanced using the Stop the Violence fund for the required $1 million match.
City Council
Neighborhood employment centers offer residents job placement help, educational referrals, and employment counseling. On June 3, council gave preliminary approval to $210,000 for the city's Neighborhood Employment Program. Six centers were selected, and they'll also work as a network for job fairs and other opportunities. The money can go toward needs such as staff salaries, computers, and software.
School Board
Positions in Summer Learn and Earn fill up quickly, a school board member said. Applications are open now, and she urged interested families to apply soon. Students who've enrolled before only need to verify their address and parent income. For help, local librarians have been trained to assist, another board member said.
City Council
Employers often require a driver's license, even for jobs that don't involve driving. Now, a council member has proposed reviving a workforce program dormant for six years. She said its unused $300,000 could fund a pilot helping people in workforce programs get or reinstate licenses. The plan would also create a driver's ed program, which could include commercial license courses.
City Council
People receiving cash assistance or food benefits must meet work requirements, and education and job training count toward them. The Department of Human Services will now have access to $3.8 million in State grants for those services. In the 2023-24 program year, with the same grant amount, 436 people in Allegheny County took part.
City Council
Youth from low-income households can get summer jobs through the Learn and Earn program. This year, Goodwill of Southwestern PA is authorized to receive $200,000 to run it. The money covers only administrative costs and doesn't pay participants' wages. Over six weeks, participants earn about $7.25 an hour in fields like social services, media, and science.
City Council
Learn and Earn offers summer jobs to young people ages 14 to 21 from low-income households. Now, a one-year city and county pilot will help fund it and other youth and family programs. The city will put in $4.2 million and expects $5 million from the county. The partnership also opens the door to more state funding.