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Summer Youth Initiative and TeenQuest

Genesee Area Focus Fund

  • Program Flint Area
  • Program Area Revitalizing the Education Continuum
  • Grant Amount $825,000
  • Grant Period May 1, 2012–April 30, 2013
  • Location Flint, MI, United States
  • Geographic Focus Flint

About this grant

This grant enables the Genesee Area Focus Fund to implement the Summer Youth Initiative, which consists of two primary components — job training and summer employment opportunities. First, eligible Flint area youth ages 14-18 and in grades 9-12 attend the TeenQuest preemployment training program for five weeks at 1 of 20 sites across the county. Upon successful completion of TeenQuest, teenagers apply for summer employment at the Summer Youth Initiative Job Fair. Summer Youth Initiative provides 100 percent of the wages for area nonprofits and 50 percent of the wages for area businesses to hire teens to work at their respective agencies during the summer months. In addition to learning valuable employment skills, the teenagers participate in volunteer opportunities to encourage civic engagement. The 2011 Summer Youth Initiative funded 17 nonprofit agencies and five local businesses to employ 392 teenagers and seven youth supervisors during the summer. The grantee’s goal for 2012 is to train and employ 500 teenagers through the Summer Youth Initiative.