COVID-19 cancels many summer plans, but will not stop summer jobs in Philadelphia

Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend, President and CEO, Philadelphia Youth Network

Blog post by PYN’s Chekemma J. Fulmore-Townsend on the organization’s plan for Philly’s opportunity youth.

Every year, in cities and communities across the country, young people participate in summer jobs. These important opportunities help them gain valuable workforce skills and earn an income. While this year will be dramatically changed by COVID-19, we know that summer programs for our young people will be even more important as we recover from the impacts of this pandemic. This is why Philadelphia partners are united and committed to ensuring young people are safe, healthy, and able to engage in paid summer experiences. (A webinar on May 28, 2020, from 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. ET will discuss this issue. Register here.) In Philadelphia, our city’s largest coordinated system of summer jobs for young people is WorkReady, managed by the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN). WorkReady provides real-world experiences through early to advanced opportunities to prepare young people for a competitive workforce. Just as PYN was beginning to contract with a network of 80+ youth-serving organizations and preparing to enroll thousands of WorkReady participants, the city and state closed schools and nonessential businesses to combat the spread of the coronavirus. We knew our system could recover from a short-term delay; but by early April the world as we knew it had changed forever.