Councilmember Brooks-Powers questions SYEP year-round employment opportunities

And then the question on SYEP.

Thank you for that question.

I'm really excited about it because we agree.

We have our Work, Learn, and Grow program, which was created due to advocacy from the council many years ago.

That program serves 7,000 young people who were in SYEP and are able to extend their experiences through the school year.

And we've found that the impact of that program really

is exponential on top of what they get through SYEP because we're able to engage them throughout the school year.

We're able to offer college credits.

A lot of the young people who go through Work, Learn, and Grow have received a college credit, over 20,000 of them in the past five years.

And we have another 1,000 people with our Learn and Earn program, which is also a full-year program.

And so I would say we definitely appreciate your advocacy.

There's tremendous, tremendous interest from young people for Work, Learn, and Grow slots.

And so it's definitely a place that as an agency we're looking to continue investing in and looking at how we can do more.

Thank you for that, and I hope it is expanded.

My very first on-the-books job was summer youth employment program, and then I also worked through the school year.

It wasn't back then called what it's called now, but it definitely was helpful to get money in my own pocket.

So I advocate for that, and I know our amazing chair, Stevens, does as well.

But thank you.

Thank you.