the Big Picture
SummerWorks youth were in high demand this season! The number of SummerWorks partner employers increased by more than 30% compared to 2021, resulting in more young adults being employed throughout the community this summer.
12 seasons, more than 40,000 young adults hired
Thank you to Mayor Fischer for his leadership and support!
The 2022 SummerWorks season was the 12th since Mayor Fischer founded the program in 2011, after federal funding for youth jobs went away. Since then, SummerWorks employers in the private and public sectors have hired more than 40,000 young people. The growth of the program has also contributed to Louisville outpacing the national average in youth employment levels since 2011.
You can watch the 12th season celebration event at Story Louisville with the Mayor, Superintendent Pollio, and others in the video below. You can also hear from Brianne about how SummerWorks helped her establish her career in marketing at a local agency.
Opportunities for the youth who need them the most
The goal of SummerWorks is to help build a Louisville where all Louisville youth possess the skills, resources, and networks needed to find lasting career success. With this in mind, SummerWorks staff prioritizes finding jobs for young adults who need the opportunities the most, especially those facing barriers of poverty and racial inequity.
This season, more than 50% of SummerWorks participants were from high priority zip codes in south, west, and central Louisville. In the video below, you can see the impact that a group of SummerWorks participants working for Louisville ECHO made on a park in their own neighborhood.
“In terms of a hiking trail, we do believe it’s the first one in west Louisville.””
SummerWorks partner employers increase hiring
SummerWorks partner employer hiring increased substantially for the second season in a row. Long-standing top employers like GE Appliances, Humana, Kentucky Kingdom, UPS, Thorntons, and Kroger hired and trained hundreds of young adults this season. In addition, Jefferson County Public Schools, a SummerWorks employer since 2021, hired more than 30 young adults to help run their Backpack League summer learning initiative.
Private sector companies pay SummerWorks participants directly, at an hourly rate of at least $12. This season, SummerWorks had a total of 161 partner employers in the private sector. SummerWorks also funded 220 sponsored positions at 40 non-profit and public agencies, including Dare to Care, the Louisville Zoo, the Food Literacy Project, the Family Scholar House, and many others. Sponsored positions also pay $12/hour.
In the first video below, Mark talks about what he learned in his second summer working for GE Appliances. In the second video, Autumn describes how her job at the Filson Historical Society helped her pursue her interests in history and law.
Investing in unique work-and-learn partnerships
In recent years, SummerWorks has partnered with community organizations and funders to design unique learning opportunities for participants. At the Louisville Science Pathways, young adults attending JCPS schools worked alongside professional scientists in labs at the University of Louisville. At TECC Boss, a partnership with the nonprofit TECH-nique, youth participants designed and built digital applications with the mission to better their community.
SummerWorks also funded special work-and-learn projects at YouthBuild Louisville and the Louisville Automation & Robotics Research Institute (LARRI) at UofL. You can hear from Larry, one of the fifty or so TECC Boss participants this season, in the video below.
(Above) Participants in the Louisville Science Pathways present their work to peers and instructors at the end-of-season symposium.
Major Funders
Thank you to all of our funders for making all of this work possible. Your generosity is helping to promote equity and is preparing the next generation of leaders in our city and beyond.
