More than 1,000 summer jobs and paid career-building programs are open for teens in Greater Cleveland with Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.), a local nonprofit focused on professional development for young people from lower-income families.

Young people between the ages of 14 and 18 can apply on Y.O.U.’s website now through May 1. The opportunities range from typical summer jobs as food service workers or lifeguards to career exploration programs such as a manufacturing academy at MAGNET. 

All positions pay $13.50 per hour. Participants can expect to work no more than 25 hours per week. Jobs last six to eight weeks from the end of June to the beginning of August. Participants can get their money either on pre-paid cards or through a youth bank account that Y.O.U. helps set up. 

The process starts with filling out an application for the Y.O.U. Summer Youth Employment Program. Students interested in the Summer Career Academies also have to fill out a specific interest form and do an interview. Y.O.U. typically gets more applicants than it has space for, so the organization uses a lottery system to move applicants onto the next step. 

For that next step, applicants will need to provide some documents to verify their identity and eligibility. Then, they attend an orientation and show up to their jobsite. 

See Y.O.U.’s FAQ page for more information about the application process and the documents you’ll need. 

What if I don’t meet all the criteria to apply?

The application process can be pretty involved, but Y.O.U. tries to be flexible, said Collette Goodson, the organization’s assistant manager of youth employment. Y.O.U. gets federal funding specifically to support children from lower-income families, so applicants’ parents usually need to prove that their income is below a certain threshold. For example, the income threshold is $64,300 for a family of four. 

Still, Y.O.U. has other funding sources, so the organization can sometimes hire children whose parents don’t meet that requirement. 

“We turned away maybe five families last year,” Goodson said. “We will try our best to find a way to support a child’s wages.”

Applicants also need to show a Social Security card and birth certificate. Goodson said that’s a barrier for some families who, for example, move around a lot and lose track of documents. 

“That is the hardest part of trying to serve our community while understanding the barriers that they deal with,” Goodson said. “What we try to do is do our best to be understanding. If, hey, you don’t have your Social Security card this appointment, we’ll try to schedule them for a later appointment so they can order it in the mail.”

Y.O.U. also provides job coaches for all the young people they employ. Coaches visit worksites twice a week to mentor employees and make sure everything runs smoothly. After the jobs finish up, Y.O.U.’s resource and support specialists follow up for the next year. 

“They’re connected with an adult who can help them remove a lot of barriers,” Goodson said. “We’ve done things like pay utility bills, fix cars. We have a team of people who can help them get the resources that they need. A regular job is just not going to have that for you.”

Pathways to full-time jobs

Y.O.U. is aiming to place about 500 teens in its 10 Summer Career Academies this year, said Erin Gill, the organization’s senior manager of youth employment programs. These programs give young people a closer look at fields they might be interested in. They’re more educational, but participants still get paid for their time in them. 

A couple of academies are set up as job pathways for recent high school graduates who choose not to go to college. Y.O.U.’s pharmacy technician academy, in partnership with CVS, prepares participants to take a certification exam and apply for a full-time job at CVS. 

The manufacturing academy at MAGNET is expanding this year, too. Of its 80 spots, 20 will be specifically for recent high school graduates, Gill said. Instructors are hoping to get them certified in soldering and placed in full-time jobs with local employers by the end of the program. 

“These young people, they’re not heading off to college, but they have goals,” Gill said. “We can help them get jobs immediately within highly desirable fields. Cleveland companies need these roles filled.”