*Various employers at the workforce expo on Saturday*

Sacramento (Oct. 22, 2022) The City of Sacramento wrapped up this summer’s #SacYouthWorks training program Saturday with a Youth Workforce Expo to connect the 150 teen participants with career pathways and employers.

The event, held in the Sacramento Works career center on Del Paso Boulevard, was aimed at turning the internships and work-based learning the teens participated in during the summer into full-time jobs.

Eighteen different employers were on hand sharing important information about the types of jobs and careers available at their organizations to the youth in attendance. The California Conservation Corps, Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Alliance, Sacramento Police Department, and the California Mobility Center were among the different employers seeking to recruit recent graduates.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg also stopped by the expo to share some words of encouragement for the graduates.

"There are so many pathways; you just have to imagine them,” Mayor Steinberg told the graduates and their families. “Combine what’s in your heart with hard work, and then pair that with what's in your brain, and there's nothing that can stop you.”

*Mayor Darrell Steinberg addresses the youth who participated in this year’s #SacYouthWorks summer program.*

Led by the Sacramento Youth Center and North State Building Industry Foundation in partnership with the City of Sacramento’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development, #SacYouthWorks employed and trained over 700 young people ages 14-19 this summer. Students that participated earned a $500 stipend. This amounts to $357,500 paid directly to young people over the summer of 2022.

Since 2020, #SacYouthWorks has served more than 2,000 area youth with well over 100,000 hours of work-based learning and more than $1 million in stipends and earnings. In the coming months, The City of Sacramento is also set to unveil an additional $7 million in workforce programming that will include jobs focused on climate sustainability, food access, and helping the economy recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teens enrolled in #SacYouthWorks participate in 20 hours of job readiness training and complete a 20-hour service project in partnership with one of 32 partnering community-based organizations. Young people in this most recent cohort engaged in over 26,000 hours of community service and job readiness training.

“We are inspiring the next generation of manufacturers,” said Dean Peckham, Executive Director of the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Association, which participated in the expo. “I've met young people from eighth grade to recent grads. If 25 percent of our workforce is retiring this decade, we need to recruit the next generation.”

"Workforce development is what we do - we work to help youth find their career. The first step is how to be a good employee, then connect them with a job in the field,” said Jennifer Poff, Executive Director of the North State Building Industry Association Foundation.

Community-based organizations or employers interested in working with #SacYouthWorks can reach out to Rachel Minnick at rachelm@youthandfamiliycollective.org.