A message from the Chamber’s President & CEO Rob Wonderling to our community about the importance of engaging our city’s youth in summer job experiences.
Dear Friends,
As the weather warms, we’re hopeful that this summer will bring many things. Rest, relaxation, and the chance to reconnect with loved ones, to name a few. But the summer months also signal a period of both vulnerability and opportunity for our city’s youth.
With school out of session and many of the activities our communities rely on to occupy the city’s students and young adults still in flux due to the pandemic, identifying meaningful pursuits for this age cohort is important to ensure our youth are engaged and safe this summer.
Each year the Chamber partners with the Philadelphia Youth Network to engage our members in their WorkReady initiative to place Philadelphia’s youth in paid job experiences with area employers for six weeks each summer from July through August.
While we’re all still carefully considering our expenses, I must stress that the cost to your business is nominal compared to the potentially life-changing and career-making opportunity you can provide to a young adult through the program. This investment can not only enhance your business’s CSR and diversity practices but strengthen our regional talent pipeline as well.
Part of reaching for the Recharge & Recover PHL aspiration of making our region the new national model to learn, apprentice, and work in the jobs of the future, is ensuring Philadelphia’s youth are prepared for that future through experiences such as WorkReady.
I encourage each and every Chamber member to hire a WorkReady participant this summer. If our members were to each host one or two jobs, we could single-handedly impact thousands of youth. Reach out to Patty Day at pday@chamberphl.com with any questions and to get started.
Stay safe, connected, and healthy, and continue to let us know how we can help.
Rob
Rob Wonderling
President & CEO
The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia
