February 6, 2015
MADISON, WISCONSIN — The Boys & Girls Club of Dane County (BGCDC) in partnership with the Urban League of Greater Madison (UGLM) and The Oscar Rennebohm Foundation will come together to announce a $300,000 grant that will help both agencies boost internships, employment and career training over the next three years. The grant will support the two organizations as they collaborate to leverage each agency’s strengths on a two-generational strategy to build a world-class Dane County workforce that is inclusive now and into the future. The BGCDC will provide 675 paid internships, career exploration and employment connections over the next 3 years for high school and college students enrolled in BGC Programming. These young people will be paid $8.00 to $15.00 an hour. The ULGM will more than double the number of low-income parents and other adults served through its employment and training programs with a goal of ensuring at least 1,500 people secure new or better family supporting jobs by 2020.
This investment from the Rennebohm Foundation matches other recent public and private investments in the two organization’s expansion strategies, and it will help leverage the additional funds needed to support both organization’s plans over the next three years.
The agencies will hold a press conference on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 1:00 PM to publicly make this announcement at UW Health/ UW Medical Foundation located at UW Health Court, Middleton WI 53562
The BGCDC will work with more than 30 different local businesses, including the Dane County Government College Internship Program and businesses like: American Girl, Saris Cycling Group, Fiskars, Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation, BMO Harris Bank and UW Hospital & Clinics to name a few. The Urban League will expand from helping roughly 140 low-income parents and other adults secure new or better jobs over the last few year to 200 people in 2015, 250 in 2016, and 1,500 by 2020.
“We are excited about putting hundreds of young people to work so they can gain meaningful work experiences to prepare them for great futures,” said Michael Johnson, President and CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Dane County.
"This investment will help the Urban League expand its partnerships with employers to ensure a diverse, world-class workforce in local key industries such as health care, customer service & sales, construction trades, and information technology. It will also help us sharpen our focus on serving parents of low-income public school students and other adults to ensure more economically stable and self-sufficient families and communities, " said Noble Wray, Board Member and Former Interim CEO, Urban League of Greater Madison.
These students will explore a number of careers anywhere from developing marketing materials for new products, web design, building indoor cycles, examining and diagnosing animals to event planning, exploring diagnostics and providing financial services.
Key Facts:
Teenagers (16-19) holding a summer job declined from 53% in 2000 to 22% in 2012 according to the Brookings Institute
According the 2013 Race to Equity report, African Americans in Dane County had a 25.2% unemployment rate, making them almost 5.5 times more likely to be jobless than their white neighbors. A disparity higher than the state and the nation.
Nationally, the teen unemployment rate went up in January 2014 to 20.7 from 20.2% in December 2013.
