On July 27, 2012, the Mayor’s Office of Employment and Development (MOED) sponsored a luncheon at the Museum of Industry for approximately 50 Baltimore City employers who met the challenge of hiring at least one youth for a minimum of 6 weeks’ employment through MOED’s Hire 1 Youth Initiative. More than 100 young people, who were successfully employed for 6 weeks, also attended the luncheon. The Mayor herself, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, was the keynote speaker for the event. She thanked all the employers for “stepping up to the plate” and supporting the 2012 YouthWorks campaign, emphasizing that everyone…businesses, youth, and the economy…benefits from its success. Also, she encouraged each employer to commit to another year of participation, and to encourage other employers to join.
KRA operates a Work Participation, Placement, & Support Services Program for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, providing a comprehensive blend of work-readiness services that include community work experience and occupation-specific skills training. Knowlton R. Atterbeary, KRA President & CEO, reported, “Today, I witnessed first-hand the obvious success of Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s 2012 YouthWorks program. In addition to our regular operation here at KRA Baltimore, we were only too pleased to participate in the Mayor’s Hire 1 Youth Initiative.”
Nate’ Gordon, Operations Manager for KRA’s mid-Atlantic programs, concluded, “Our summer hire was 19-year old Micole Holley, who is from North Carolina, but moved here to attend Baltimore City Community College to study Dental Hygiene. She worked with us as an Office Assistant, helping each department with various clerical tasks. I believe the experience was a good one for Micole; in addition to learning a lot about KRA and the workforce development industry, she gained many job-readiness skills that she will be able to use in achieving her future career goals. The luncheon was the ideal capstone to the Mayor’s summer employment program.”
