Mayor’s Employment Program gives interns governmental experience

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Ten young interns made an impact around Lincoln this summer. The Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program wrapped up last week after providing hands-on experience for young leaders.

The program was open for 16 to 20 year olds. From June to July, they work in the offices that run the city of Lincoln. This is the program’s second year and it’s designed to eliminate employment barriers for young leaders.

“We’re looking for young people that are just in need of that additional assistance to help them get on the correct career pathway in their life,” said Amber Knapp, Project Director.

Some of the departments include Lincoln Fire and Rescue, Public Health and Aging Partners. This summer they raised $1,200 for the Food Bank of Lincoln, Building Online Forms and Creating Bilingual Process Documents for Vaccine Clinics.

“It’s really interesting because everybody comes from different backgrounds and everybody’s interested in different things, so at the weekly meetings we talk about the different things we do,” said Calvin Doeer, Urban Rec Center Intern.

MYEP was founded two years ago by Mayor Lerion Gaylor Baird to promote workforce and business development in Lincoln.

All interns are enrolled in the American Job Center’s Youth Services Program. They were paid $15 an hour with a $200 incentive for completing their internships.

Three of last year’s interns still work for the city. This year, one of them returned to coordinate all the MYEP events.

“No one in my family worked in government work, and they always knew that I always wanted to work in government work,” said Jessica Meza, Mayor’s Youth Employment Program Coordinator. “Through this program I was actually able to meet a lot of knew people in the government field that had been giving me a lot of great advice.”

The directors hope to expand the program’s social media presence and encourage more young people to apply.

The application deadline is in May. The email, for potential participants, is lincolnforward@lincoln.ne.gov.

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