Y Monthly Monday Mission Update – “Engaging The Workforce of Tomorrow”
From supporting a young person to gain new professional skills to helping them to figure out their true passion in life, Y college and career readiness programs go a long way in setting young people in our community up for success.
The importance of this critical community work is not new to the Y. For years we have been running a plethora of programs, like Next Generation Scholars, New Horizons II, Youth & Government, Leaders Club (to name a few), all designed to provide students access to the experiences, skills and resources needed to move into adulthood with confidence and purpose.
While the Y has historically been one of the largest first employers of teens and young adults locally and nationally, we have not necessarily thought of ourselves as an organization focused on workforce development. Well, it is fair to say that we are firmly committed to that focus moving forward. In fact, a primary emphasis is to be more expansive in our thinking about what young people can do professionally at the Y, regardless of the technical skills they have (or don’t have) when we first encounter them. To be both a successful employer in this labor market and a youth development organization, we are using non-traditional approaches to recruit, train, develop and place people who demonstrate interest and aptitude for Y work but may lack specific certifications or experience required to fill open positions. We are diversifying our points of entry and looking at a wide range of opportunities from apprenticeships, internships, and other training and upskilling approaches.
Since the beginning of this year, approximately 50 candidates have been hired, trained and placed in a wide array of full-time positions across our Y. One of these talented individuals is Olasunkanmi Oyewumi.
Hailing from Towson University, Olasunkanmi has been interning as a Y IT tech for the past eight months. Working specifically across our Baltimore City Head Start locations, Olasumkanmi describes his internship experience as “amazing. ”From setting up computers to troubleshooting and resolving time-sensitive IT issues, Olasunkanmi loves the fact that the job is interactive and he gets to spend a lot of time at different locations supporting people.
“This internship has been the first time I’ve been in an actual IT environment and I thought I would just be sitting in front of a computer but it’s been much more than that! The role is very hands-on and I enjoy helping people and making people laugh and be happy.”
This interactive and hands-on experience has gone a long way in reassuring Olasunkanmi that IT at the Y is the right profession for him. “If you’re considering doing an internship at the Y, I say ‘go for it!’ My internship has been amazing and has set me up for my next role. It’s a great gig!”
Hats off to Olasunkanmi and the many others who are in the early stages of forging hopefully long and fulfilling careers at the Y.
All the best,
John K. Hoey
President & CEO
The Y in Central Maryland