The City and County of San Francisco’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is offering paid work experiences for youth low-income youth ages 17-24 who live in San Francisco. SYEP provides young people with hands-on work experience, job readiness training and ongoing support through partnerships with local community-based organizations. You must meet income and SYEP program requirements to be eligible for this summer program. SYEP begins mid-June and ends in early August.
Apply NOW until May 28, 2010. Download an application here.

TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE PROGRAM YOU MUST:
• Have a legal right to work in the United States
• Be at least 17 years old and no older than 24 years old
• Live in San Francisco
• Qualify as low-income, based on the Lower Living Standard Income Levels
• Meet program requirements as specified by SYEP
• Males who are 18 years old or older must register for Selective Service.

IF YOU THINK YOU QUALIFY, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING (see the SYEP APPLICATION PACKET for a list of acceptable documents) :

• Current picture ID
• Original Social Security Card
• Proof of age if photo ID does not include date of birth
• Proof of your address
• Valid Permanent Resident/Alien Registration Card (if applicable)
• Selective Service Registration Card (if male 18 or older)
• Work Permit (if under 18 years old)
• Proof of earned income for low-income status
• Proof of additional barriers to employment

**IF YOU ARE UNDER 18, YOU MUST BRING A PARENT OR GUARDIAN WITH YOU TO YOUR APPOINTMENT.

MatchBridge’s Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adult Summer Internship program has started recruiting for Summer, 2010! Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults (RE4TA) was launched in 2008 by eight Bay Area Real Estate companies, in partnership with United Way of the Bay Area and MatchBridge. In its pilot year, eight Real Estate companies joined the RE4TA Founders’ Circle and pledged a five-year gift of support.

Interns will be expected to work an average of twenty hours a week and attend weekly seminars, focusing on ‘soft skills’ such as communication, conflict resolution and customer service. This provides a unique opportunity for students to learn from both their workplace experiences, various volunteering professionals, and their peers. MatchBridge will recruit, assess and place the interns, as well as serve as the employer liaison to ensure both the companies and students are having a positive and engaging experience.

“We were pleasantly surprised to find that the summer intern referred by Match Bridge was bright, responsible, and hard working despite his young age. Training him was easier than expected, and he immediately understood the nature of our business, the software we use, and what his responsibilities were. It was a pleasure having Kevin with us, and his contribution to our company was great.”
— Michael Hack, Product Sales Manager PropertyWare Systems and RE4TA Intern Supervisor

“Before working at Cushman & Wakefield I thought real estate was just about selling houses. I learned the ‘ins and outs’ of property management, and I gained excellent work experience, which will strengthen my resume.”
— Antonique W., RE4TA Intern at Cushman & Wakefield

There’s only 6 days left until the first Recruitment Fair. REGISTER TODAY!

To learn more about this six to eight week PAID summer internship opportunity, you must be at least 16 years of age, interested in Real Estate, and able to commit to working 20 hrs/week for the duration of the internship, beginning June 15, 2010.

Through the RE4TA Program you can:

1.) It’s a PAID internship for 6-8 weeks over the summer ($10/hour for 120-160 hours)
2.) You’ll receive FREE brand-name interview clothing, shoes, coats to help dress in style for job interviews at the May 12th Dress for Success Event.
3.) You’ll receive a FREE leather portfolio to carry your resume, pens, business cards and notepads with style at the May 12th Dress for Success Event.
4.) You’ll receive FREE MUNI tickets to transport you to and from your internship job interviews at the May 12th Dress for Success Event .
5.) You’ll learn more about a career in the Real Estate Industry and how to get started.
6.) You’ll Benefit from a summer of experiential learning through an internship in a real estate office.
7.) Opportunity to attend our six-week work-readiness seminar series, where you can develop the positive life skills and work habits to be successful.
8.) You can intern in a variety of capacities- such as property management, residential sales, construction, marketing, office management, outside sales- and more.
9.) You’ll network with successful Real Estate professionals in San Francisco.
10.) You’ll have FUN while meeting people and earning MONEY this summer!

You MUST be available to attend BOTH of the following events at MatchBridge/United Way:
• ONE Internship Recruitment Event (4/29, 5/5, or 5/6 at 4:00 pm)
• AND The “Dress For Success” Event on May 12, where RE4TA interns will be connected to business clothing and interview accessories to project a professional image.

The YEC also promotes opportunities that provide training and professional development to youth workforce service providers as well. This winter season, the Youth Employment Coalition and MatchBridge have been hosting free training seminars lead by Larry Robbin, Executive Director of Robbin and Associates.

Larry Robbin is widely regarded as a national expert in the workforce development and youth employment fields. He has over forty-five years of youth employment experience as a direct service provider, program developer, evaluator, consultant, and keynote speaker. Larry has trained over 100,000 people in workshops held in every state, presented at more than 500 conferences and worked with over 1000 public, private and non-profit organizations. He has designed over 50 youth employment, training and education programs serving all types of at-risk youth.

Larry has been a keynote speaker and presenter at the nation’s largest youth employment conference, the National Youth Development Symposium and the Department of Labor has used his consulting services to develop national peer-based youth employment programs.

The YEC hosted three training sessions featuring Larry. The first, “Finding Assets to Employment,” focused on challenges that face at-risk youth and provided unique strategies and perspectives to better promote a successful experience. The second, “The Radar Approach to Job Retention,” focused on the typical experiences youth face in the workplace and new creative methods to best prevent job loss. The third, “Are You Talking Like Businesses Think?” offered strategic insights into marketing agencies to the private sector.

If you have any questions about Youth Fest or want to get involved, please contact Bryant at (415) 557-6727.

More Details at the DCYF Community Events Page

The Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment is a not-for-profit agency. Their mission is to build the entrepreneurial capacity of women to overcome economic and social barriers and achieve self-sufficiency. Women’s Initiative has proven that women create jobs for themselves and others, access the mainstream economy, and increase their economic self-sufficiency when they are given business planning and financing support.

By assisting women-owned businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area through seven training sites, the Women’s Initiative has directly contributed to the economic growth of communities. Graduates of the program have started and expanded over 1,600 businesses from photography studios to catering companies and mechanic shops. In 2006, 301 new jobs were created by Women’s Initiative graduates.

The visiting Client Services Coordinator at the Women’s Initiative, helped MatchBridge participants develop a Business Action Plan and connected them to resources in San Francisco that will help reach their goal of one day owning their own business or non-profit. Nine MatchBridge youth attended the event, all of whom had great ideas and were extremely enthusiastic and creative. Thank you to the Women’s Initiative and to the MatchBridge participants

On April 28th, 2009, Specialty’s Bakery & Café came in to MatchBridge to inform and interview candidates as the MatchBridge April Employer of the Month.

After 18-years of successful operation, Specialty’s Café & Bakery is a highly respected foodservice company with 17 bakery-cafes in the San Francisco and Seattle markets.
Each location features an exhibition bakery, where fresh bread, pastries, and cookies are mixed and baked from scratch. The aroma of fresh-baked breads and Specialty’s’ legendary chocolate chip cookies creates a unique, brand-building environment.

The visitng Specialty’s team engaged 20 candidates and gave a presentation on the Specialty’s history and brand. Two of the hiring managers gave the participants a detailed day-to-day perspective on the work environment, the physical requirements, and specific daily duties.

After the presentations were completed, the candidates were interviewed and thus far two candidates have completed the process and joined the Specialty’s team. MatchBridge would like to thank Specialty’s and all the applicants for participating

Established in 1981, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is the nonprofit partner that supports and assists the Golden Gate National Parks in research, interpretation, and conservation programs.

Since its inception, the Parks Conservancy has provided the Golden Gate National Parks with more than $100 million in support and is recognized as one of the largest and most effective park partners in the country.

The LINC summer program was developed for high school students interested in the environment and looking for an opportunity to work. Students work on authentic park projects with themes including plant propagation, habitat restoration, mapping, trail work, and environmental education. All activities are linked to park priorities and provide critical natural resource support to the park.

The visitng LINC hiring manager interviewed 14 candidates and presented the program detailing the duties the applicants would be responsible for as well as communicating important goals and values the potential interns would have to understand and adopt. Team work and environmental ethics were the dominant themes. MatchBridge would like to thank LINC and all the applicants for participating

On February 28th, 2009, SFUSD’s Career Technical Education program teamed up with MatchBridge to kick off the CTE Summer Internship Program. This year, 295 students participated in the event. Almost double the number from the previous year. Companies and organizations all across San Francisco sent volunteers to help prepare the youth for their internship placements with MatchBridge staff leading and coordinating them. Thank you to all the participating companies and community organizations!

This year, YearUp opened their first office in San Francisco. Year Up is a free twelve-month, intensive training program that provides urban young adults, ages 18-24, with a combination of hands-on skill development, college credits, and access to corporate apprenticeships.

The program offers training in both technical and professional areas for the first six months where participants have the opportunity to expand upon their skills and experiences. The classes cover a wide range of skills from customer service, networking & TCP/IP, hardware repair, time management, career networking, conflict management, investment operations, and more.

In the last six months of the program, participants are assigned to a corporate internship or apprenticeship where they apply all that they have learned. In this way, the program manages to offer a safe environment for experiential learning with YearUp staff on hand to keep members on track and to provide mentorship when needed.

YearUp began in New York and started sites in Boston, Providence, Washington D.C., and San Francisco serving over 800 students a year and growing. Earlier this month, MatchBridge and YearUp began a partnership with selected MatchBridge members being invited to a special presentation of the YearUp model. MatchBridge looks forward to many more great collaborations with partners like YearUp to help provide opportunities for young San Francisco job seekers.

PowerPathways is an innovative program run by PG&E Corporation focused on workforce develop¬ment. Currently, the program prepares college stu¬dents for a variety of high demand positions and apprenticeships within the company. The program is comprehensive in nature as it conducts out¬reach, recruitment, assessment, curriculum devel¬opment, training, and case management leading up to employment.

This year, PG&E has put in the works a simi¬lar program for high school students who want to get a head start on a career track with PG&E. The current PowerPathways program prepares young adults for Electrician, Technician, Welder, Utility Worker, and System Operator apprenticeships by offering a range of workshops and trainings over the course of 12 weeks in preparation for PG&E’s entrance exam. The upcoming version meant for high school students will be modeled after Power¬Patheways as it is now.
MatchBridge helped PG&E bring different schools and a variety of youth to the table to best feel out how to present the program. Recently, MatchBridge rallied MatchBridge members and San Francisco high school students for focus groups meant to as¬sist in naming this budding program.

PG&E’s partnership is a shining example of how MatchBridge connects and convenes the commu¬nity with private sector businesses. Businesses are able to build mutually beneficial opportunities in the community while youth get a chance to rein¬force their foundations for success.