Minneapolis Summer Youth Program, 1979
Managing a recycling center, gardening work, and news reporting and editing were just a few of the assignments provided to Minneapolis students enrolled in the youth employment program in 1979. The program provided training and jobs to low-income students ages 14 to 21 during the summer months, teaching them valuable skills which would help them get employed and succeed in their careers after high school. Majority of job placements were with government and non-profit agencies and in 1976, students were paid about $2.30 per hour, or about $10.50 in today’s dollars.
The program was part of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1973. CETA prepared youth and unskilled adults, particularly economically disadvantaged and those facing serious barriers to employment, for entry into the labor force. The job-training program was essentially an extension of the public employment programs enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s as part of the New Deal. Due to a lack of program effectiveness and governmental accountability, CETA was replaced by subsequent workforce development acts, most recently the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2014.
See all Summer Youth Program photos in the Minneapolis Public Schools Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
