ST PAUL, Minn. — At Frogtown Community Center, young people are being paid to learn how to be the leaders of tomorrow and represent their communities on boards and commissions.
Roughly 800 youth are working paid internships through St. Paul's Right Track program and the Youth On Boards program, all deciding to help young people develop job skills and get an insider's look at how decisions are made.
Central High student Abshir Ali said the programs really changed his vision for what he could do to help his community and build a career in public service.
"Before this program, I didn't know where I wanted to end up, but through the internships I've had, it really showed light on the things I want to do and the things I find interesting, which is city and local government — and it really showed my interest in helping my community."
Abshir took an assignment at Saint Paul City Hall working for City Council Member Rebecca Noecker. It was more than just a job-shadowing gig.
"She had me schedule social media posts, respond to constituents and regular duties around the office like meeting people, scheduling events, that kind of stuff, and staffing her."
The money comes from a mix of state grants, foundations and companies that have become partners to the city. That's how we came to meet Abshir. He spoke at a press conference Friday morning along with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek.
They visited the Frogtown Community Center Friday to highlight a $7 million expansion in the DEED's Youth at Work program. The program sends DEED grants to summer youth programs across Minnesota, in both urban and rural communities.
"We're helping young people imagine themselves as doctors, entrepreneurs, professors, public servants, mayors," Lt. Gov. Flanagan said, as she stood with a crowd of students and their instructors.
Commissioner Varilek asserted that the summer programs are making an impact in getting teens off the sidelines of the economy.
"We've seen progress. In fact, the labor force participation rate for young people has gone from 48 percent to 56 percent over the last three years," Varilek told reporters. "That's 33,000 more young people in the workforce."
Another Right Track intern who spoke at the event was Gaonou Yang, a recent graduate of Washington Technology Magnet School, who delighted the crowd when she said she'd like to someday be elected to the US Congress.
"I’m grateful to Right Track for seeing my potential before I could, and showering me with nothing but support and opportunities and resources," Yang remarked.
She's currently working for the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission but previously worked in the office of City Council Member Chris Tolbert.
"With the City Council and my Fresh Fives job, it was very hands-on," Yang told KARE.
"I was out in the community talking to people attending events, doing public speaking here and there."
Yang is headed to Stanford University in the fall and sees herself heading for a public service career.
"In college, I really want to use and maximize the resources Stanford has and take on internships at the White House, US Capitol, and hopefully one day, end up some day working in Congress!"
Abshir said he feels like he's picked up many skills and some valuable connections through Right Track.
"The program helped open up my LinkedIn page. I have over 100 people on my LinkedIn now so they helped me connect with a lot of people — people I can speak to at any time. I have their personal phone numbers."
In the same room at the Frogtown Center were two state legislators, Rep. Maria Isa Perez-Vega and Rep. Samakab Hussein, who said they benefited from summer job programs and support sending more state dollars to Right Track and similar efforts.