Over the next three years, a coalition of business leaders plans to hire 100,000 young Americans who aren’t working but aren’t in school, either.
The 100,000 Opportunities Coalition kicked off the initiative earlier this month with a job fair in Chicago to raise awareness about “opportunity youths’’ and expose them to companies looking to hire.
The event, which attracted 4,000 job seekers, included workshops about resume writing and interview skills, inspirational stories from CEOs and even performances by Usher and will.i.am. About 600 young people left with job offers.
Led by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, the coalition of 30 big businesses is working to help some 6.7 million people ages 16-24 who aren’t in school but have been shut out by the job market. That age is considered a pivotal time in people’s lives that puts them on the path toward success.
Dubbed “opportunity youth’’ by a 2012 White House commission, this demographic group often lacks the experience or education needed to land their first job and has limited access to jobs close to where they live. Over their lifetimes, the lost revenue and price tag of providing social support for them will cost taxpayers $1.6 trillion, according to a commission report.
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The coalition was funded through a $30 million investment from Schultz, who has vowed to hire 10,000 young workers by the end of 2018. The Joyce, Rockefeller, MacArthur and other foundations have contributed grants. Earlier this year, Schultz expanded a company program that pays employees’ tuition toward an online degree at Arizona State University.
So far, the coalition has received commitments from major employers nationwide to hire young people for apprenticeships, internships, training programs and entry-level jobs. In addition to Starbucks, they include Chipotle, CVS, Domino’s, Hilton, Hyatt, JC Penney, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Target and Walmart. The coalition is recruiting more companies to join the efforts.
At the fair, employers discussed the need to create new career paths for young people beyond entry-level retail and service sector jobs, which often don’t pay well and require long hours. They also reiterated how skills learned in a first job often translate to other jobs and form the foundation for a career.
Despite the high interest in the job fair, some advocates of this young generation have argued that investing in skills training is a more effective way to reach this segment, especially young people of color.
