About half of the participants who obtain a job in the Mayor's program are randomly selected from a pool of approximately 8K Cleveland residents who apply online to Youth Opportunities Unlimited's summer employment program. The randomly selected youth will be placed in a variety of large and small team positions. The work supports objectives of the Department of Public Utilities and the program partners: Cleveland Division of Water, Cleveland Public Power, Cleveland Division of Water Pollution Control, and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Randomly selected youth will have a 4-week work experience.
For a better likelihood of getting employed this summer, apply for an Internship, the Media & Arts Program, or to take Introduction to Environmental Science at Cleveland State University. Only individuals who complete the entire application process will be considered for special opportunities positions. Youth who are recruited and specially selected will have a 8-week work experience.
Youth who have previously participated in the program, and are still eligible to participate, and are encouraged to contact us. Please remember that reaching out to program management will not guarantee employment with the Mayor's program. But, it may improve your chances if you performed well.
Cleveland State University (CSU), Cleveland Department of Public Utilities, & Youth Opportunities Unlimited have partnered to offer a unique opportunity! Students can take a free college course in environmental science and get paid to do a group project related to what is being taught in class.
Students who have participated in this class/project leave with incredible resume building experiences, and three transferable college credits in Introduction to Environmental Science from Cleveland State University. The course covers information from various topics including pollution, environmental law, stream discharge, energy production, climate change and agriculture.
Program participants work 20 hours per week for 8 weeks, focusing on environmental science initiatives to make the City of Cleveland a better place. A significant amount of time is spent collecting data for phase one environmental science assessments (ESA). The ESA data helps to facilitate the development of polluted, worn-down, abandoned properties in the City of Cleveland. In addition, the program aids in the process of evaluating a Cleveland Neighborhood Progress project towards re-purposing vacant land. These valuable learning experiences are just the tip of the iceberg with the ability to conduct laboratory experiments, learn proper evaluation and documentation techniques, develop critical thinking skills and more!
In order to apply CSU's College Credit Plus program you must have 2.3 GPA or above, and have taken either the SAT or ACT. It is not necessary to take both standardized tests to apply to the program. Students who meet the English scores ACT/SAT test requirements, but fall below the required math score, may elect to take CSU's Math Placement Test, for admission. Applicants must be able to complete the entire program from June to August, to earn credit for this course. Students who participate in the College Program are enrolled in CSU and the Mayor Frank G. Jackson's Summer Youth Employment Program.
Internship Program
Interns will work alongside a mentor or a group of mentors employed by the Cleveland Department of Public Utilities, Cleveland Division of Water, Cleveland Public Power, Cleveland Division of Water Pollution Control, and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
Each public utility entity offers a different experience. You could learn firsthand about the skills and talents necessary to be a great civil servant in the City of Cleveland municipality, while also furthering your professional development. You will be exposed to some of the inner workings of the City of Cleveland, your perspective is sure to be broadened.
And of course, you'll learn a lot. Some of the skills you would learn over the summer are specific to an engineer, graphic artist, or businessman. Many of the skills you might learn will be transferable across disciplines.
Internships are available for Cleveland residents ages 14 to 18.
Applicants must be able to complete the entire program, from June 13th to August 5th, to be able to participate in the internship program.
All internships are PAID!
Media & Arts Program
The Media & Arts Program commonly referred to as the Youth Communications Team (YCT) is an experiential learning program built to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Flexibility Plan. YCT exposes youth to the disciplines of journalism and creative writing, graphic design, cinematography and 3D Design. The youth learn and grow their knowledge of the various disciplines by working on projects in teams, and with their colleagues throughout the program.
Youth with a background, or very strong interest in writing, drawing, or movie making are encouraged to apply to the Media & Arts Program. The only additional requirements beyond being a City of Cleveland resident and being 14-18 years of age are that youth demonstrate that they have experience or are interested in the discipline area they are applying to. This may mean submitting an edited video, or work of art or literary composition. Each program has its own requirements.
The youth who participate in this group travel the City of Cleveland interviewing politicians, civil servants, and partners to gain perspective on the inter-workings of the program and to gain an understanding of how different entities work to bring this program to Cleveland residents. The youth also investigate other histories relating to the City of Cleveland municipality. Aspiring authors are allowed to write creative compositions on topics often relating to sustainability. Examples of past works of the youth can be found in the Blog section of this site.
The most significant role of the team is to collaborate with other teams in the program to help create the program magazine which commemorates the summer for the participants, partners and the community at large. In order to do so in a short amount of time, the youth writers learn to meet hard deadlines and undergo strict revision process. They are also expected to focus on literary devises, voice and journalism to grow their writing skill. By the end of the summer, the participants become better writers.
Artist trained and unrefined are recruited to participate in the graphics design group. Youth with ability to paint, draw and design are recruited and taught how to translate their talent to digital platforms. The youth learn to work with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. In addition to learning how to navigate the Adobe Programs, which are industry standard, the youth will learn art theory which will support them in being able to make great design decisions.
This team collaborates with other YCT groups to create designs that bring written compositions to life. They create the graphics for the commemorative magazine, design the program t-shirt, and create graphics for other miscellaneous projects. Youth learn how to manage their time and collaborate with other groups and partners who are like clients. Preparing them for the creative workplace.
Aspirational cinematographers, filmmakers, and vloggers make up the videography team. The team travels across the City of Cleveland to create videos capturing the work that their colleagues are doing in the field. The youth learn how to edit video and sound using Adobe Premiere Pro and Audition. They will also learn various cinematic techniques to help make the videos interesting.
This team is responsible for creating a commemorative video that displays the awesome works of all the program participants. They also work on other video projects such as example community engagement video with the business Mayfran International. Some of the youth have become videographers and YouTube content makers.
Our newest program discipline in 3d Modeling is comprised of youth interested in design and engineering a group focused primarily on creating models of water and wastewater process. The team works closely with the Cleveland Division of Water and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to create visualizations of their process to be used for public education.
The objective of the group varies, but usually it is a 3d model representation of the water process. Youth are taught to use a 3d modeling program such as SketchUp or Adobe 3ds Max.
