Mayor Eric Johnson announces launch of youth employment program Dallas Works

DALLAS — Mayor Eric Johnson on Monday announced the launch of Dallas Works, a major new initiative that will connect students to summer jobs.

“Dallas Works will give our kids an opportunity to learn professional skills, to stay busy during the summer, to make some money, to learn the value of honest work, to contribute to their communities, and to stay out of trouble,” said Mayor Johnson.

Dallas Works is an expansion of the Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program, which then-Mayor Tom Leppert officially launched in 2008. That program, which was modeled on the White House Fellows Program, employed 370 young people at more than 200 major corporations in 2019. Since its inception, the program served 2,940 students.

With a new focus on employing as many young people during the summer as possible, Mayor Johnson hopes Dallas Works can at least double the 2019 numbers in the first year.

So far, in less than two weeks, nearly 1,500 students and 75 companies have signed up to take part in Dallas Works.

The mayor’s office will oversee the implementation of Dallas Works. Education is Freedom will handle student recruitment and administration. And the Dallas Regional Chamber and the Dallas Citizens Council will help recruit employers to participate.

Mayor Johnson was joined Monday at a news conference by City Council Workforce, Education, and Equity Committee Chairman Casey Thomas; Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa; Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone; Dallas Citizens Council Chairman Fred Perpall; Dallas Regional Chamber President & CEO Dale Petroskey; Jim Keyes, founder of Education is Freedom; Michelle Thomas, Vice President, North Texas Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase; and Emily Ledet, Dallas-Fort Worth Market Executive at Bank of America.

The speakers extolled the virtues of providing summer jobs to students and echoed Mayor Johnson’s call for private sector employers, large and small, to step up and employ Dallas youth.

“We’ve got 1,500 kids and counting who want to work this summer,” Mayor Johnson said. “They’re willing to make the effort, and I hope our private sector is willing to make the effort, too. This is about more than what Dallas will look like this summer; this is about the kind of city we want to build for the future.”

Employers and students wanting to participate in Dallas Works should visit dallassummerjobs.org for more information.