Chicago non-profit

As the largest youth employment nonprofit organization serving Chicago’s youth, Jobs For Youth/Chicago’s (JFY's) mission is to empower young men and women from low- income families become part of the economic mainstream; and, in the process, provide the business community with motivated, socially conscious and job-ready workers. For 30 years, we have made over 28,000 job placements with a current average starting wage of more than $9.40 per hour, and in fiscal year 2010, we graduated over 600 youths and successfully placed more than 700 in various industries. And, in the past 19 years since the GED program was implemented, nearly 950 school dropouts have earned their GED Certificates. JFY graduates nearly 1,000 youth annually from our Work Readiness/Life Skills training, all of whom are out of school, between the ages of 17 and 24, and reside in underserved neighborhoods throughout Chicago and adjacent lower-income suburbs. We understand and advocate that the impact of bringing employment and self-sufficiency to this demographic goes far beyond simply getting a job. When you place 700 underserved youths in good jobs, the ancillary impacts are powerful and tangible. Our work and that of our more than 150 corporate volunteers has been recognized locally and nationally, including: the most recent Microsoft Corporation Unlimited Potential Award—JFY was named one of five organizations in the Midwest region; Serve Illinois AmeriCorps Planning award recipient to serve as an AmeriCorps Delegate Agency; National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) PEPNet — we’re one of only four organizations nationally to receive Full Accreditation due to our ability to demonstrate a commitment to leadership through best practices for youth employment and youth development programming; The Chicago Community Trust's James Brown IV Award of Excellence for Outstanding Community Service; and the President's Volunteer Action Award, presented by President George H. W. Bush. Moreover, we are one of only five Illinois organizations identified as a National Work Readiness Assessment Site and hold the National Work Readiness Credential—it is the first national standards-based assessment for entry-level workers to provide a universal, transferable, national standard for work readiness.