Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis are asking Minneapolis employers to make an investment in the city’s future workforce by hiring interns for the summer through the STEP-UP Achieve Jobs Program.

STEP-UP Achieve alumnus Hashim Yonis recently met President Barack Obama at the White House. He and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak both were there January 5 speaking at a conference where the president unveiled a summer job initiative that he hopes will provide work for 250,000 low-income youth ages 16-24. The Obama administration is using the STEP-UP program as a model for the president’s new national plan.

Hashim Yonis did his STEP-UP Achieve summer job internships at a local law firm and in the Minneapolis Public Works Department, where he met important mentors, including Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak. The co-chair of STEP-UP, Ryback invited Yonis with him to a recent White House event where Yonis was part of a panel of young people who spoke about how they have benefited from meaningful summer employment and work-readiness training.

Hashim Yonis, STEP-UP Achieve alumnus, and Lucien Justin, a STEP-UP Achieve supervisor at US Bank, talk about their experience with the summer jobs program, which has made Minneapolis one of the nation's leaders in youth employment and work-force readiness and was recently recognized by the White House at a summit on youth employment.

That sudden shift in the barometric pressure you might have felt at about 11:37 this morning? That was the achievement gap narrowing perceptibly in one swift moment. In Minnesota to talk college and career readiness, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hosted a town hall meeting at Minneapolis' South High School.