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.

The city runs STEP-UP with AchieveMpls, an education-related nonprofit. The program involves hooking up city youth between the ages of 14 and 21 with paid summer internships at local companies, nonprofits and public agencies.

Depending on length of employment, a business would pay about $1,000 for a part-time intern and $2,000 for a full-time intern, according to Minneapolis city spokeswoman Krista Bergert.

Program boosters say businesses could benefit in the long-run because an intern might return someday as a fulltime employee. Most young people in the program come from families living in poverty.

Since 2004, the program has placed more than 4,200 young people in jobs with more than 200 employers.

More than 80 employers have already agreed to provide more than 550 STEP-UP Achieve jobs in 2012.  Present STEP-UP Achieve employers increasing the number of internship positions offered include Adolfson & Peterson Construction, the City of Minneapolis, HealthPartners, Hennepin County, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, U.S. Bancorp, University of Minnesota, VA Medical Center, Wells Fargo and  Xcel Energy.  New companies joining the program include ABM Janitorial, Agosto, Clear Channel Outdoor, Mark O. Finney DDS, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, and Reve Consulting.

“Our returning STEP-UP employers deserve our thanks, but they can’t do it all on their own — and unfortunately, hundreds of qualified young people are unable to get Step-Up Achieve jobs because there aren’t enough employers coming forward. I call on every Minneapolis employer, large and small, to do their part,” Rybak said in a news release.

Contact Jeremiah Brown at (612) 455-1562 or jbrown@achievempls.org, or visit www.achievempls.org/step-achieve-summer-jobs, to find out more about providing an internship through the program.

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