Summer jobs are a rite of passage for most high school students, and this year 13 of them had jobs with the city of Key West as part of the Idle Hands Youth Employment Program.
The project is a partnership between the city and A Positive Step of Monroe County, a nonprofit organization that works with some of the highest-risk kids and their families in the Keys.
Since 2010, A Positive Step has worked with the city to provide paid summer jobs in city departments for Key West High School students aged 16 and up who are returning to school in the fall. This year’s program, which runs through Aug. 1, has employed 13 students in five city departments. The city pays about half of the students’ salaries and A Positive Step raises money to cover the other half.
“It’s very gratifying to watch each summer as the student interns develop greater confidence along with important work and social skills,” A Positive Step founder Billy Davis said in 2023. “We see them discovering previously unrealized talents and discarding old patterns of low expectations. Whether they go on to college or directly into full-time working life, they have become more aware and confident of their strengths, self-worth, and ability to contribute as a professional.”
Many of the working students contribute some or all of their earnings to their households, and with this in mind, salaries in 2023 were increased to $17 per hour and orientation was shortened from two weeks to one to give the students an extra week of earning time.
More information is at apsmc.org.
