CHICAGO — Hoping to combat teenage unemployment and the city's gun violence epidemic, Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin is hosting a job expo aimed a black and Latino teens.
Boykin (D-1st) said he will host a youth career expo on Saturday, April 9 in Austin as a means of getting kids off the street and into jobs.
Boykin cited a University of Chicago study that estimates that 88 percent of black teens in Chicago are unemployed, and 85 percent of Latino teens are unemployed.
He said that unemployment leads kids to the street, where they can turn to gangs or violence and contribute to Chicago's spiking gun violence.
"It is not a coincidence that the neighborhoods with the highest levels of unemployment are also the neighborhoods with the highest levels of violence," Boykin said in a statement. "Therefore, we must invest in the creation of job opportunities as a means to quelling and stabilizing our communities."
Over 30 companies, universities and governmental bodies have pledged to be at the job expo, Boykin said.
Companies that will be looking to hire include Nike, McDonald's, Cook County Forest Preserve, Froyo Ice Cream, Walgreens, Bubba Gum Shrimp Company, the U.S. Army and the City Colleges of Chicago.
Boykin said the target age group for the job expo is people aged 16-24 years.
The expo will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 9 at the Columbus Park field house, 5701 W. Jackson Blvd.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
