(soft music) - Dana Williams, I will start with you.

Talk about Grow Detroit's Young Talent.

Remind us what year we're in for this and what we have to look forward to this year.

- Sounds wonderful.

Thanks so much, Steven.

So, it is an honor to say that this is year 10.

- 10?

Oh my goodness.

(Steven laughs) - Incredible.

So, we have actually done quite a bit, of course, in that time.

We've grown from around 5,000 students a summer to now 8,000.

- Oh my goodness.

- And certainly, couldn't do that alone.

The Detroit at work system is so glad to have partners, like Shuna who's here with us, and a host of other nonprofit agencies and workforce development companies that work with us really closely to deliver these experiences to young people.

We're glad that this year, we're gonna be offering a range of experiences as we always do that really correspond to a young person's level of work experience.

Right?

So, someone who's 14 never been to work, certainly may have a different experience than someone who'd be 18, 19, or 20, may be at taking some college courses, and who may be on a real, what we call, a career pathway job.

Those will pay a minimum of $15 an hour.

So, real work, real money, right?

- Yeah.

- Well, this summer.

And they're gonna have a host of other customized experiences to get some professional development as well as they always do.

So, in addition to resume writing and interviewing, some financial coaching.

They'll open a bank account, right?

We gotta make sure young people are ready to receive the funds that we're gonna give them.

All these wonderful things.

So, really excited again about this 10th year.

- Yeah.

- Shuna Hayward, talk about how this fits in the, kind of, broader context of workforce and workforce development.

The kind of things that we are always really worried about here in the city and that we need to be working a lot better.

- Right.

Well, first and foremost, we want our young people to know that there are resources available to them and that there are a host of connections and opportunities in the city of Detroit so that we not only grow our talent but also retain our talent.

So, they need to understand that there are high growth, high demand sectors here that they can connect with.

They can experiment with opportunities that they may be interested in, but you know, don't know too much about.

So, this just gives them a chance to kind of branch out, test out some things, see what they like, see what they may not like.

But also importantly, provide those important connections to caring adults to like-minded peers and begin that task of building their skills and their network.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So, Naeema Muhammad, I wanna bring you into the conversation here 'cause you're someone who had this experience.

Tell me about what you did, what you learned, and how you think of it today.

- Yes, absolutely.

So, I did the program for three years.

And throughout the different experiences I had, I've learned so much.

I actually am now a unmet aeronautical vehicle pilot, which means I can fly a remote drones, - Oh my goodness.

- for profit, commercially.

I had the experience of working for two summers with a Tuskegee Airmen because of Grow Detroit's Young Talent.

I also had the opportunity to go to the GM plant for the electric vehicles.

And I was honestly really excited about that because I just love EV and technology.

So, being able to see what all goes into building the, the vehicle as well as spoke to some people and they actually said that, well, actually you're not in where they design the vehicles, you're where they build them.

So, just being able to have those opportunities, to have those conversations.

And I also, through that experience, there were some people, because, you know, you get that experience and they're excited to have young people that are interested in technology.

And the vehicle designing and things of that nature.

They actually did mock interviews with me.

They said, okay, if you decided to come here, this is what you need to learn, this is what you need to do and let's actually sit down and ask those questions that you would get if you were in a real interview with us.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- So, it was really exciting.

- So, let's go back to the first summer you did this.

And maybe that first day at work, did you know then that you would find a pathway to the thing that you're end up doing as an adult?

- Yes and no.

- Yeah.

- I went in as this is a summer job.

My mom told me to come.

So, let's- (Steven laughing) - So, I gotta be here.

Right?

- Yeah.

So, it's a- Let's just see what happens.

- Yeah.

- But actually, going through the summer, meeting different, a very diverse group of young people, even though we were about, you know, about 15 or 16 when I first did it, just hearing some of their backgrounds and what they were actually interested in.

There was another young man, he wanted to be a pilot.

I'm still in contact with him.

He's now in college for it.

So, he's going to pilot school.

And then, there are just, just the different avenues people took and hearing their stories of how they got to that point in their lives was interesting.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

So, Dana, that's gotta just absolutely warm your heart to hear.

What a story, right?

She starts at 15, and now, is doing something that's related to what you guys gave her an opportunity for.

- That's exactly right.

I'm thrilled to hear stories like what I sharing with us here today.

And that's what we wanna do, right?

As Shuna said, we wanna make sure that these young people are connected to the high growth, high demand jobs and the industries that are here, as we know, that are here in Detroit.

- Shuna, I wanna talk a little about the employer side of this as well.

Employers are getting quite the, sort of, lift I think and benefit out of Grow Detroit's Young Talent as well.

And the importance, I think, of having that connection between employers that exist in our city and the young people in our city is, it's immeasurable.

- Yeah.

And it's really critical.

And it is definitely a two-way street.

Even the young people benefit, but the employers benefit just as much from having the young people in those spaces.

They change the energy, they bring new ideas.

And they also help those employers see the potential that's coming down the pipeline in our young people and what they can bring to the table.

So, it's very exciting.

We just have tons of interest and support.

Detroit is such a great city, because especially, when it comes to our youth, people are ready to get on board to support our young people.