Last month, the City of Seattle celebrated the 2023 Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) interns during their annual capstone event. Over 200 youth, mentors, and family and friends gathered at El Centro de La Raza’s Centilia Cultural Center and Outdoor Plaza to celebrate this summer’s intern class. Mayor Bruce Harrell… [ Keep reading ]
What is your role at Seattle Human Services? I am a Senior Youth Development Counselor with the Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP). My job is to support every aspect of SYEP programming: including establishing program procedures, collaborating with internal and external partners, overseeing the daily operations of SYEP, assisting with… [ Keep reading ]
Foundations and Pathways Program application is open now and will close at 3 PM on Friday, September 23, 2022. The Foundations and Pathways program is a new, redesign of our previous Learn and Earn program, where participants received 1:1 support and weekly cohort-based sessions on pre-employment soft skills. Our new… [ Keep reading ]
Our Mission to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities continued to hold a greater sense of urgency in 2021. Over this past year, the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) continued to be… [ Keep reading ]
2021 has been unlike any other. As we are over a year into a worldwide pandemic, the Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) had to adapt to a hybrid environment as Seattle began to open back up again. Interns, ranging from 16 to 24 years old, gained experience through a variety… [ Keep reading ]
HSD staff are excited to let you know that the Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is continuing to prepare for job readiness trainings and employment opportunities this summer despite the uncertainty that COVID brings. Applications for SYEP 2021 internships are now open, and will close on Friday, April 2, 2021…. [ Keep reading ]
As 2020 comes to a close, I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and as well as one can be in what has surely been one of the more challenging years we have faced as a department. Back in January, we already knew that “change” would be a theme this year. One of the city’s top priorities for the year was to help stand-up and launch the new King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA). For HSD, this included transitioning our Homeless Strategy and Investment division staff and contracts to a co-location space with their County peers, followed by CEO on-boarding and development of a staffing plan. While that work has been underway all year, little did we know at the start of 2020 that a global pandemic like nothing seen in at least a century was already underway. Not only did that slow the progress of this work, it lead to most employees shifting to work from home, being reassigned, and changing work plans. Plus significant impacts to our economy and unimaginable changes to how each of us conduct our daily lives. With homelessness response transitioning to the KCRHA, our department planned to spend much of the year redefining how it exists within the human services space. HSD planned to work with staff, service providers, and clients to co-create a roadmap for the future. This work launched in February – during Black History Month – with an understanding that race and social justice should underpin everything that we were going to talk about. The public health crisis forced us to pause that work almost immediately. Little did we know the paradigm shift coming in the summer as the support for Black Lives Matter took on new meaning for our general society and millions more people “awoke” to the understanding that it’s time to rethink how we spend our tax dollars and how our governments respond to the needs of the community. HSD staff and our community partners have been a part of the front-line response to COVID-19, pivoting programs and rising to the many challenges to help those most in need. I am deeply proud of the work we have accomplished together during this crisis. Our mission “to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities” took on a much greater sense of urgency in 2020, even as we managed our ongoing work.
*A shortened version of this article previously appeared in the October edition of HSD’s monthly Lifelines newsletter. Click here to subscribe now. When the Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) launched its new academic year program model last year, certainly no one could have predicted that a worldwide pandemic would impact… [ Keep reading ]
With this Labor Day weekend, we say goodbye to yet another summer – although this is one we will not soon forget. As masking up and maintaining social distancing have become normal enough for celebrities to sport fashionable designs and award shows to find unique ways to present drive-in concerts and socially-distanced backup dancers, our staff at the Seattle Human Services Department are trying to get caught back up on the non-emergency tasks that would normally face us each year. As we begin the return to some of the non-emergency tasks we regularly address as a department, one “routine” item to check off on our task list is complete just a couple months later than last time. I am pleased to share our just-released HSD 2019 Annual Report with you, highlighting some of the incredible work we accomplished together—and with our City and community partners:
The Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) helps young people (ages 16 to 24) from low-income households and communities that experience racial, social, and economic disparities. The goal is to increase youth and young adults’ ability to pursue careers that pay well and are meaningful to them. SYEP has two components: a school-year exploration and learning experience, and a summer internship. The summer internship places young people in work settings to apply their knowledge, gain hands-on experience, develop professional connections, and build their resume. In 2020, SYEP summer interns will be paid $16.39 for up to 150 hours of work over six weeks.
