Bettis's Foundation Launching Summer Work Program For Pittsburgh Youth
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Jerome Bettis earned spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame by running over would be tacklers, but his first job was with the City of Detroit in its police cadet program.
"It taught me the accountability that when I got to work, I had to be there on time, and I had things that I needed to do," Bettis said. "It was my responsibility to then go out there and get the job done."
Now Bettis is using his foundation to help the city, Allegheny County and Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board launch a summer learn and earn program for 2,000 kids.
"After years and years of talking about it, we are finally going to have a collaboration that will work as a unified system that will be able to give the kids of this region a truly meaningful summer experience," said Laura Ellsworth, of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board.
The program is designed to give low income youth the skills they need to compete in the workplace and to encourage them to consider college after high school.
"Right now, we have 25,000 jobs that are unfilled and the reason that they are unfilled is because there is the job and there's the applicants and there's a skill gap between those folks," says Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
"With the county, with our corporate community, with our foundation community and with leaders like Jerome Bettis, we have now made a summer youth employment program where every kid who applies is now becoming a reality," added Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.
And with the help of charitable foundations like Bettis' The Bus Stops Here organization, summer work is just around the corner for thousands.
"It teaches you all of the necessary things that you have to grow and develop, and you always have to realize that this is an investment in the community," said Bettis. "This is not just providing jobs. This is providing an opportunity."
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