The traditional summer job opportunities are not as prevalent this summer for school age youth primarily due to the cutbacks and budget shortages being experienced by so many firms and organizations across industries and professions. The usual part-time positions that high school students count on during the summer months to provide them with money for the movies, savings, vacations, ice cream, pizza, etc. are not available this summer as consumer demand and discretionary spending continue to decline throughout our economy. As a result, some students will not be able to accumulate summer earnings or gain hands-on experience in fields that may interest them. For those who are more focused on actual job training and work experience, they are opting for unpaid apprenticeships and internships. Others have become more interested in volunteering at local libraries, community centers, churches, and day camps. All of these choices provide students with real life work and community service experiences, while also keeping them engaged in productive and fun activities during the summer recess.

Organizational leaders across the nonprofit, private, public, and religious sectors who routinely hire students during the summer months are hopefully developing more creative and flexible schedules and formats this summer season that continue their emphasis on mentoring and training young people about particular professional fields and careers. While many firms are implementing cost cutting measures across the board, my hope is that their overall strategies include either hiring a fixed number of students for a shorter number of work weeks, spreading the allocated budget dollars across more students, or some variation of these scenarios. Whatever the chosen strategy, managers must recognize the importance of maintaining mentoring and internship programs that introduce school age youth to the realities of the workplace. Summer work, whether paid or unpaid, helps students stay productive during out of school time and provides a foundation for them to begin to understand life as a worker and productive citizen.

Every local community should develop creative ways of engaging young people in activities and projects that improve their non-academic skills, civic engagement, and community service interest. Local governments could partner with local nonprofit agencies and corporations to provide professional volunteers to work with students during the summer months to regularly clean up neighborhoods and parks, visit nursing and mental health facilities, do light maintenance work for public spaces, or even maintain ball fields, bus stops, vacant lots, and schoolyards. There are all kinds of opportunities for private and public enterprises to enlist our youth in volunteer or paid activities that would benefit public spaces as well as private properties in neighborhoods and communities. Much of this work would not require substantial cash outlays by the organizations -- just the will to work with our youth and the time needed to complete the projects.