By Justin Tang
May 30, 2011

Columbus (OH) Mayor Michael Coleman entered the city’s COSI Science Center and witnessed lines that stretched out from the convention room to the parking lot. To his delight, he was astounded to see over 2,000 young adults show up to the city’s first annual S.O.A.R.hire! (Summer Opportunities to Achieve and Reconnect) job fair May 18.The program attempts to provide young adults with positive summer work experience that also serves local businesses by filling seasonal positions.

The second component of the S.O.A.R program emphasizes financial management. As a recipient of a $4,000 DollarWise Summer Youth Campaign grant, Coleman will use the funds to encourage young adults to open bank accounts by making an initial deposit into each of their savings accounts. “The DollarWise program is here to help provide you with the incentives and assistance to learn tools for financial management, which is very important,” Coleman announced to the crowd. In addition, the grant will further the job fair’s financial education goal by helping the program provide financial literacy classes to its summer interns.

Coleman’s office, the Central Ohio Workforce Investment Corporation (COWIC), Ohio State University, and Columbus State Community College collaborated together in reaching out to local private businesses to create summer paid internship opportunities. After months of phone calls and meetings, Columbus’ business community stepped up and will hire more than 2,000 interns for summer programs. Employers included are: CHASE Bank, FedEx, Peace Corps, AT&T, and Preventative Healthcare, which demonstrate a broad range of opportunities for the kids.

Columbus’ S.O.A.R.hire! program also prepares young adults for future job interviews. They hold hour-long workshops that cover resume writing, dressing for the job, and mock interview practices.

The DollarWise goal is to incorporate financial education into every summer youth job in the United States.