Youth Services Department

What do they do? 

Youth Services’ primaryprime duties are helping the successful Growing Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT) program and sharing a compiled offering of all school, summer, work, and camp programs available to city adolescents. 

GDYTGrowing Detroit’s Young Talent offers gives summer jobs to thousands of teenagers and young adults, introducing them to careers and building their professional skills. 

While plentyPlenty of Detroit organizations offer opportunities for job training, summer camps, mentoring, and more and the, the Youth Services Department sorts that information and gets it to young people. 

How is the Department Organized? 

TheA small department it only aids , the Executive Director for Workforce Development oversees Growing Detroit’s Young Talent through the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC). DESC is a separate organization that reports to the Detroit Mayor’s Workforce Development Board (MWDB). 

DESCMWDBIt became the City of Detroit’s workforce agency in 2012 facilitating employment opportunities and recruitment for youth and adults in Detroit.  

How do I get involved?

The MWDB holds open meetings that the public can attend roughly every other month.  There is also a Career and Education Advisory Committee which supports DESC in developing job training programming.  That group meets quarterly (every three months).

To learn more about these meetings, how to attend them, and to review past meeting minutes (the official actions from the meeting), visit: https://www.descmiworks.com/about-us/public-meetings/  

You can also review the Youth Services Department’s home page and find a way to directly support Detroit youth through mentoring, robotics, financial literacy, and more. 

https://detroitmi.gov/departments/youth-services