MA AG Opens Grant Applications For Summer Youth Jobs Program

MASSACHUSETTS – Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has opened the application process for her office’s summer jobs grant program for youth across Massachusetts.

The Healthy Summer Youth Jobs program gives young people the opportunity to directly impact their community by working in jobs that promote good nutrition, physical activity, and healthy living.

“The Healthy Summer Youth Jobs Program offers young people an opportunity to contribute to their community while furthering their own health and well-being,” said Campbell in the Office’s press release. “Our office is excited to continue to deploy settlement funds in support of our young people through this time-tested and successful grant program.”

Applicants looking to apply for the grant funding will be required to provide professional development opportunities to their youth employees. The Attorney General’s Office will offer grants to municipalities, other government offices, quasi-public entities, and non-profit organizations within the state.

Funding for the grants comes from money from settlements reached by the Attorney General’s Office, according to the press release, and will go toward organizations that focus on health and wellness. The Office will prioritize applicants who use the grant funding to create youth jobs which advance public health in low-income communities.

Last year, over $260,000 in grant funding was awarded by the Attorney General’s Office to 70 organizations across the state.

Participants in the program can expect to receive a minimum wage of $15 per hour and can partake in webinars and in-person training sessions on worker’s rights through the Attorney General’s Community Engagement Division.

Here’s more from the Office’s press release on the kinds of projects that have received HSYJ grant funding in the past:

• Collaborating on a public health project that focused on food justice;
• Assisting as a coach, team leader, or mentor with a sports or physical fitness program designed for youth;
• Fostering a green environment by planting trees, building and maintaining community gardens, and installing art murals;
• Working as sailing instructors for a summer youth program; and
• Activities which directly address access to health care and/or the management/ prevention of chronic diseases among youth.

Interested applicants can visit the Attorney General’s website for more information and for application instructions. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 7, 2022.