program overview
The Department of Human Resources TeenWork Program
TeenWork is administered through the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). The program is designed to support First Lady Mary Perdue’s broader goal of ensuring that Georgia’s children are equipped with the tools and opportunities necessary to enable them to mature into well balanced, healthy, and productive members of society. Each year more than 700 teens in Georgia age out of foster care. Many of these youth go on to experience negative outcomes such as homelessness, teenage pregnancy, and low academic achievement. Despite these discouraging statistics, studies have found that youth who have employment opportunities and enriching experiences while in foster care are more likely to finish high school, maintain steady employment, and become self-sufficient after exiting care. TeenWork has been a resource established to help promote this positive youth development. This program strives to provide a sense of independency and work ethics experience. We collaborate statewide with several state agencies, private companies, non – profit organizations, churches and colleges just to name a few to help provide Georgia’s youth a working experience they will always value.
The goal of TeenWork is to provide summer job opportunities for youth in foster care, developmental disability youth, and grandparents raising grandchildren (GRG) youth ages 16-21, throughout the state of Georgia. Since 2005 the program has employed an average of 600 youth each year. TeenWork is a six-week summer program that helps to transition participating youth into successful, independent young adults by offering real world work experience by providing jobs within state agencies and private businesses. Additionally, youth are provided an opportunity to increase their professional and personal development through marketable skills and enriching mentoring experiences. The program operates from June through July, with teens working between 30-40 hours each week. TeenWork seeks to employ additional youth by recruiting more jobs within state agencies and private companies. For youth who participate, their application is reviewed and then matched to the job that is the most appropriate fit for the youth and the employer. Additionally, TeenWork seeks to provide mentoring opportunities for participating teens. These interns can improve their soft-skills such as problem solving, teamwork and dependability that will help them to be valuable employees and entrepreneurs of the future. The goal is that every teen in foster care over the age of 16 will have the opportunity to experience summer employment and that Georgia will develop a more qualified and skilled work-force.
