Cities and organizations that want to provide summer employment for youth should consider that getting them a job is only half of what they must do to help them. Organizations working with these youth best serve them by teaching the necessary practical skills to get and keep a job—the soft skills that prepare youth to understand how the world works and what is expected of them.

They can do that by using the ARISE Four Wheel Drive for the Mind: Networking, Jobs and Money curriculum.

This book is designed to help youth learn job readiness skills such as filling out job applications, interviewing for a job, reading bus schedules, budgeting their salary, opening bank accounts, exploring the market for the right credit and debit cards and so much more. ARISE curricula prepare youth to meet the future by handling problems and difficult situations commonly encountered in daily life.

Summer youth employment programs need to focus on the soft skills as well as the vocational aspects of a particular job. A good addition to job readiness skills are the ARISE Four Wheel Drive for the Mind: Learning Strategies and Time Management lessons where the youth learn decision making, productive thinking, and time management skills, and how to set short and long term goals.

Want to learn more about conducting these lessons in your employment program? ARISE offers staff training courses to teach individuals how to facilitate ARISE sessions on job skills and hundreds of other topics. ARISE even offers a Master (Train-the-Trainer) course to enable staff members to train their colleagues at your organization. Check the ARISE Training Calendar for upcoming training dates and locations. Trainings can also be scheduled at your location for minimum of 12 participants (see the staff training links for more details).

Click on the book covers below to view full descriptions of the Job and Life Skill lessons each book contains: