Columbia Urban League
V001855
Obj Code 683300
Program
Summer Work Experience Leadership
Program (SWELP) and Youth Empowerment
Program (YEP).
Total Paid
FY 10/11*
Source
RCVD
YW
$103,671
FY 11/12
Source
RCVD
YW
$23,003
$103,671
$23,003
Payment Source
YW - youth works pledge payments/donations
*FY 10/11 - includes several years of collections. Annual average collections is $30,000
GF - General Fund Community Promotions
HT - Hospitality Tax (for marketing)
FY 12/13
FY 13/14
FY14/15
Source
RCVD
Source
RCVD
Source RCVD TO DATE
YW
$29,914 YW
$29,929 YW
$16,460
GF
$50,000 GF
$32,500
HT
$9,160
$79,914
$71,589
$16,460
1400 Barnwell Street
Columbia, SC 29201
P 803 799 8150
F 803 254 6052
www.columbiaurbanleague.org
May 15, 2015
Ms. Teresa Wilson
City Manager
City of Columbia
P.O. Box 147
Columbia, SC 29217
Dear Ms. Wilson:
The Columbia Urban League’s Summer Work Experience Leadership Program (SWELP) is an evidencebased best-practice career development program for youth ages 14-19. SWELP provides 250-275 youth
valuable work experience that helps foster a strong work ethic and self-esteem. The purpose of this
program is to provide primarily disadvantaged youth with summer work experience in an effort for them
to gain the necessary fundamental skills they will need to ensure future employment opportunities. Paul
Harrington, a Drexel University professor who has studied the youth job market, was quoted in a Wall
Street Journal article entitled “Summer Jobs Elude Many Teenagers” on August 21, 2013, as saying:
“Summer jobs are a chance to build work experience and develop everything from job-specific skills to
basic work habits like showing up on time. Working, whether during summer or the school year,
increases rates of high-school graduation and college attendance, and leads to higher earnings down the
line. Working while you’re in school, working in summers, really matters. Kids who have worked in high
school tend to do better in life.”
Attached, is the budget request for the Columbia Urban League’s Summer Work Experience Leadership
Program for the 2015 award period in the amount of $389,400.
We thank you for the City of Columbia’s investment in our future.
Sincerely,
James T. McLawhorn, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer
JTMjr/ch