The Step Up Youth Employment Program – a partnership of the City of Minneapolis, AchieveMpls, CareerForce Minneapolis and Project for Pride in Living – was among the few programs in the country to continue offering career opportunities for young people during the summer of 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Since Step Up was able to continue developing strong programming in 2021, almost 1,400 Minneapolis youth completed Step Up’s virtual Work Readiness Training in the spring; 754 participants had paid summer internships at 82 Minneapolis-Saint Paul companies; and an additional 628 young people participated in a virtual five-week paid training experience to build work readiness skills and explore careers. In a typical summer, Step Up interns bring home $3 million in wages. Although this amount was decreased due to the pandemic young people still earned critically important wages that benefit their families and communities. Learn how Step Up prepares today’s youth for tomorrow’s careers at www.stepupmpls.org.