Kanye West, Common Team Up With Chicago Urban League to Create Youth Jobs

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Windy City natives Kanye West and Common are teaming up with the Chicago Urban League for an initiative that they say will create 20,000 jobs for young people in the city.

Chicago's gun violence epidemic has been national news in recent years. Nearly half of the city's 2,389 homicide victims between 2008 and 2012 were younger than 25, and more than 2,300 young people survived shootings last year, as my colleague Carla Murphy noted earlier this week when gun violence began in the city began to increase once again. Illinois also became the latest state to pass a law permitting registered gun owners to carry concealed firearms after a bitter fight that had victims of gun violence at its center.

From the Chicago Defender:

Common recently announced during a press conference that his Common Ground Foundation will be working with Kanye West's Donda's House, Inc. and the Chicago Urban League in an initiative to bring employment opportunities through The Chicago Youth Jobs Collaborative. 92 percent of the Black youth in Chicago are unemployed, which means that many of these kids are on the streets. And we've all read the gruesome headlines about Chicago's cruel streets. But what's worse is Chicago has become the center of the national gun debate, and the city's youth has taken the hardest hit from gun violence.

While the move has been celebrated by local and hip-hop news outlets, it's unclear what these jobs will actually look like and how much they'll pay. The Chicago Youth Jobs Collaborative focuses on finding year-round employment for young people between the ages of 16 and 24, and also provides mentoring and support services. Read more at the Urban League.