ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) – With summer fast approaching, many teenagers are looking for summer jobs. A program in Albany is helping hundreds of teens find work. But the city says it can’t do it alone, as it looks to partner with more local businesses. The city says it is covering the cost of payroll so participating businesses don’t have to.

“We actually saw an increase of 18-year-olds, so that’s mind blowing for us because usually over the course of the last five years we’ve seen a drop in 18-year-olds,” said Jonathan Jones, the Commissioner of the Albany Summer Youth Employment Program, at an April 22nd meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Family Services committee.

Jones says 1,232 teens applied for the program during the registration period that ran from February 26th to March 31st. He says 823 applicants completed the registration by submitting the necessary documents.

‘So that’s a big increase of numbers over about 100 from last year to this year, which is great for us’, said Youth Program Facilitator Diamond Quiles.

“Shout out to everyone with the outreach. Shout out to you guys for sharing this with your communities because without that we wouldn’t be able to have the numbers that we have today.”

The employment program runs from July 7th to August 9th. Teens aged 14 to 18 will be eligible to work up to 20-hours per week, Monday to Friday, with a cap of 4 hours per shift. The program does not allow shifts extending beyond 8 p.m.

Teens can apply at 24 “work sites” including local businesses, as well as city and state jobs.

“So that might be working with the library, doing some clerical work here at the state buildings, being a business ambassador, gardening, being part of real estate, maybe daycare or summer camps.,” said Youth Outreach Coordinator Tyler Simmons.

These long-lasting impressions on our youth gives them the opportunity to be exposed to something that they possibly weren’t thinking about maybe a year or two ago.

The city says it subsidizes the cost of payroll for local businesses who participate. The program says its now recruiting more “work sites.” As more teens look for a summer gig this year, Commissioner Jones says it will be challenging to find jobs for all of them.

“This is tough work because right now we’re down 500 jobs. So, we have 500 more young people that we have jobs right now, and we have about 9 weeks to figure this out,” Jones told the committee on April 22nd.

“My goal in this is not only to expose them to careers, but to make them understand why Albany is the best place to live throughout their duration. When I first came here, a lot of young people would go to school here, live here, and then say I never want to come back. But there are a lot of resources here. So, this is a place you should want to live, you should want to grow your family, you can actually afford to do that here, so that’s one of the goals of this program.”

If you are a business owner who would like to participate or if you are a teen interested in signing up for next year, check out the Summer Youth Employment program site here.