A young boy plays in water.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker -- joined by fellow municipal officials -- on Tuesday unveiled details about summer events and job opportunities that will be available for youth throughout the city and young adults through the #ItsASummerThing campaign.
Parker and officials from the Office of Children and Families, The Department of Parks & Recreation, The Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department, and other agencies, met to discuss -- what city officials called in a statement -- "an exciting line-up of fun, enriching and adult-supervised, free or low-cost activities and programs for children, teens and families all season long."
"The lineup this year, it does not disappoint," Parker said opening an event on the city's summer programs.
Parker said that this year's #ItsASummerThing campaign will offer new elements under her administration after being launched last year under then-mayor Jim Kenney.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
A city website for the campaign notes that there will be at least two new programs this summer -- Career Connected Learning and a Summer Achievers program.
The Career Connected Learning program, as described online, will provide paid, hands-on, work-based learning experiences for youth in Philly from ages 12 through 24.
These experiences are detailed as ways to "set young people up for career and economic success."
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Parker said this program will replace the WorkReady program.
The Summer Achievers program, as detailed online, will help children in first through eighth grades with math and reading support, camp-like activities, meals and field trips, all at no cost to families.
Parker said 4,000 school district students will be able to participate in Summer Achievers.
"That's huge, right?" the mayor asked to a round of applause when she introduced the program on Tuesday.
Kenyatta Johnson (D-2nd dist.), president of City Council took a moment to discuss the need for the campaign to bring programs to young people throughout the city and help keep kids out of trouble.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop. So, I'm a neighborhood guy, born and raised in South Philadelphia, and when I wasn't involved in something positive, you best believe me and my friends would be in your neighborhood doing something negative," he said naming programs he was involved in as a youth. "All of those type of programs helped me become the young man that I am today."
Susan Slawson, the new commissioner of the city's Department of Parks and Recreation said that she was excited for all of the program that the city's intends to bring to children and families citywide.
"We're actually excited that we will have sixty of our pools open this summer and that will be a vacation spot for many of our kids," she said.
She noted that, to staff these pools, they will need 400 lifeguards, and the city will be providing $1,000 bonuses for those who sign up by April 15 to be lifeguards to help ensure they can hire the number they need.
"We need lifeguards. We need your support," said Slawson.
The #ItsASummerThing campaign was initially developed as a nod to the Philadelphia Eagles' unofficial slogan from that year's season -- "It's a Philly thing." -- and included over 100 summer camps at parks and rec. centers, swimming and free swimming lesson at municipal pools and spraygrounds, out-of-school summer camps at schools and community-based locations all across the city, reading activities at public library branches and other events and opportunities.
To learn more about the #ItsASummerThing campaign or sign up to be part of these programs, jobs and other opportunities, visit the city's website for the effort.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
