Boston youth

At least 40% more young workers will be hired this year through the summer jobs program of Action for Boston Community Development, the local anti-poverty agency known by its acronym, ABCD.

Mayor Michelle Wu last week outlined an ambitious agenda to support the city’s young people, pledging investments in early education, arts and sports programming, youth jobs and other key areas in a speech at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau.

In the Roxbury Innovation Center offices on the second floor of the Bruce Bolling Municipal Building, three dozen students are imagining being stranded on an island in the Pacific Ocean with nothing but cardboard, plastic cups, toothpicks, scissors and glue to make any tools or articles needed for survival.

On Sunday, July 22, the Boston Children’s Museum hosted the second annual Boston Youth Dance Festival in partnership with Urbanity Dance. The festival included performances by Chhandika, Chu Ling Dance Academy, Hyde Square Task Force, Jean Appolon Expressions and Urbanity Dance, among others, as well as free dance lessons from each group.

A group of talented Boston and Everett teens is currently three weeks through the six-week City Spotlights Summer Leadership Program at the Boch Center. The students work 25 hours a week building their skill sets through arts employment.

The Office of Mayor Martin Walsh announced that it is now accepting applications for the 2018-2019 SPARK Boston Council, a group of volunteers ages 20-34, charged with leading the city’s efforts to engage Boston’s young adult population.