At a press conference held last Wednesday, rapper-turned-actor Common announced that his foundation has joined forces with Kanye West’s company DONDA’s House Inc. along with the Chicago Urban League to create more than 20,000 jobs for youth in Chicago. 

From Poppin Lines:

After a studied revealed that 92% of black teens in Chicago are unemployed, Common hopes that these jobs will provide black youth with enough opportunity to detour them from a life of crime.

“Obviously, one of the biggest reasons our kids are going through what they’re going through is because of poverty. I was doing an event in the neighborhood and there were some kids from Englewood and I said, ‘Man, what do y’all really need? What’s gonna stop this?’ And they were like, ‘We need money. Man, if we could work.’ They want a chance,” said rapper Common.

Read more at Poppin Lines

The initiative will also bring a music festival to the city, that will act as a yearly fundraiser to raise money for the jobs and other programs.

No word yet on line-up for the festival but the organizers are hoping to pull a few big names from the city.

Outstanding.

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