NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones announced a $500 million youth initiative on Monday.

It’s called the Newport News Youth T.H.R.I.V.E. Initiative. The initiative has support from the city, state and federal government agencies, businesses, faith groups, and non-profits.

Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones gives inaugural state of the city address

Jones previously declared 2024 as the ‘Year of the Youth,’ during his State of the City address in March.

“We were excited to announce a collective investment of over $500 million into supporting our youth. That includes the capital improvement projects, the operating budget for the schools, all of our extra programs,” said Jones. “All the amazing things that we do is all about the youth because they are the center of gravity. They are the most important thing that we have in Newport News.”

Mayor Phillip Jones

Youth T.H.R.I.V.E. stands for Transforming Hearts Renewing Investment Valuing Empowerment. 

As the school year wraps up, city leaders hope to assist 16-17 year olds and young adults 18-24 with a job through the Youth Career Program.

“We entitled Councilwoman [Tina] Vick because she’s been a sponsor for a long time. I’m really excited to have an opportunity for the youth to have summer employment,” said Jones.

Through the program, the city plans to help teens find a job this summer with support from industries like Riverside and Huntington Ingalls.

“They are committed to the well-being and the success of our young people,” said Vick.  “Being a person who born and raised in Newport News and experienced having a summer job myself, and how that led to my success. I am really on board with knowing, not just thinking, but knowing when our kids have a summer job opportunity to create a hard work ethic for themselves. I know it’s going to also equate to them being successful as adults.”

City leaders are calling on business owners, managers and faith-based organizations to hire students. The City of Newport News will cover $15 stipends for each participant, averaging 25 hours a week of work, according to the employee partner application.

“We’re allowing businesses in the city to be able to call [the if they have positions for our youth and the city, we will pay them $15 an hour,” said Vick. 

The hope is to address gun violence this summer. In 2023 alone, there were seven shooting incidents involving children in Newport News.

As of May 19 this year, there have been two juveniles shot in Newport News. One of the victims, a 14-year-old, died.

“The gun violence, the teen violence … That’s very disturbing. As a leader in our city, as our families, our residents… we need to be working together to find solutions and not just accept that our teens will have this as an option…teen violence,” said Tina. “This payment of a job for the summer is going to create a revenue stream for them, and they can bypass the negativity that can lead to destruction in their lives and go on this path with youth career program to have a productive life.”

The city is bringing back the Friday Night Nets Basketball League. The free event is every Friday from 6 p.m. – 11 p.m. at the Achievable Dream Tennis Center and at the Denbigh Community Center. 

“The most important thing is a safe space for our youth, and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Jones. “Now they’re in the summertime now. There’s a lot of idle hands across the Peninsula. The way we’re going to mitigate that is to have a safe space every Friday night. It’s going to be pizza. There’s Gatorade, there’s a pool, there’s haircuts.”

Mayor Jones said it is easy to get involved to help create solutions for the next generation.

“We make it very easy to get involved and also to bring your kids,” said Jones. “How can I get involved? Well, very easy. Come out Friday night to Denbigh Community Center or Achievable Dream every Friday night for ‘Night Net’ for the entire summer. Come out and support because a lot of these kids just need someone to talk to or play a little basketball with.”

Jones added, “We have transportation and it’s safe, it’s secure, but we need people to show up. Every single week it’s been growing. We’d love to see more people find out about this program. We’ve invested a lot of money and resources into this.”

Learn about all of the Youth THRIVE programs at https://www.nnva.gov/2983/Youth-Initiative.