Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that more than 1,250 Baltimore City residents will be employed at the Horseshoe Baltimore casino, representing 51 percent of the staff hired as of August 21. After extensive recruitment and outreach efforts coordinated by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), in partnership with Horseshoe Baltimore, city residents will comprise a majority of the more than 2,400 employees that will staff the gaming facility, which celebrates its grand opening tonight.

Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was joined by Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce President Charles R. Owens, the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board’s Business Engagement Committee, and others to recognize local companies and organizations for instituting successful workforce initiatives. Each of the honored businesses received the BWIB Business Award for Workforce Development Excellence at the Chamber’s Breakfast with the Mayor event held at the Rawlings-Fulton Clubhouse.

Today marks the start of week two of Baltimore City’s 2014 YouthWorks summer jobs program, through which more than 5,200 young people ages of 14-21 have been offered opportunities to gain real-world work experience through six-week positions at public- and private-sector worksites throughout Baltimore. 

Youth Opportunity (YO!) Baltimore hosted a special graduation event this evening for its 2014 class of 93 young adults who chose to pursue alternative education after facing challenges in traditional settings. The event honored 57 students who graduated from the YO! Academy, an alternative high school that operates in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, and 36 young people who earned their Maryland high school diplomas through the city’s two YO! Baltimore centers in East and West Baltimore.