This spring, the Obama administration announced that it would target Baltimore, along with 15 other cities, to increase the number of young people hired for summer jobs at federal workplaces. While this kind of support is a terrific starting point to engage our city's youth in meaningful, productive experiences during their time off from school, it is just that — a start.

One of the biggest mistakes that local governments make is placing too much credence on federal support, rather than looking at how they can solve the problem themselves. How many projects get delayed because we are waiting on federal dollars? To really be successful in creating opportunity for our youth, the Baltimore community must depend on itself. Summer jobs are an important part of every child's development into a contributing member of their community, and it is up to the individual and corporate citizens of Baltimore to cultivate these opportunities for our city's youth.

From the age of 16, I worked every single summer. Now, as the president of 1st Mariner Bank, hardly a day goes by when I don't put something that I learned at one of those summer jobs to use. Whether it was working the assembly line at Cover Girl makeup, or my first bank job, as a teller, I learned skills that I have carried with me over the course of my entire career.

Summer jobs provide so many benefits for young people. In addition to the opportunity to earn money, a summer job instills responsibility and discipline. Work gives kids experiences that are difficult to get in school or at home, such as managing their own money, dealing with challenging people and behaving in a professional setting, along with an awareness of the opportunities that lay before them.

I know that from my own experience, a summer job can also provide a young person with a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment. Every time I drive by one of the buildings that was built during the summer I worked construction, I point it out to my own kids as I reminisce about carrying bricks throughout a typical Baltimore summer.

In many of Baltimore's neighborhoods, good summer jobs are critical to keeping kids off the streets and out of trouble. Summer jobs provide our youth with a productive way to spend their idle time.

To be clear, cultivating summer job opportunities for our young people is not just to their benefit. Baltimore's young people have a tremendous amount of knowledge that they can offer to our local businesses, especially when it comes to technology and social media. I've been impressed time and time again at the way that the younger generations can come in and apply technology to solving a problem or enhancing our social media presence. We have four extremely talented young people working with us at 1st Mariner this summer, and we expect that all of them will make tangible contributions to the bank.

Companies need to recognize these assets and capitalize on young people's availability and willingness to work during the summer months. There are many initiatives, such as Johns Hopkins' BLocal program, that are helping to address this issue by bringing the business community together to commit to creating opportunity in Baltimore. We are proud to be partnering with 25 other Baltimore-area businesses to expand existing programs or launch new ones to build, hire, invest and buy locally. It's our hope and goal that these programs will create opportunities for our communities this summer and beyond. We hope that you'll consider joining us. This year, a summer job is an investment in the future of Baltimore.

Rob Kunisch is president and chief operating officer of 1st Mariner Bank. His email is rkunisch@1stmarinerbank.com.