Selma’s youth will have the chance of earning a paycheck this summer with the city of Selma’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

The annual summer jobs program will hold its lottery drawing Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center. Participants, ages 15 to 22, will be selected for a variety of jobs. Potential candidates must be present if their names are called. Doors will close at 5 p.m.

Mayor George Evans and other city employees will pull at random the names of candidates. Each individual will pull 15 names, and approximately 150 young people will return home with a job for the summer. Twenty alternates will also be selected should those picked not be able to work.

City of Selma Human Resources Director Val Jones said she hopes more funding will come in for additional jobs, considering over 400 applications were received for the program.

“Right now we have about 150 people we’ll be hiring,” she said. “We’re encouraging businesses and sponsors to donate.”

After the selection process, candidates will be interviewed within the next two weeks. They will then be divided into two sessions.

The first session will start June 2 through June 25. The second session will be July 6 through July 30.

Each summer employee will work 16 hours each week from Monday through Thursday at a pay rate of $7.25 per hour.

Jones strongly urges selected applicants to carry out the full four-week job requirements.

“If you can not make the full four-week commitment, then you can’t be in the program,” she said. “It’s unfair to the other youth who want to be in the program.”

A wide selection of jobs will be available to selected candidates. Areas of employment include the mayor’s office, the city council office, the police department, the planning and development office, the Selma-Dallas County Public Library and other departments.

The program gives Selma’s youth something positive to do on this summer, Evans said.

“There are roughly 200 children who’ll be working, when they might be doing something else,” he said. “It’ll give them working skills and money in their pockets to do things they want this summer.”