NILES — Michigan Department of Transportation Youth Development and Mentoring Program Manager, Don Marshall, directs young adults as they clean up and update downtown. High school and college graduates, ages 16 to 24, work and learn about how to be successful in leadership and group tasks.

The MDOT program is a two-month paid program where young adults work 34 hours a week. Twenty-one of those hours are working, 13 are learning.

Marshall said they go to different cultural events, museums, and learn about the movement of goods.

Marshall has visited and presented at 25 high schools around the area to recruit new members to the five-year program.

The MDOT program started with 31 members. Right now they have 66 and next year they are hoping to have 84. Recruiting starts in April and the program lasts from June to mid-August. (Leader photos/EMILY SOBECKI)