To help teens and young adults in Tomball find job, volunteer and internship opportunities, the City of Tomball is hosting a Youth Opportunities Fair April 4. The city is seeking businesses and organizations to participate in the free event, which is open to 15- to 21-year-olds.

"Last year we created this event to reach out to the youth of our community that might not know how to start a job search or what companies would have opportunities for them," said Lisa Coe, the city's director of human resources. "We continued to receive calls from area youth for several weeks after the fair."

More than 200 young adults attended last year's fair and 24 businesses and organizations sent representatives, according to Coe. The response from the business participants was favorable, she said.

"Buffalo Wild Wings was so impressed with the young adults that they began holding interviews in the back of the Tomball Community Center, [which was] last year's location," Coe said. "Pam Chavez from Mountasia told me today it was a great recruiting event, and they still have some of the employees they picked up last year from the fair."

Companies slated to attend the event so far include H-E-B, the YMCA, Lone Star College–Tomball Community Library, Wings-N-More, Mountasia, TOMAGWA Healthcare Ministries, the U.S. Army, Dickey's Barbeque Pit, Crow Corporation, Northwest Assistance Ministries, Boys and Girls Country, Tomball Police Department, Tomball Fire Department and Tomball Public Works department.

"Our goal for this event is to provide an opportunity for organizations to meet some of the great young adults we have in this area and provide an opportunity for those young adults to see more of the potential places to work or volunteer," she said.

The Youth Opportunities Fair will be held at the Beckendorf Conference Center at LSC–Tomball, which is located at 30555 Hwy. 249 Business. Business and organization interested in displaying at the fair should contact Tomball City Hall at 281-290-1018.