On November 13, 2003, the Mayor's Youth Corps was announced during a news conference on the bank of the Hillsborough River behind Howard W. Blake High School. Youth Corps will involve students in meaningful community service projects while focusing on leadership development. Students from local high schools joined then-Mayor Pam Iorio, Hillsborough County Superintendent Dr. Earl Lennard and Gene Marshall, Senior Vice President of JP Morgan Chase, the program's presenting corporate sponsor, for the announcement.