In an effort to get more young, college-educated professionals to live and work in Middletown, city officials are borrowing a page from the city of Hamilton’s playbook by creating and launching its own fellowship program next year.

Middletown City Council voted last month to fund a fellowship program in 2013 that would mirror Hamilton’s, which employs three recent post-graduates as fellows to work in that city’s economic development and utility departments. Middletown’s fellow program would pay an hourly salary between $10.40 and $13.70 without benefits.

“The goal is…to provide some more youthful perspective to our workforce,” said Middletown City Manager Judy Gilleland.

While the job description and the program is still in the planning stages, one thing that is known is the fellow will be encouraged to live downtown. City Council approved a $500 a month housing allowance, which Gilleland said would “promote living in the downtown area.”

Hamilton’s fellows receive housing, a $12,000 annual value, at the Historic Mercantile Lofts downtown across the street from One Renaissance Center (Hamilton’s City Hall) and a $25,000 annual salary.

“Definitely, one of our strategic initiatives is to get the young professionals to live downtown,” said Hamilton City Manager Joshua Smith.

Hamilton has had its fellowship program for about 18 months, and is modeled after the program Smith started in Howard, Wisconsin, the community he worked for prior to Hamilton.

Even though the city is paying for fellows to live downtown, Smith said the work the fellows provide would cost the city about $125,000 more a year if it had to pay the actual value of their services.

“You get very low-cost employees that don’t get health insurance,” Smith said. “It gives them an opportunity to build their resume, and we get a great value of those who have a master’s degree.”

And as advice to the city of Middletown, Smith said any fellow should be deeply engaged and involved in the city government, working with department heads and City Council.

“You’re paying a much lower salary without benefits, but get them into much higher-involved work,” Smith said. “Get their hands dirty quickly on community-oriented projects.”

Even though it’s a low-paying job, Hamilton’s program draws from some of the top graduate and public administration programs in the country, Smith said. The city receives applications from Harvard, Syracuse and Indiana universities, as well as, Miami University in Oxford.