Almost 3,000 jobless youngsters are set to work with employment mentors and receive training grants in a £4 million scheme to help them find work.
Council and business bosses were handed the cash to spend on training for 2,800 of Birmingham's 9,000 unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds in Perry Barr, Washwood Heath and Chelmsley Wood.
The initiative aims to find full-time work for at least 1,500 of them.
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The money, from the Government's 'Tackling Unemployment in Cities Fund', was welcomed by the Labour-run city council's jobs boss Coun Tahir Ali.
"This is £4 million funding towards dealing with our priority of tackling youth unemployment," he told an authority cabinet meeting.
"We are currently among the worst-performing core cities on youth unemployment and it is our aim to put us among the best performing."
Coun Ali said the scheme would build on initiatives such as the Youth Jobs Fund, which was launched last year, but there was caution from opposition members who thought the council could go further.
Liberal Democrat group leader Coun Paul Tilsley said around 2,000 apprenticeships were waiting to be filled.
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He said: "Many of them are quality apprenticeships. If we could do that we would cut youth unemployment by a quarter.
"Whenever we talk to business we are told skills are the major problem and the barrier to work."
Tory Coun Bruce Lines complained the money was being targeted on inner-city areas.
"We know there are great problems in the inner city wards but there are young unemployed in all areas," he said.
"Young people everywhere really deserve this opportunity. We should have a more balanced approach."
But Coun Ali said the terms of the cash award made it clear the money should be spent on high-unemployment areas.
He said: "This is a condition of the bid. We do have other funding for apprenticeships and training in other parts of the city."