Boston Must Fully Fund Summer Jobs for Youth

This will be a fairly short editorial (by my usual - rather loquacious - standards anyway). We're still in a deep recession marked by significant long-term job loss ... whatever Moody's and other business-oriented economic observers are currently saying to the contrary. Young people from poor families have extremely high rates of unemployment in the best of times, and these are hardly the best of times. Poor neighborhoods in urban areas like Boston remain redlined and disenfranchised by powerful interests in some important ways; so there are very few available jobs to be had by the young people who grow up in them that are not backed by public dollars. If local government doesn't put money into such jobs, then young people will have to go without gainful employment and needed on-the-job training. High unemployment among any group leads to a host of other societal problems. Especially high unemployment among young people with lots of energy and nowhere to make use of it. And a lack of employment among poor teenagers means their chance of making it to college is even lower than it would otherwise be.

Based on information given by city officials at Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo's recent hearing on funding youth summer jobs, last year almost 8000 Boston young people applied for publicly-funded summer jobs. And only 3500 were funded. Now, thanks in large part to ongoing cuts in state aid to young people and to newly-minted Sen. Scott Brown's every-so-helpful vote against federal stimulus funding for youth summer jobs earlier this month, under half that many jobs will be available - while the demand for youth summer jobs remains at the same level as last year. It will cost maybe a few million dollars to fund enough jobs to at least match last year's level, but the task of getting the needed funds before summer starts has now dumped in the City of Boston's lap by higher levels of government. Fortunately, the city does have some pots of money it can use for that purpose - notably its rainy day fund. But despite the good showing by young activists and the advocacy groups they are members of at Arroyo's hearing (and the rally that preceded it) last week, getting the money and keeping it flowing in the years to come will still be difficult.

Open Media Boston therefore calls on Bostonians to pressure city council members that have not supported the cause of maintaining (and ideally, increasing) the funds necessary to give as many summer jobs as possible to youth in need. And we ask the council and Mayor Thomas Menino to use some emergency money to keep youth summer jobs programs afloat this year, and figure out ways to make expand the programs to meet the real demand in the years to come. Failure to do so will be bad for the City of Boston, and for an entire generation of local young people. But this is one problem that is completely avoidable with a relatively small infusion of public cash. So let's spend the money where it will really count for a change.

Jason Pramas is Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston