Mejia asks Wu administration for a job-by-job list of school-year youth jobs

Boston says it has more than 1,600 school-year jobs for teenagers toward a goal of 2,000. City Councilor Julia Mejia wants to see the list behind that number.

Mejia filed an order under Section 17F, a provision of the state law governing Boston's government that lets the council formally request information from the mayor, asking the administration to deliver detailed records on school-year youth jobs within one week (docket 2051). It is on the agenda for the council's Wednesday, Oct. 28 meeting.

This follows the council's Oct. 21 vote to send City Councilor Henry Santana's hearing order on the future of SuccessLink to committee, which we covered in Council calls hearing on youth jobs after SuccessLink school-year changes. What's new: a formal records request that asks the city to break its count down job by job.

What the city has said

In June the city said it would build a public-private coalition to reach 2,000 school-year "learn and earn" jobs for students ages 14 to 18, and that SuccessLink placed 1,722 students in school-year jobs in 2025-26, according to a city announcement. The program lost most of its city funding in the budget, the Boston Globe reported in June.

In September, the Globe reported that the city had money for 400 paid jobs in city agencies and 200 stipend positions, with private employers committing 663 jobs and donors funding 340 more, leaving it about 400 short of its goal.

What the order asks for

The order asks for a spreadsheet of every school-year position or commitment counted toward the 2,000 goal, with 16 fields for each, including:

• who provides it, and whether it is a specific job, a fellowship, a program with a smaller stipend, a job a young person found with help, or funding for jobs not yet named;
• whether it is public or private, the number of slots, weeks, hours and pay;
• whether it was posted on the city's futureBOS site and how many slots were open when posted;
• its funding source, and whether private funding is long or short term;
• how many positions existed last school year and how many were funded by the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity and SuccessLink.

It also asks whether programs with smaller stipends, or 12-week jobs through the Private Industry Council, count toward the 2,000 goal; for a list of private funding commitments and the jobs they support; and for lists of community organizations and city agencies that applied for youth job slots and how many they got. If the full data takes longer, it asks for existing documents behind the administration's count of 1,600 jobs.

What our records show

• The hearing is still waiting. Santana's hearing order (docket 1966) was referred to the Labor and Economic Development Committee on Oct. 21. No hearing date has been posted.
• 17F answers can lag. Section 17F asks for a response within a week, but on Oct. 21 the council unanimously passed City Councilor Erin Murphy's order pressing the administration on three unanswered 17F requests from September (our story).
• Grant money for youth jobs. In May the council accepted a $2.52 million state YouthWorks grant, 12-0 (docket 1032). Wednesday's agenda includes a $2,409,496.20 federal WIOA Youth Program grant (docket 2025).

What's next

If the council adopts the order, the administration is asked to respond within a week. Students can apply for school-year jobs through futureBOS.