Youth activists press Wu on school-year jobs. The council's request for the job-by-job list has no answer yet

Young organizers told Mayor Michelle Wu that relying on private money for school-year youth jobs isn't working, the Dorchester Reporter reported Wednesday. The exchange happened at a mayor's coffee hour at the Shelburne Community Center in Roxbury on Oct. 22. The activists, from the Youth Justice Empowerment Union, asked her to file a supplemental budget to restore city funding and to meet with them this month. We don't name them because they are private residents.

For Boston teenagers and their families, the question is how many paid jobs are actually open this school year, at what pay, and who pays for them.

What the Reporter found

• The pledge. After cuts in the spring, Wu pledged in April to raise private money for up to 2,000 year-round youth jobs, the Reporter wrote. Facing a $50 million revenue shortfall, she zeroed out the youth jobs line in this year's city budget, according to the paper.
• The listings. About two months after school started, the city had listed just over 500 teen positions, the Reporter found, relying heavily on well-funded nonprofits and city agencies. The activists said many listings were "professional development opportunities" with stipends as low as $100.
• The mayor's response. Wu asked for the names of teenagers who need work and urged them to "get the actual names," the paper reported. A mayor's liaison ended the conversation. The Reporter did not say whether Wu agreed to the November meeting.

The city's own count is higher. Mejia's order refers to an administration count of about 1,600 school-year jobs toward the goal of 2,000, and in September the Boston Globe reported it was about 400 short. The figures may count different things, such as jobs, stipend programs and private commitments. That is the question the council asked the administration to answer.

What our records add

The records request is past its one-week window. On Oct. 28 the council voted 13-0 for City Councilor Julia Mejia's Section 17F order asking for a spreadsheet of every school-year position counted toward the 2,000 goal, with funding sources and pay (docket 2051; our story). It asked for answers within a week. The Nov. 4 agenda carried three 17F responses, on BPS contracting, parking meters and White Stadium, but none on youth jobs (meeting). Many 17F answers arrive weeks or months late (our Oct. 24 story).

The council's position is on the record. On June 24, the council adopted Mejia's resolution calling for long-term and sustainable public investment in school-year youth jobs, 12-0, with City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata absent (docket 1196). It had been tabled two weeks earlier.

Three youth-jobs items are waiting in the Labor and Economic Development Committee:

• City Councilor Henry Santana's order for a hearing on youth jobs' results and future, filed in February, with 11 sponsors: 267 days, no hearing in our records (docket 0344).
• Santana's order for a hearing on the future of SuccessLink, the city's youth employment program, since Oct. 21 (docket 1966; our story).
• A $250,000 Boston Foundation grant for the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity, since Sept. 23 (docket 1776).

More youth money arrived this month. The $2,409,496.20 federal WIOA Youth Program grant has been in the same committee since Oct. 28 (docket 2025). On Nov. 4 the council sent it a $70,000 State Street grant, through the Friends of Youth Opportunity Boston, for work-and-learn opportunities for people ages 14 to 24 (docket 2086).

What's next

• The 17F answer. When it arrives, it will appear on a council agenda as a message from the mayor and on our docket page. The next regular meeting is Nov. 18.
• The hearings. The Labor and Economic Development Committee's chair sets hearing dates. None had been posted for these items as of Thursday.
• Students can apply for school-year jobs through futureBOS.