On a recent budget-slashing spree, Gov. Paterson has proposed eliminating the state’s $20 million contribution to the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), leading city teens to voice their displeasure with a 200-person rally in City Hall Park on Thursday. The program, which placed a record 52,000 14-24 year-old youths in summer jobs last year, is facing cutbacks of more than 33% for the coming summer.
Since the 1970s, SYEP has given summer jobs to kids from low-income families in the offices of elected officials, small businesses, hospitals, and childcare centers. The proposed budget cuts come in conjunction with the disappearance of another $18 million in federal stimulus funds and Mayor Bloomberg's proposed additional $1 million cut, leaving about $25 million in city and federal money and limiting the young people who receive summer jobs to about 17,000.
The cuts come as a double blow to family service programs, since 41% of youth employed through SYEP help staff more than 2,400 free summer camps. Betsy Fabricant, who runs Visions Center on Blindness, a Rockland County camp for blind youth, employs roughly 10% of her staff through SYEP. She tells the Times, "If we don't have enough staff, we have to limit the number of people we can serve in any particular session, and that's hard."
The funding for SYEP largely came from excess welfare funding in years past, but with increased welfare caseloads, that excess is dwindling, causing major cutbacks in many low-income programs in recent months. "Without [SYEP] kids would be on the street, standing on the corner, doing I don't know what instead of earning money," said 16-year-old Bronx resident Nachaell Gonzalez at yesterday's protest.
