* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Henry
At the request of: The Safe and Sound Campaign
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Increased Funding for Youth Summer Jobs
FOR the purpose of supporting the Baltimore Safe and Sound Campaign in its call to double City funding for summer jobs to ensure that all young people have an opportunity to gain summer work experience.
body
Recitals
The Education and Youth Committee of the Baltimore City Council held a roundtable discussion on January 19, 2012 that generated a number of ideas worth pursuing. One of the participants, the Baltimore Safe & Sound Campaign, presented the idea of doubling funding for summer jobs programs for young people.
Last year, over 6,000 youth applied for only 5,000 slots - over 1,000 kids who wanted summer jobs were denied the opportunity. Doubling funding for summer jobs programs would allow as many as 10,000 young people to be employed over the summer in Fiscal Year 2013. This would make it much more likely that all young people who wanted a summer job would have the opportunity to get one, unlike at current funding levels.
Young people deserve the opportunity to develop skills and prepare for the "real" world. Summer jobs provide many youth with their first taste of the working world and provide a foundation of skills that will help them succeed throughout their lives. These jobs also provide young people with both an increased sense of self-worth that comes from earning an honest day's pay and an infusion of funds that can meet their own needs and help to keep the lights on at home when times are tough. Approximately 75% of their earnings will be spent on consumable supplies, increasing the sales tax revenue generated in the City.
These job opportunities reduce crime by staving off both financial desperation and sheer boredom and ensure that our young people will have the skills that future employers need from the workforce in Baltimore. The City's current summer jobs program, YouthWorks, takes advantage of the widespread recognition of the value of summer jobs for youth to the City as a whole in its efforts to procure funding from the private sector as well as all levels of government. Still, more effort needs to be made to ensure that every young person who wants to work over the summer is able to.
Although the City is once again faced with a projected shortfall in its budget for 2013, priority funding is urged (through creative use of City funds or stepped up efforts to procure support from the private sector) to develop our future work force and directly contribute to public safety.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Council supports the Baltimore Safe and Sound Campaign in its call to double City funding for summer jobs to ensure that all young people have an opportunity to gain summer work experience.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Employment Development, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
dlr12-0117(3)~intro/22Feb12
ccres/DblSumJobs/tw
dlr12-0117(3)~intro/22Feb12
????
ccres/DblSumJobs/tw