A Special Report: Jobs : 10,000 Fewer City Summer Jobs for Youths Being Funded

The city’s Summer Jobs Program, the main citywide employment vehicle for youths from poor families, began this week with about $12 million less in funding--and about half as many jobs--than last summer.

The cutback means that 10,000 fewer youths than last year will be employed this summer, officials said. Under the federally funded program, 14- to 21-year-olds work for six weeks at community-based organizations and government agencies. Last year the city received funding for about 21,000 jobs.

A “substantial” number of those youths live in Central Los Angeles, said Sue Flores, administrator of job training programs with the city’s Community Development Department. She said the city received more than 20,000 job applications.

City officials had initially expected $50 million, or enough to fund 35,000 jobs. “We were all advised to do an all-out effort to advertise the program,” she said.

Instead, Flores said, the $16.7 million that the city received July 2 will only be enough for about 11,000 jobs. The program is one of President Clinton’s domestic-agenda proposals that has been cut back by Congress.