Summer Jobs Funding Will Be Restored

Much to the relief of civic leaders, federal officials announced Friday that they will restore $17.8 million in funding to provide 13,000 summer and 2,000 year-round jobs for low-income teenagers in Los Angeles.

Federal budget cuts had threatened to eliminate the jobs program this year--idling thousands of young people and putting an end to hundreds of community cleanup and day-care programs staffed by the teens.

But at the behest of Mayor Richard Riordan and other officials, federal lawmakers revived the program.

Although the federal government will provide 75% of what the city received last year, local officials believe they can still offer the same number of jobs by cutting administrative costs, shortening the length of the program and pressing private firms to contribute.

“This is great news for Los Angeles,” said Riordan, who teamed up with New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani last month to urge restoration of the program. “This funding will give thousands of young Angelenos the opportunity to find jobs--and the dignity, pride and self esteem that goes along with those jobs.”

City Councilman Mike Feuer agreed, saying the jobs are likely to keep teenagers out of trouble. “Getting summer jobs for youth is the most effective way to prevent violence among kids,” he said.

The $870-million summer youth employment program--a nationwide effort that pays the salaries of low-income teens while they work with nonprofit community groups--was scuttled by Congress last year during budget battles. Last year, the city received $23.5 million to pay 15,000 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 21 a salary of $5 an hour. The program lasts six weeks.

When word got to Los Angeles that funding had been cut, city officials and youth program directors predicted an increase in crime among the thousands of teenagers who benefit from the program.

And two weeks ago, officials at the city’s Community Development Department, which oversees the work program in Los Angeles, feared that even if the money were restored, it would be too late to revive the program in time for the summer school break.

But Feuer said Friday that “there is plenty of time to do this.”