Youth look to City Hall for more job funding

The summer of 2004 was a critical time for Gordon Encarnacion.

“It was my first job,” he said of his stint at City School, located in Uphams Corner. “I stopped dealing. I stopped carrying a gun.”

Instead, Encarnacion helped City School, a nonprofit youth education program, conduct workshops on classism, racism, violence and health education.

Encarnacion recognizes that he is one of the lucky teens who was able to obtain a summer job. But as funding for summer jobs and youth programming has dropped precipitously in recent years, opportunities like a job at City School have become scarcer.

On Monday, Encarnacion and other teenagers filed into City Hall for what has become a new tradition for youth activists and youth workers: appealing to the city for more funds.

“This is the third year we have been asking for the same thing,” Encarnacion said. “Instead of increasing the number of summer jobs, they increase the number of police. The violence goes up.”

The press conference was sponsored by United Youth and Youth Workers of Greater Boston, a coalition of 93 Boston-area youth groups. This year, coalition members are calling on the city for an $8 million increase in funding for summer jobs, outreach workers and youth programming.

The organization is calling for $4.5 million to be applied to year-round and summer jobs, $2 million in grants for youth programs and a $1.5 million increase in funding for the city’s street worker program.

Since 2001, the city has cut $4.8 million in funding for youth job programs. Those cuts came as state funding also disappeared. In 2003, the state cut more than $90 million in tobacco settlement money that had been used for anti-tobacco programs across the state. Health centers, social service agencies and community-based organizations had used the funds to hire teen outreach workers.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick recently announced an increase of $350,000 in summer jobs funding.

The youth and youth workers acknowledge that their calls for more funding for youth programming runs counter to the city’s strategy of getting more cops on the streets.

“The city has invested in police to solve the problem of violence in our communities,” said Corina McCarthy-Fadel. “And today, Boston boasts 17 murders, and increase of 70 percent from [this time] last year. We say that the violence is a symptom of larger problems in our communities. More opportunities for youth will decrease the violence in our streets and improve our city as a whole.”

The press conference came as city officials were preparing to release their budget for the next fiscal year. While the youth activists had met with Menino to air their request for more funds, they received no assurances that their demands would be met.

In addition to the new funding, the teens are calling on the city to give them some say as to how the additional funds are spent.

“Youth are the people affected by violence,” said Carlos Moreno, who works with the Roxbury Environmental Education Project. “The city needs to include our voice so we can be decision makers and become the leaders of tomorrow.”