"Employment! Want it!” echoed through the Well of the Legislative Office Building in Albany on January 30^th, as 250 New York City youth emphasized their need for summer jobs. This year marks the 13^th annual Albany lobby day for The Campaign for Summer Jobs, co-sponsored by United Neighborhood Houses and Neighborhood Family Services Coalition.

The two youth emcees, David Hope (age 25) and Gabriella Wilkinson (age 16), got the crowd motivated for the day ahead. Gabriella said, “Thanks to SYEP, I now have a job I love at a Beacon Center, leading activities for kids.” Other speeches by teens and a performance by the step team from the Child Center of NY in Ozone Park brought the energy of the rally through the roof.

Legislators and officals stopped by to show their support of the rally, which was held to urge State leaders for $35 million for SYEP. Among the speakers were Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senators Bill Perkins, John Sampson, Daniel Squadron, Marty Golden, Valmanette Montgomery, and Adriano Espaillat. “Courage is the word of the day,” said Senator Malcolm Smith, commending the youth for challenging their leaders. Speaker Silver echoed his sentiments, saying, “Make your voices heard. Help us to understand how we can help you.”

The youth met with legislative champions of the program following the event to share their summer job experiences, and to advocate for more funding. Last year, only 31,000 NYC youth of the 130,000 who applied were employed through SYEP - a drop from the 50,000 employed in 2009.  It’s clear that when it comes to employment, youth want it.

View photos here! 

In their own words…

"My summer job gave me something positive to do with my time. I also set an example for my friends, who want to get jobs this summer." Cindy, 14

"It's important for us to speak out for our rights; we need to let the legislators know that kids need money too, and no one wants to stay home and waste their summer on the couch." Damien, 13

"Summer jobs are important because what would happen to the businesses that we work at? Or the camps? We give a lot of extra help." Sherry, 15

 The New York Times School Book mentions United Neighborhood Houses in its discussion of cuts in the Mayor's preliminary budget to funding for thousands of daycare and after-school programs. 

"According to the public advocate, Bill de Blasio, roughly 16,000 daycare seats would be lost if the mayor does not increase financing to the Administration for Children’s Services. And though exact numbers have varied, groups like the Center for Children’s Initiatives and the United Neighborhood Houses have estimated 25,000 positions lost in the city’s Out-of-School Time program, an after-school program that opened under Mayor Bloomberg. "

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 The city's plan to chop after-school programs in half will leave tens of thousands of children with nowhere to go after school, endangering working families and putting children at risk, youth advocates and members of the City Council said Thursday. 

The after-school cuts could force hundreds of parents to quit their jobs in order to care for their children, jeopardizing already tenuous household incomes in the neediest parts of the city, said Nancy Wackstein, executive director of United Neighborhood Houses, an umbrella group that serves about 20,000 children in after-school programs.

"We're going to leave working families, who the mayor says he is committed to, out in the cold," Wackstein said. "If we want to support working families keeping their jobs, we need after-school. If we want to keep kids off the street, from doing bad things, we need to give them good things to do."

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New York City plans to cut financing for an after-school program that opened under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a move that advocates say could cut the number of seats for children nearly in half next year.

Nancy Wackstein, executive director of United Neighborhood Houses — an association of New York settlement houses and community centers — estimated that because of budget cuts, 23,000 children of elementary and middle school age would lose access to the program next year.

“When the school dismissal bell rings and parents are still at work, many of their elementary and middle school children will have nowhere to go,” Ms. Wackstein said in a statement.

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