By Kathy Amoroso
June 19, 2006

At-risk youth and the successful programs aimed at engaging and employing them was the focus of the mayors gathered for the Mayors’ Jobs, Education and the Workforce Committee meeting at the 74th Annual Conference of Mayors in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 3. Led by Acting Chair Rochester (NY) Mayor Robert Duffy, the discussion ranged from highschool dropout prevention programs and summer jobs to gang intervention efforts and former gang member employment.

“We need more stakeholders,” Father Gregory Boyle, S.J., Founder and Executive Director of Jobs For A Future/Homeboy Industries, told the mayors describing his employment referral and workforce development center aimed at gang-involved youth. “This is an enormously complex social problem. Gang violence has always been a symptom, not the primary problem. The problem is poverty, despair, racism, gaps between the haves and have nots, huge disparities in opportunities and a lack of hope.”

“We have to stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than in judgment of how they carry it,” he continued. “The minute we can move to that place, we can start to chip away at this — and a job is a start. People disqualify themselves all the time. They don’t think they can be a stakeholder. But we are all stakeholders,” Boyle told the mayors.

In 1992, as a response to civil unrest in Los Angeles, Boyle founded Homeboy Industries to create businesses that provide training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side-by'side. The following economic development enterprises have been created since the first venture: Homeboy Bakery; Homeboy Silkscreen; Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise; Homeboy Graffiti Removal; Homeboy Maintenance; and Homeboy Landscaping.

Located in Boyle Heights, a community with arguably the highest concentration of gang activity in Los Angeles, Jobs For A Future/Homeboy Industries provides employment opportunities, counseling and many other services (including free tattoo removal) to gang-involved youth. By seeking to address the causes of gang violence, Boyle creates opportunities so at-risk youth can plan their futures, not their funerals.

Betsy Fretwell, Las Vegas Deputy City Manager, also addressed the mayors, outlining Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman’s youth initiative entitled “Batteries Included.” Las Vegas, in collaboration with the Clark County School District and Nevada Partners, developed the “Batteries Included” youth initiative to augment and expand existing after-school programs and opportunities for youth ages 5 – 22. The intent of this initiative is to leverage resources for Las Vegas youth and their families by increasing and improving access to after-school educational activities and by providing more opportunities for youth engagement and diverse employment. The initiative consists of seven components: education and after-school awareness, incorporating education into after-school, programs aimed at youth engagement, city/public partnerships, celebrating youth achievement, youth career development and re-engaging youth.

“The “Batteries Included” Youth Initiative supports the idea that schools are most successful when all community stakeholders (government, health and social service providers, parents, and school staff) work together to share resources and expertise creating a support system that will motivate and engage students in learning both in the classroom and in the community,” Fretwell said. “These partnerships integrate the educational focus with support services and opportunities that can improve student learning, strengthen families and promote healthy communities.”

The Jobs, Education and the Workforce Standing Committee unanimously passed the following resolutions in its meeting:

#41 Building a Comprehensive Local Workforce System;

#42 Expanding the Education and Training Capacity and Flexibility in a Local Workforce System;

#43 Building the Future Workforce;

#44 Addressing Literacy Needs of the Nations’ Workforce;

#45 Recruiting, Training, Supporting and Retaining Teachers, Principals and Superintendents;

#46 Preparation for and Transition to Postsecondary Education;

#47 Mayoral Leadership and Involvement in Education;

#48 Creating a P-16 Education System for Education and Workforce Development;

#49 Mayors Encouraged to Celebrate National Neighborhood Day — September 17, 2006;

and #38 In Support of Border Security and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.