By Josie Hathway
July 26, 2004

In response to the national youth unemployment crisis, the drastic cuts in youth funding over the past ten years and the phasing out of the Youth Opportunity (YO) Grants Program, the U.S. Conference of Mayors hosted youth development briefings on July 12 for Senate and House staff.

Welcomes to packed briefing rooms were given by Jane Oates, Senior Education Advisor for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ilyse Schuman, Majority Staff Director for the HELP Subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training, and James Bergeron, Legislative Director for Representative Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness for the House Education and the Workforce Committee and Heather Silber, Legislative Assistant to Representative John F. Tierney (MA).

Brockton (MA) Mayor John T. Yunits, Jr., opened the briefings. "We are facing a national crisis with our youth. We have a generation of future employees who are not getting the education, the skills and the work experience they need to get employed, stay employed and meet the unforgiving needs of the global economy. Last summer's youth employment rate was the lowest since 1948 — only 36.5 percent - when the government started collecting this data, and predictions are that this summer will be even worse. Economists say we-re in a youth depression," said Yunits.

Brockton was one of 36 local areas that received a YO Grant from the Department of Labor in 2000. The YO program was designed to increase high school and college enrollment rates, and increase employment rates for 44,000 youth from the highest poverty urban, rural and Native American neighborhoods. YO has impacted over 86,000 young people to date. The program ends next year.

Joseph Zukowski, Executive Vice President of Community Affairs at Verizon and Chair of the Boston Youth Council, opened up the testimony from the business community stating, "Business people will not stay at the table long if they don't think a program is for real or if resources are being squandered. The fact that 36 YO sites across the U.S. have deep business involvement tells you that this is a program which is meeting the bottom line and is showing good returns."

Other business testimony calling for a continued investment in youth came from Lily Galland, Community Relations Director for Shell Oil in New Orleans, Kimberly Maffet, Division Director for Workforce Development and Nursing Recruitment at Norton Healthcare in Louisville and David Crippens, Youth Council Chair for the Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board and Former Vice-President of KCET Television. The Honorable Bonnie Hellums, Judge for the Family Drug Court for the 247th District Court in Houston, also testified.

Four young people provided compelling testimony about how the YO program helped them get their first job, stay in school and have hope for their future. They are Isaiah Barbour from Louisville, Andrea Braham from Brockton, Christina Wheeler and Loucious Earl Windom, both of Houston. Also presenting were Conny Doty, Director of Jobs and Community Services in Boston, Terry Hudson, Executive Director of Houston Works USA and Robert Sainz, Assistant General Manager for the Community Development Department, Los Angeles.

For more details see usmayors.org.