New Report Discusses 3,827 Youths Served By Commonwealth Program In 2008

In 2009, the Patrick Administration will serve over 10,000 youths by combining youthworks and American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds

Boston, MA – Friday, March 27, 2009 – The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce today released a report giving an overview of last year’s YouthWorks program. The report, compiled by EOLWD and the Commonwealth Corporation, follows today’s announcement by Governor Deval Patrick that he will commit more than $30 million over two years in state and federal recovery funds to create an estimated 10,000 summer job opportunities for young people in 60 communities across Massachusetts.

The 2008 YouthWorks program gave summer and year-round employment opportunities to 4,260 youth in 25 cities across Massachusetts. YouthWorks provided summer employment to 3,827 low-income youth during the summer of 2008 with $5.6 million in resources. This number of jobs amounted to 130% of the summer goal, and an increase of about 18 percent in the number of youth served compared with the 2007 summer program.

Secretary Suzanne Bump of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development is pleased about the increase in year round programs: “In 2008, grantees were allowed to provide supported employment to youth as part of a year-round employment pilot component (January to June 2008). Within the 12 regions that took part in the year-round component, 433 youth were placed in jobs during the year. This number of year-round placements represented 152% of our year-round target,” she explained.

Nancy Snyder, the President and CEO of Commonwealth Corporation concurs: “We know how important it is for a young person’s future economic success to have a job as a teenager. YouthWorks helps thousands of kids get that opportunity each year,” said President Snyder.

For further details, please see the 2008 YouthWorks Annual Report at: http://www.commcorp.org/youthworks/pdf/YouthWorks2008.pdf.