Boston hearing spotlights youth jobs funding as advocates urge doubling to $43 million

Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means members heard a two-hour budget briefing and public testimony Thursday on youth employment programs, funding levels and how slots are allocated to community organizations and city agencies.

The hearing featured presentations by city youth workforce offices and sustained public comment from young people and advocates demanding more summer and year‑round jobs, higher pay and an end to what they said is a shift of slots to city agencies, including the police.

The presentations summarized programs and recent results. Pedro Cruz, executive director of the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement, said the office runs eight initiatives including the Mayor’s Youth Council, Youth Lead the Change (a youth participatory budgeting program), Mayor’s Youth Summit, a Youth Line referral dashboard and a partner network for youth-facing professionals. Cruz said the office’s team includes 11 people and that the work focuses on people ages 14 to 25. He described the problem the offices aim to fix as “Boston is resource rich connection poor,” meaning many programs exist but are hard for young people to navigate.

Lisonbee Vernery, executive director for the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity (YEO), said the city’s Success Link and broader Future Boss effort coordinate jobs across sectors and neighborhoods. “Last summer, we served 10,427 youth,” Vernery said, and she said the city’s FY25 investment included about $22.6 million to youth employment, with more than 200 partners and external funding leveraged to expand placements.

Tanisha DeLeon, deputy director of YOU (Youth Options Unlimited Boston), described YOU’s referral-only model serving youth with higher barriers to employment and said YOU paid $16.25 an hour for cohorts and $18 an hour for internships, added case management and that the program served roughly 258 youth last year with 44 internship placements.

Public testimony focused on funding levels and allocation decisions. Multiple speakers representing Youth Justice and Power Union (YJPU) and other youth organizations asked the council to double the city’s youth jobs budget to $43 million, restore grant funding that organizations say was cut and deploy that money to create 8,000 summer jobs and 4,000 school‑year positions. Kenny, a youth speaker from Dorchester, said, “I'm here to demand that the city's the double that the city double youth jobs funding to $43,000,000.” Kate Johnson, deputy director of the Phillips Brooks House Association, told councilors, “I am asking that you fully fund youth jobs at $43,000,000.”

Speakers and advocates also alleged that some community organizations had their slots reduced while hundreds of youth positions were reallocated to city agencies, including police programs. Testimony cited figures provided by community groups that police programs received roughly 253 school‑year slots (an increase of about 83% from the prior year), while community providers reported cuts and fewer slots.

Advocates argued for policy changes including piloting higher pay for ages 14–18, expanding year‑round positions, hiring outreach workers and keeping community organizations whole. George Lee, an organizer with YJPU, told the committee, “if you give YO money, they will fill the jobs,” pushing back on the claim that more funding would go unused.

Councilors pressed the administration for data and follow-up. Councilor Lydia Mejía asked for spreadsheets showing how many groups requested and received summer and school‑year jobs in 2024 and 2025, which groups had cuts, and a breakdown of the FY26 contractual services line between community providers and internal city departments. Councilors also asked about overspending: staff said that as of March 31, 2025 contractual services had been charged about $17.97 million against a $14.39 million budgeted amount for that line in FY25, and the emergency‑employees line had a roughly $29,000 overage at the same date; the administration committed to provide updated spending figures and written responses.

Councilors and staff described several operational practices the administration has used to reach applicants and improve onboarding: mobile onboarding at BCYF sites, a youth welcome center at the Tobin Center (which helps with work permits, IDs and related paperwork), partnerships to pull birth certificates for hiring documentation, and outreach events for application support. Officials said applications remain open into July and that the first day of the summer season this year was scheduled for June 23.

On accountability, officials said YEO runs a public competitive grants process (launched in January) and that grantees undergo midsummer and end‑of‑season audits and site visits. Administration witnesses said they try to prioritize BPS students in outreach and are working on data agreements with Boston Public Schools to better identify BPS applicants and placements.

No formal budget votes occurred at the hearing. Councilors repeatedly asked administration staff for itemized allocations, historical funding changes for FY21–FY26, and a status update on a roughly $800,000 line item created to support youth aging out of DCF and DYS; staff said that line had been held in Human Services and pledged to trace and report where those funds currently sit.

The committee closed by asking the administration for written follow‑up to multiple questions and for spreadsheets on past and proposed allocations; advocates said they plan to press for council amendments in working sessions.

Copies of speakers' impact reports and the offices' FY26 budget presentations were referenced during the hearing and will be provided to the committee on request.