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Committee reviews $2.5 million proposal to expand Boys & Girls Clubs workforce programs
Summary
Lawmakers heard testimony on House File 19‑36, which would provide $2.5 million in the biennium to the Minnesota Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs to expand youth job-skills, career exploration and paid work experiences; the bill was laid over for further consideration.
House Workforce, Labor and Economic Development Policy and Finance Committee members heard testimony on House File 19‑36, a bill to provide $2.5 million in the biennium to the Minnesota Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs to support statewide youth workforce and career-development programming.
The bill would continue an existing partnership with the Department of Employment and Economic Development and fund programming at 63 club sites that the bill’s sponsors say serve more than 23,000 young people statewide. The funding proposal includes a 25 percent match requirement from non‑state sources.
Brian Donaldson, executive director of the Minnesota Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs, told the committee, “The bill provides 2,500,000.0 in the biennium to continue and meet the expanding need of youth to be ready to enter the workforce before and after they graduate.” He described programs that pair career-exploration curriculum with “on‑site job opportunities” and local employer partnerships.
CJ Jackson, branch director at the Jerry Gamble Boys & Girls Club in North Minneapolis, said the club runs year‑round programming and a workforce‑readiness pilot that gives youth hands‑on experience and training on “how to retain employment in their interest field.” Club alumnus Keng Xia Zhang described the effect of those programs on his own path: “The workforce development programs do help youth and young adults just like me in this room succeed, discover careers, and prepare us for our future. I am living proof.”
Committee members asked about geographic reach and how clubs connect students to local career pipelines; testifiers said the clubs operate in reservation communities, greater Minnesota cities and urban neighborhoods and highlighted new sites in Bemidji, Rochester and North Minneapolis. Representatives stressed the program’s mix of technical and “soft skills” training and noted private‑public partnerships that supplement state dollars.
The chair laid House File 19‑36 over for further consideration in a future omnibus bill.
