Wu secures deals to provide nearly 500 school-year jobs for Boston teens amid budget cuts, says goal is to get to 2,000
Mayor Michelle Wu said Monday the city has reached agreements with employers to provide nearly 500 paid school-year jobs for Boston students, framing it as the start of an effort to plug a hole created by a $5.5 million spending cut next year that would effectively kill the city’s current afterschool jobs initiative.
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Wu and a coalition of private sector groups said they are actively recruiting other companies and nonprofit groups to join the program, with the goal of reaching 2,000 paid jobs for 14 to 18-year-old Boston students next school year.
The announcement came just days before the City Council is scheduled to vote on Wu’s $4.9 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year. The spending plan has drawn intense backlash from community groups for eliminating funding for a number of grant programs — including the city’s school-year jobs initiative — and cutting some city department budgets.
On Monday, Wu reaffirmed her commitment to the jobs program, and called on “every organization, every company, every institution” who wants to help to join.
“For young people, these kinds of opportunities to learn and earn are life-changing in Boston,” Wu said. “We are in no short supply of bright, ambitious, talented young people. They don’t want to wait until college to start building their skills. They want to start now.”
Wu said the city is committing administrative support, but not any funds to back what she called a redesigned program. Companies, nonprofits, or other private groups that want to participate can do so either by hiring students themselves, or by contributing funds to sponsor student jobs at other organizations, Wu said Monday.
So far, the YMCA of Greater Boston has committed to hire 200 Boston students, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Boston will employ another 100 teens, and Artists for Humanity, a Boston-based nonprofit, will offer 175 jobs.
The Boston Private Industry Council and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Foundation will help recruit more private sector employers to participate in the coming weeks and months, Wu’s office said.
Robert Lewis, Jr., president and chief executive of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, challenged companies, local business owners, and community leaders to “step up and join” the initiative.
“Invest in our young people,” Lewis said. “The promise of this city depends on the success of all of its young people.”
But some youth activists said Monday that Wu’s goal of securing year-round jobs through private partnerships, but without dedicated city funding, is not an adequate replacement for the city’s current afterschool jobs program.
The city is spending more than $23 million between summer and afterschool jobs this year, which will allow 12,200 students to seek city-funded work. The $5.5 million spending cut would effectively eliminate roughly 1,700 positions the city funded during the 2025-2026 school year.
Wu has previously emphasized that her spending plan preserves funding for the city’s youth summer jobs program, and her office wasworking on securing private partnerships to continue the jobs initiative throughout the school year.
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“Having private sectors fund youth jobs gives the implicit message that youth are not worthy of Boston’s budget,” said Victoria White, a 17-year-old Boston Public Schools senior. She argued that the city would never propose to fund the mayor’s salary or the police budget through private means, and said a “promise” of 2,000 is not enough.
That doesn’t offer the “confirmation and comfortability of knowing that my job is still secured,” White said. “We are relying on people who may not fund our jobs at all.”
Wu has defended her budget proposal, saying the city is grappling with surging cost increases, and must make painful choices in order to fund essential city services. She has simultaneously sought private investment to backfill elsewhere.
On Friday, Wu announced a $1 million partnership with the nonprofit Brighton Marine to support Boston veterans. City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy had criticized the administration for proposing to cut the city’s veterans’ department budget by about $724,000.
And earlier in May, Wu announced the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is donating $150,000 to fund early cancer screenings for 500 firefighters next fiscal year.
Wu and other city officials have warned for months that Boston, like many cities across the state, is facing significant financial strain due to skyrocketing health insurance costs, as well as higher than expected snow removal expenses.
Both the city of Boston and Boston Public Schools are already facing budget deficits in the current fiscal year, which Wu has moved to cover by using $70 million from the city’s emergency reserve fund.
In recent weeks, advocates and more than 30 nonprofits and community groups have protested Wu’s plan to cut roughly 40 city grant programs, which range from supports for immigrants to resources for food access.
They are pushing for the Boston City Council to pressure the mayor to increase overall spending in her budget by voting to reject the proposal.
But councilors are divided on how to restore Wu’s planned cuts, and a push to reject the budget failed last month after the body split 6-6 on the vote. The council is set to take another vote on the budget on Wednesday, where councilors will either move to reject, accept, or amend the spending plan. The council has the power to change or reduce individual line items in the mayor’s budget, as long as the amendments do not increase the total amount of spending the mayor has proposed.
Some councilors want the Wu administration to either increase tax revenue estimates, or dip into the city’s so-called “rainy day” reserves to fund the programsin jeopardy. Wu has said she does not plan to do either, calling the alternatives “fiscally irresponsible.”
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