Help Wanted: City's Summer Jobs Program Falls Short for Some Teens

By: Alysia TateThe sun reflecting off their bright red construction hats, about 50 teens from three South Side public housing developments started work on July 1—many of them for the first time.

"This year, we are pushing the envelope," Phillip Jackson, chief executive officer for the Chicago Housing Authority, said as he kicked off the city’s summer jobs program at the Ida B.Wells development. "What we did last year was not good enough."

Wearing white T-shirts imprinted with "Team CHA" in blue letters, the young workers planted petunias in nearby garden plots—their first assignment in the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development Summer Jobs Program. Over the next six weeks, they will earn the $5.15 per hour minimum wage for up to 20 hours a week, paid for by the federal government.

Stooped in the dirt, 14-year-old Crystal Mullen, who lives at Wells, said she liked "making the neighborhood look like something." Rebecca Smith, 16, had a different take: "The only nice part is getting paid." Those two statements capture much of what’s right and wrong with the federally funded 35-year effort to help disadvantaged youth: The work’s not bad, but many participants are in it for the money.

"The first thing was to get the kids off the street," said Robert Taggart, who directed federal youth employment programs under President Jimmy Carter from 1976 to 1980.

"It didn’t matter if you were putting them in constructive work or anything else," said Taggart, now president of the non-profit Remediation Training Institute in Alexandria, Va., a research organization that assists 1,400 youth education centers nationwide. "It’s never been a program experts have claimed as effective."

Every summer, young people scramble to land jobs, some for extra cash, some to help pay the family grocery bill. In a strong economy, work seems plentiful and employers are ready to hire.

Still, teens make up a disproportionate share of the city’s unemployed: In 1997, the most recent statistics available, nearly 27 percent of Chicago’s 16- to 19-year-olds were jobless, compared with 8.3 percent of Chicagoans overall, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Single out African American teens and the rate jumps to 43 percent.

The city program, however, sends 15,689 teens to about 1,130 work sites at non-profit organizations, schools, parks, businesses and government offices. They plant trees, serve meals, care for children, answer phones, work on computers, learn about aviation, pick up litter, create art and translate documents, to name a few tasks.

But the government’s $12.9 million effort falls short of its goal of preparing disadvantaged youth for the world of work by providing education and job skills. The Chicago Reporter’s analysis of the city’s program from 1996 to 1999 shows:

• Latinos are underrepresented among both program applicants and participants, who are supposed to reflect the racial makeup of Chicagoans living in poverty. African Americans exceed that goal.

• The program attracts few young people most at risk, whom experts say are least likely to get jobs. High school dropouts accounted for less than 2 percent of participants last year; participation was even lower for ex-offenders, homeless youth and teen parents.

• More teens are working, but for shorter periods. While the minimum wage has risen since 1990, the program’s budget has fallen slightly, forcing officials to cut a program that was once 12 weeks to six.

• While the jobs effort pays minimum wage to low-income and minority youth, the city and Chicago Park District operate other, smaller programs that offer better pay, but don’t include race or income requirements.

City officials acknowledge the program’s limitations but say they have eliminated red tape and improved staff training. And they stress that giving thousands of teens something to do, even temporarily, helps open doors that might otherwise be closed.

"This is a program that serves 15,000 youth, first of all, in a very short period of time," said Jackie Edens, commissioner of the Office of Workforce Development. "Will it ever be perfect? I doubt it. Is it vastly improved? You bet it is. Could it be better? Yes it can, and we will make it better."

Taggart argues agencies should pay teens to learn and find adults to mentor them for several years, among other things. "If you can wrap your arms around them for a period of time, you can dramatically change the future," he said.

Paper Work
A city flier tells Chicago teens to "Get Ready for the Summer Job of a Lifetime," promising "real paid work experience" and "a whole lot of fun!"

According to state guidelines, participants must earn no more than $19,210 for a family of four, live in Chicago and be between 14 and 21 years old on the day they apply.

The program has been far more successful in attracting poor African Americans than Latinos, the Reporter’s analysis of city data shows. Of the 15,689 teens hired this summer, 70.5 percent are black, exceeding the department’s goal of 61.1 percent. Latinos comprised roughly 22 percent of participants, while the program’s goal was one-third.

The federally required goals are based on a formula devised from the city’s 1990 population and the percentage of residents in poverty, according to Brian Reardon, public information officer for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.

The program is not well publicized in Latino neighborhoods, said Maria Ayala, director of the Institute for Latino Progress, 2570 S. Blue Island Ave, which runs youth career development programs. Many Mexican American teens, she said, simply are not familiar with it.

"In other communities, they may have been using it for years," Ayala said. "It gets around through word of mouth." Three of the city’s 12 application centers are in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.

Illegal immigrants can’t apply, and some legal immigrants are afraid to, said Myrna Alvarez, program director at Casa Aztlan, a non-profit agency that offers free legal help, counseling and other services in the predominantly Mexican Pilsen neighborhood on the near Southwest Side. Federal officials can deny permanent residency to immigrants who use certain public services, arguing that they will become burdens on society, immigration experts say.

More than 19,000 teens applied in both 1997 and 1998, up from about 13,500 in 1996. Just over 17,000 applied this year. Those turned away didn’t meet basic requirements or applied too late, said Rita Zambon, assistant commissioner for programs for the workforce development office.

Alderman Carrie M. Austin of the South Side’s 34th Ward said she got no help when her teenage constituents were turned away from the city’s program, so she looked instead to local employers. "My own system failed me—the city," she said.

Felicia Thompson, 17, first applied in 1996. The African American teen waited "until the last minute," then found out there weren’t enough jobs to go around.

"When they were taking copies of our birth certificates and stuff, they were almost assuring us we were gonna get the job. Some of my friends got jobs," said Thompson, who lives in Uptown. "I sat around and waited and they just didn’t call."

Thompson learned her lesson. "If you came late, you would get the messed up jobs. If you came early, you would get the good jobs," she said.

Last summer, she supervised the pool at Joan S. Arai Middle School, 900 W. Wilson Ave. Keeping the pool clean and helping lifeguards keep track of the children who used it taught her to "deal with people."

Thompson now works part time as a checker at Dominick’s Finer Foods, 6009 N. Broadway, in Edgewater.

First Choice
Teens are interviewed about their interests and skills, then matched with requests from employers when possible, Zambon said.

But not all teens get their first choices. Nuyengiabari Lawani, 15, who lives in Rogers Park on the North Side, said she wanted to spend the summer at Alternatives Inc., an area youth and family services agency where she had completed a job training program last fall.

Instead, Lawani was sent to Insight Arts, an arts education program in her neighborhood. "I didn’t really have any choice," she said. After two weeks in the program, she generally likes it, but sometimes writing poems and essays is "just boring."

Three summers ago, 18-year-old Tiffany L. Jones listed nursing on her application but was assigned as a landscaper at Madden Park, near the Wells development. "You had to deal with a lot of dirt," she said. "The sun was hot, but you got used to it."

In 1997, Jones returned to Madden as a camp counselor, a job she much preferred. But she wonders how even those skills will help her in the future. She graduated this year with a 3.79 grade point average from Hyde Park Academy High School, 6220 S. Stony Island Ave., and won a scholarship—to study nursing—at St. Xavier University, 3700 W. 103rd St.

During the first week of the program, about 40 students gathered in the library at Marquette Elementary School, 6550 S. Richmond St., in Chicago Lawn, to learn how to write resumes, complete job applications and prepare for interviews. The teens appeared enthusiastic—and realistic—about what lay ahead.

"It’ll keep us out of trouble and out of the street," said Angela Santos, 21, who later was assigned to work as a counselor aide with 8- and 9-year-olds.

"I’ll get money," Julio Chavez burst out, drawing laughs from the other students. But the 15-year-old sophomore at Gordon S. Hubbard High School, 6200 S. Hamlin Ave., said it also gave him "experience and training." Chavez wants to be a computer technician, and worked with computers last summer at the Illinois Department of Human Rights, 100 W. Randolph St. This year he tutors adults in English.

This is the second summer that Quynh Huynh, 17, a senior at Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, 5039 N. Kimball Ave., will teach children English at the Vietnamese Association of Illinois, 5252 N. Broadway, in Edgewater. She wants to work with children and doubts she could have landed such a job any other way. "Why would any day care hire a 17-year-old like me?" she asked.

Of the teens hired this summer, about 8,100 were assigned to the Chicago Public Schools, where they clean school buildings, landscape, do clerical work, create art and tutor other students.

Some jobs focus on work. Others incorporate classroom instruction. Still others offer internships at private companies, with a chance at a full- or part-time job afterward. Of the 151 contracting agencies, seven are private businesses, though non-profits place teens in roughly 50 other companies, Zambon said. Edens said her staff is revising the employers’ 66-page application, which is "a little foreboding."

Virginia Tate, Chicago general manager of Energy Masters International, based in St. Paul, Minn., said she applied because of her personal interest in young people. The company, which helps public and private institutions cut energy costs, is employing three students.

The teens update floor plans, create computer spreadsheets and handle other administrative tasks. The four students hired last summer still work for the company, she said.

Left Behind
Some teens never make it to a job interview, and others don’t fill out their work applications properly, said Jim Zeckhauser, a staffing specialist for Youth Guidance, 53 W. Jackson Blvd. Since 1996, the non-profit agency has helped 285 black and Latino teens find part- and full-time jobs.

"You could make the argument that the kid wasn’t really job-ready," Zeckhauser said. "That’s not always true. There’s a certain amount of bureaucratic leaks. We try to plug those leaks." He and his staff try to match teens to employers’ needs.

Since taking over the workforce development office in May 1998, Edens said she and her staff have streamlined the application process for young people. But she adds that the paper work is a federal requirement, and provides a taste of the real world. "They may not like it and they may drop out, but that’s not something we can change," she said.

But many of those most in need never get that far. Of the 19,369 applicants last year, only 525—2.7 percent—were high school dropouts, the analysis shows. Of those, 184—35 percent—actually participated, compared with 78 percent of students.

Reaching dropouts is not a major goal, Edens said, but there is "no prohibition or any intent to exclude out-of-school youth."

Other at-risk youth also are underrepresented: Just over half of the 3,605 welfare recipients who applied were hired in 1998. Two of the participants were ex-offenders and eight were homeless teens.

The city’s record has to improve in a hurry: Federal law will require 30 percent of all youth employment funds next year to be spent on out-of-school youth.

Richard Crawford, deputy commissioner of programs for the city’s workforce development office, said the statistics do not indicate how many dropouts officials can attract when they target that group. They plan to work with the Chicago Public Schools and other organizations to boost these numbers, he said.

In 1998, 45 percent of the system’s 16,710 black students scheduled to graduate had left school, Board of Education statistics show. Some may have moved outside the district or pursued high school equivalency degrees, but many simply dropped out, experts said. Nearly 41 percent of Latino students had left.

Dropouts who do get summer jobs may find themselves no closer to full-time work. In 1996, Antwon Phipps, now 20, left Jesse Spaulding High School, 1628 W. Washington Blvd., to join a job training program and get his equivalency degree. But he has since failed the exam. He has been in the summer jobs program for the last two years, but still can’t find a full-time job. Because he has scoliosis—a curved spine—Phipps said he cannot do manual labor, and most other employers don’t consider him qualified.

"You fill out an application, they say they’ll call you back," he said. "You don’t get a call, or you don’t get an interview. So you feel disappointed."

Higher Wages
Another group of young laborers working in Chicago parks this summer are the 1,674 teens, ages 15 to 19, hired by the Chicago Park District under a separate jobs program. It has no race or income restrictions and generally pays between $6.02 and $10.68 an hour.

Only 883 of those workers indicated their race on their applications, said Communications Specialist Katrina Parker. Of those, 47.7 percent are white, 38 percent black and 13.5 percent Latino.

Martin J. Fogarty, the district’s superintendent of employment, called the partial data "inconclusive" and said it does not reflect the program’s racial diversity. "I’m not saying we can guarantee jobs for everyone, but it’s in our best interest to have a cross-section of our population represented," he said. The district gets the word out through employees, newspaper ads, college job fairs and the Internet, and sends job postings to aldermen on request, he said.

Another summer internship program places about 120 high school and college interns in city departments. The positions pay $6 to $8.50 per hour, said Carol McGuire, public information officer for the Department of Personnel.

While the department collects racial data, it refused to provide it on the intern program, leaving some wondering whether all teens get an equal crack at those jobs.

"It’s who you know, really," said John Paul Jones, director of community outreach for the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group, a non-profit government watchdog group. Jones, also a Local School Council member at Paul Robeson High School, 6835 S. Normal Ave., added it’s difficult for students at "non-politically connected" schools to get the jobs.

U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, who represents the West Side 7th District and serves as 29th Ward Democratic committeeman, said he regularly gets job listings from government agencies. While there often aren’t enough jobs to go around, he said young people must shoulder the responsibility for landing them.

"People really have to research and dig in and ferret this stuff out and find out who’s got what," he said. "You know, the chicken that scratches finds a worm."

Uncertain Future
Nationwide, funding for the summer jobs program fell 23 percent between 1984 and 1996, from about $701 million to $541 million. Since then, spending has climbed again, reaching $762 million last year.

After the Los Angeles riots in April 1992, Congress approved $500 million in "emergency supplemental funds" for the program, bringing the total to more than $1 billion. But the dollars weren’t authorized until late June—too late for some cities, according to a 1993 U.S. Department of Labor audit.

Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage has climbed from $3.80 an hour in 1990 to the current $5.15. The number of youth served dropped from 585,077 in 1990 to 495,062 in 1998. Crawford said Chicago coped with the changing money stream by serving more teens, but for fewer weeks.

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which takes effect July 1, 2000, will combine funding for yearround and summer youth jobs, but still require the summer component.

Some Chicago-area youth advocates say that is where the emphasis should remain. Spreading more money year round means serving far fewer teens, said David E. Whittaker, executive director of the Chicago Area Project, 200 S. Michigan Ave., a network of community-based organizations that employed 22 summer workers at its headquarters this year. "In my opinion, we get a bigger bang for the bucks in these summer programs," he said.

No decisions have been made, though Crawford said the new law could lead to some expansion of Chicago’s yearround programs. Since 1996, the city has received roughly $6 million in grants to run a Quantum Opportunities Program, which provides adult mentors for 525 young people in Grand Boulevard on the near South Side. Its goal: to spend three years getting at least 80 percent of the 16- to 24-year-olds back in school or into jobs.

Though studies show the program has worked well in other cities, such as Los Angeles and Houston, it got off to a rocky start in Chicago, with delays in staff hiring and gang violence at the Wells development. So far, the city has placed 266 youth in jobs or school, short of the 80 percent goal it was required to reach this fall. The city has asked for an extension.

Officials also will apply for new, federally funded Youth Opportunity Grants, and could receive $9 million to $12 million per year for five years to provide jobs for teens who live in high poverty areas and federally designated Empowerment Zones. The country’s six zones were designed to provide jobs and promote community development in low-income neighborhoods.

U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, who represents the South Side’s 1st District, supports those efforts, but said government programs are not a long-term answer.

"I want to see a point, hopefully in my lifetime, when minority communities are not just dependent on the largesse of the federal government once a year for summer jobs, where we have the wherewithal to employ our community year round," he said.

For more information on federal employment programs, visit the following sites:

• United States Department of Labor Website

• Workforce Investment Act Website

• U.S. Department of Labor Employment Training Administration

• The JTPA summer jobs program

• The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division website for young people

• The National Youth Employment Council

• The Sar Levitan Center for Social Policy Studies

For more about local job opportunities for youth, visit:

• The Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development

• The Chicago Department of Personnel

• Job openings at the Chicago Park District

Contributing: Brian J. Rogal and Tracy Van Slyke. Susan Hsu, Andrew Haas-Roche, Ylda Kopka, Tonika G. Lewis, George Pence, Michael A. Rohner, Eleanor LeShore Smith, Claire Sufrin and C. Paul Techo helped research this article.