More than 9,000 young people in the borough may be jobless this summer if Congress doesn't restore funds for the federal Summer Youth Employment Program.
Last year the program, which places disadvantaged youths age 14 to 21 in jobs at nonprofit and government agencies, provided summer work for almost 35,000 citywide. This year the borough is slated to receive 9,272 jobs, said Sheila Greene, speaking for the city employment department.
The House of Representatives recently killed funding for the project, but the Senate voted to support it for the next two years. The two houses are negotiating, but it's unclear if they'll reach a compromise; a vote is expected this month. Meanwhile, the people counting on those jobs are worried.
Muhammad Khan, 16, who lives with his mother and seven brothers and sisters in Highbridge, worked the past two summers as a camp counselor through the Summer Youth Employment Program.
"I don't know what I'll do," if the job doesn't come through, he said. "I won't have no money. It was a lot for the summer for me."
Some employers are gearing up in anticipation of a green light from Washington. But the uncertainty is stretching their patience. "The feds got us on a yo-yo ride," said Ade Rasul, director of the Woodycrest Center for Human Development in Highbridge.
The MOSAIC summer job program, also in Highbridge, received 779 applications this year for 300 jobs.
"We registered our youth and we're ready to go in the event we do get funded," MOSAIC's co-director, Bill Yakowicz, said.
The city's Department of Employment determines who is eligible by matching youths from low -income families with jobs paying the minimum wage of $4.25 an hour.
Yakowicz is working with organizations such as the Parks Council and various summer day camps to line up 35-hour-a-week jobs. In addition to working as camp counselors or on neighborhood cleanup projects, the youths will be taught job-hunting skills.
Last summer in New York City, one third of teenagers ages 16 to 19 were unemployed, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That was twice the national average during the same period.
If the federal program disappears, the private sector may be unlikely to pick up the slack.
"In the summertime there isn't that much business," said Elva Montgomery, who runs Mellow-Tone Music, a variety store at 169th St. and Boston Road. She said most of the shops around her are mom-and-pop operations that rely on family to do the work.
One private-sector effort is the New York City Partnership's summer jobs program. But its mission has been hampered recently by a weak economy. Last year, 19,585 young people got jobs through the program, down from 42,000 in 1992. This year, the partnership expects to place 20,000 city teenagers in summer jobs.
Some job providers find the threat to the program ironic. In response to past criticism, the program this year includes training in employment skills to help young people find permanent work. "At a time when the requirements were put in line with the mood of the country -- no dead-end jobs -- they're talking about eliminating the program," Rasul said.