As a recent proposal by the Community Service Society observes, it is never too early to begin advocating for summer jobs for the city’s high school students. Moreover, the CSS proposal promotes the expansion of the summer jobs program, making it more universal and available for a larger number of applicants.
We wholeheartedly support this initiative and anyone familiar with our paper knows CSS President and CEO David Jones, whose columns often appear in our pages.
Several things are clear and evident in the CSS proposal. The summer jobs will help keep our young people out of the criminal justice system. As we all know so well, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop and today’s youth need a little more than social networking to keep them busy and productive.
Plus, when the students returned to the classroom, many of them experienced improved academic performance. So there’s a correlation between employment and the students excelling in their studies.
A summer job is also a good way to get our youth on the right track toward career development. These part-time jobs are the first step toward full employment, and there’s no discounting these initial steps in the world of work.
Although we certainly praise the city and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s concern on this issue, much more needs to be done to bring more high school students into the program. Only half of those who applied for summer jobs last year were successful.
What is most rewarding about the CSS proposal is the demand that each student who applies for a job is able to get one. We realize that a completely operative program will require cooperation among several agencies in the city, state and federal government, as well as various businesses. Companies that provide job opportunities for high school students should be given some sort of tax break or earned credit for their participation.
There is no way to predict the outcome of this effort. But we know for certain that something must be done to help our young citizens stay out of the clutches of the law, get on the path toward their careers and begin nurturing a healthy work ethic.
The temporary employment of interns here at the paper is our way of assisting young people toward empowerment. It gives them a sense of participating in something worthwhile, something that will provide them with a better understanding of how our society works and the role they can play in it.
Our hope is that the city and the institutions and organizations find a way to fulfill the CSS’s proposal. It may not be all that is required to ensure safe passage for our young people over a long, hot summer, but it’s a meaningful step that we stand fully behind.