There’s Christmas in April, and now Martha Ross suggests there’s also Groundhog Day in August. The Brookings scholar says in this Washington Post op-ed that just like Bill Murray in that loveable 1993 movie, DC faces a predictable and frustrating story every summer about the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program.
We made some similar comments in a blog post earlier this month. A four-point refresher:
Lesson 1: The budget for summer jobs needs to be realistic, based on agreed-upon assumptions of the duration of the program and the expected number of participants. The budget for next year’s summer jobs program is even smaller than the one for this summer. It’s simple math that we need to alter the number of participants and hours worked in order to keep within budget.
Lesson 2: The summer youth employment program should be right-sized to fit its purpose. That purpose should be providing a high-quality, meaningful summer work experience for participants. As Ross says in the Post, the focus of the jobs program has been on size, not quality of experience. We agree with Ross that it needs to be the other way around.
Lesson 3: Vulnerable families should not be placed at further risk by poor budgeting decisions. The costs of the summer jobs program are largely predictable. We shouldn’t be faced with last minute budget shortfalls.
Lesson 4: The time to prepare for next year is now, not next summer. The summer jobs program is supposed to teach kids about the world of work, but what have our city’s leaders learned about how to improve the summer jobs program? What would Mayor Fenty do differently next year? Chairman Gray?
