SYEP 2020 Plan
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that, this year, the city cannot afford the Summer Youth Employment Program, a line item that represents 0.14% of the overall budget. We do not and will not accept that. The mayor has it all wrong. SYEP is not a cost, it is an investment. An investment that is more important this year than ever before.
Leaders of Teens Take Charge’s #SaveSYEP campaign
“Like a lot of New York families, money was already tight, so the prospect of getting a job where I could help my parents even just a little was an incredible opportunity. ... I was already accepted for the summer of 2020, an opportunity I no longer have unless the city undoes that budget cut.””
PRIORITIES
1. Involve youth leaders in the design, development, and implementation of SYEP 2020 and other summer opportunities for youth
2. Offer rigorous, high-quality remote internships that place participants in small cohorts (15-20) with regular communication from adult facilitators
3. Ensure that any young person can participate, regardless of documentation status
4. Do not pay for SYEP by borrowing from other summer youth programs; the city must also fund COMPASS, SONYC, Beacon and Cornerstone
5. Use all public funds exclusively for direct stipend payments to youth and per-participant fees to providers
“If I can be expected to still take classes and complete school work remotely, then why can’t I work? Why can’t I learn more about civic engagement or finances?””
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
A. Connections to professionals: assist young people to pursue their interests through supportive adult relationships that build social capital and professional connections
B. Career exploration: engaging opportunities for students to root their experience in a career path and explore their relationship to it
C. Authentic work experiences: Mirror the world of work. Projects should allow for youth-led problem solving (where their vision is centered) as well as directive-driven work (where youth are working to interpret another’s vision)
D. Social and emotional supports: meet young people where they are, taking into account effect of grief/pandemic
E. Skills-building: Build, name and develop skills, inclusive of durable skills (eg. collaboration, communication) and/or industry standard credentialing
“Of course, the city has tough budget cuts to make and the top priority must be safety, but SYEP is not where to do it. We understand the city’s budget is tight this year, but investment in SYEP is not a waste and teens are not expendable.”
NUMBERS
1. Maintain 75,000 Summer Youth Employment Program placements for NYC youth ages 14-24
2. Provide a stipend of at least $1,000 to participants and an $800 per-participant fee to providers
3. Engage youth for at least 75 hours across 6 weeks of programming
Minimum FY21 total budget: $135 million*
*We understand there will be revenue shortfalls this year but insist that the Department of Youth and Community Development’s programs such as SYEP receive at most a cut that is proportional to the city’s overall budget reduction.
Example Placements
Community research and civic service: mapping store openings; delivering services to families or seniors (as appropriate within public health guidelines); organizing donations; Census workers; staffing government call centers
Academic support for younger students and peers: tutoring, mentoring and enrichment for K-8 students; college access and application advice; bridge programs for near-peers
Industry credential courses: National Retail Federation; Microsoft Excel; HTML coding
Pre-college career-connected academic coursework: CUNY courses or high school credit-bearing courses toward work-based learning graduation credentials (available to teens in lieu of Regents exams)
Employer-led assignments: beta-testing and evaluating products; conducting on-line research; entering data; conducting customer service calls; digital marketing and IT/web support as well as work within the fin-tech industry
***
Teens Take Charge developed this plan in collaboration with HERE to HERE, ExpandED Schools and dozens of SYEP providers.
Supporters:
Teens Take Charge stands in solidarity with the Campaign for Children and Campaign for Summer Jobs.
We must #SaveSYEP and #FundYouthNYC