Boston Council Examines Reviving Red Shirts Youth Cleanup Program

BOSTON — April 9, 2026 — Boston's City Council labor committee held a hearing Thursday on reviving the Red Shirts Program, Mayor Menino's 1990s youth cleanup initiative, as a modern component of existing youth employment infrastructure. Committee Chair Brian Worrell convened the hearing on Docket No. 0168, sponsored by Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who argued that frozen city public works positions are leaving East Boston and North End streets visibly littered and that private trash contracts are filling the void at extra cost. Joseph Lee, Chief of Staff for Worker Empowerment, and Allison Vernere, Executive Director of Youth Employment and Opportunity, testified that 10,000 young people are already activated each summer — 6,000 in city-funded slots — through SuccessLink, which pays $15 to $20 per hour, and PowerCorps, which pays stipends of $550 to $625 per month. Alex DeFranzo of Pierce Park Sailing Center, whose coalition employs about 205 youth in East Boston, warned that a $6 million proposed budget cut to school-year jobs would be "really, really challenging" and urged that any civic-duty cleanup component be folded into existing programs rather than built from scratch. No vote was taken; Councilor Enrique J. Pepén and Worrell called for a follow-up hearing with Public Works and PowerCorps present to design a pilot.