Boston Council Scrutinizes $1.2M Cut to Youth Employment Budget Amid Unmet Job Demand

BOSTON — May 22, 2025 — Boston City Council questions proposed $1.2 million cut to youth employment budget as demand outpaces supply. The Committee on Ways and Means held a budget hearing Thursday on docket numbers 0822 through 0830 covering three city youth offices, with Chair Brian Worrell and Council Members Julia M. Mejia, Henry Santana, Erin J. Murphy, Edward M. Flynn, John FitzGerald, Benjamin J. Weber, and Ruthzee Louijeune pressing administrators on why the FY26 budget for the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity is down roughly $1.2 million from FY25 even as 15,000 youth applied for summer jobs last year and about 4,500 were turned away. Executive Director Allison Bernery said the office directed 94 percent of its FY26 budget to youth wages through SuccessLink, which employed 10,427 youth last summer using $22.6 million in city funds and over $10 million in external partnerships. A coalition of youth organizers from the Youth Justice and Power Union demanded the council double the youth jobs budget to $43 million and end allocation of job slots to police programs, with Kenny from Dorchester telling the committee that organizations like his had seen slots cut in half. Kate Johnson, deputy director of the Phillips Brooks House Association, told the council that nonprofits face "yo-yo funding" that forces staff to testify year after year instead of building stable programming.