S.F. summer program aims to tackle youth joblessness

Isaac Mora, employee at Old Navy on Market St. organizes clothing, in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Isaac Mora, employee at Old Navy on Market St. organizes clothing, in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Photo: Jill Schneider Photo: Jill Schneider Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close S.F. summer program aims to tackle youth joblessness 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Lawrence Richardson could have benefited from one of the jobs that San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is trying to create through a summer employment program being rolled out Thursday, some who knew him said.

But the 21-year-old Western Addition resident was gunned down April 2 outside a convenience store. His funeral was Wednesday.

"This kid wanted a job," said Adrian Williams, who runs the Village Project, a nonprofit that provides a safe haven and children's programs in Richardson's neighborhood.

"I'm (going) to a funeral of a ... kid who would have benefited - would have loved to have participated this summer in such a job," Williams told a Board of Supervisors committee hearing on the jobs plan Wednesday. "I see these youngsters standing on the corner, never worked in their lives. We have to break that cycle."

That's part of the idea behind Lee's San Francisco Summer Jobs+ program, an initiative to get 5,000 summer jobs and paid internships for young people ages 14 to 24, with a focus on low-income and disadvantaged youth.

"You've got to let these kids see that they're in control of their lives," Lee said. "Creating meaningful employment opportunities today can set them up for success going forward."

The program is the local response to President Obama's challenge in January calling for businesses, nonprofits and government to create 250,000 jobs for low-income and disconnected youth by this summer.

The city already hires for 2,500 youth positions annually, and Lee wants private companies and other organizations to match that. So far, 15 of them have agreed to each hire anywhere from 10 to 40 young San Franciscans. Companies include Salesforce.com, Jamba Juice, Hornblower Cruises and UPS. Others have agreed to provide funding to subsidize positions. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will contribute $100,000 and Bank of America $50,000 to the effort, city officials said.

High unemployment

Youth unemployment far outpaces the rate for the general population.

Statewide, the not-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 11.4 percent in February, but the unemployment rate for those ages 16 to 19 was more than triple that at 35.3 percent, according to state figures. Those ages 20 to 24 had a 17.3 percent unemployment rate at the time.

There are challenges, though, to creating an effective youth employment program.

While Lee's goal is 5,000 paid positions - many of which will go to young people who already have the needed work skills - there are more than 7,000 San Franciscans ages 16 to 24 who are in public housing, have juvenile records or are otherwise considered "disconnected," according to the city's Youth Commission.

San Francisco is partnering with the United Way, which already runs a successful program called MatchBridge that links young people, many aided by nonprofits, to jobs.

Program in place

"They have the infrastructure already in place to manage kids into and out of the system," said Maria Su, director of the city's Department of Children, Youth and Their Families.

By using an established program, San Francisco hopes to avoid the pitfalls of Washington, D.C., which the Washington Post said in 2008 had a youth summer jobs program that was plagued by organizational chaos and $31 million in cost overruns.

The city will add $200,000 to $250,000 on top of United Way's current $50,000 city grant to administer the summer jobs program, Su said.

An exact figure for the cost of filling the 2,500 city positions - where compensation ranges from stipends to above-minimum wage - was not immediately available, although Lee said the hiring must be done within existing departmental budgets.

The total includes at least $9 million that the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families has budgeted this year for roughly 1,500 year-round positions for which the city pays the salaries of youth who work at nonprofits learning job skills, Su said.

Worth the cost

Lee said the current costs are well worth it.

"This is really an investment into what could be triple or quadruple our costs if the kid gets in trouble," Lee said.

Besides mentors, the program is designed to offer resume writing and interview and skills help.

Isaac Mora, 20, got a job as a sales associate at Old Navy using the MatchBridge program after moving to San Francisco from the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove. He has parlayed that experience into a second job working at a Levi's store. He averages more than 40 hours a week between the two and has his eye on a management position.

"I'm working like a full-time person," Mora said. "Next month, I'm actually treating myself to a vacation in Miami."