Make Youth Employment a Priority Now
Navigating the ongoing pandemic has been an incredible challenge for young people in the Bronx. At The Thinkubator, the youth-led Bronx non-profit that I lead and that is focused on connecting young people to educational opportunities and employment, we see both the daunting odds stacked against our youth and also their determination and resilience in overcoming them.
Last October, participants in our Think Tank program conducted an online Google survey on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Bronx youth like them. It showed the powerful impacts the pandemic has had on their lives. More than 27 percent of the young people who responded to the survey said that someone in their home had either died or become ill from Covid-19. More than 35 per cent said that a household member had lost employment because of the pandemic. And over half said that having enough food and toiletries was an issue in their homes.
Those findings are very much in line with the overall situation of the Bronx – home to the poorest Congressional district in the country and, similar to other primarily low-income communities of color across the U.S., disproportionately impacted by Covid-19. The Bronx ranks in the top five regions of the U.S. with the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Known as the “essential borough” because it is home to so many essential workers whose jobs require physical presence, the people of the Bronx help keep the city running while others work from home. Bronx residents have been hit by Great Depression levels of unemployment, reaching a rate of 25 percent unemployment during the summer of 2020. Lines for food banks and emergency food pantries have quadrupled, with one in 10 Bronx residents visiting a food pantry in the past year.
Our survey also found that many students had found the pandemic-required adjustment to remote learning difficult. More than half said that “remote learning has not helped me learn.” Again, this corresponds with what other Bronx community organizations have found. For example, The Bronx Community Foundation has reported that “nearly 1 in 5 teens cannot finish their homework because of the digital divide. Roughly one-third of households with children ages 6-17 and whose annual income falls below $30,000 a year do not have a high-speed internet connection at home.”
In spite of these challenges, young people are eager to contribute to their families’ economic well-being and meet their own needs for food and spending money. The Thinkubator survey respondents overwhelmingly (94.1 percent) stated that they would like to work while attending school. The high number of applications for our work-based learning programs underscores the survey findings.
City policymakers need to respond to this urgent need. For many years, subsidized jobs programs have often provided a young person’s first employment experience. Nevertheless, when the pandemic hit during the spring of 2020, the City of New York announced the cancellation of the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), which typically employs 75,000 youth throughout the city.
A coalition led by organizations such as Teens Take Charge was able to save a portion of SYEP and convince the mayor to reverse his decision to completely eliminate the program. Last summer, SYEP provided some 35,000 youth with work-based learning opportunities. The Bronx community pulled together their resources to support local nonprofits in hosting virtual internships. The Bronx Community Foundation worked with local nonprofits such as The Thinkubator to create 400 virtual internships that allowed youth to work at a local business, learn a skillset, explore career paths, and earn a wage to support themselves and their families. These virtual work-based learning opportunities are critical to support youth learning, to offset learning losses due to school closures, and build valuable work experiences.
This demand for work-based learning experiences, and the very real economic hardships facing young people in the Bronx, highlight a critical public policy issue for City officials to grapple with. As we consider what a just economic recovery looks like, youth employment should be paramount. This generation cannot bear the brunt of less schooling and diminished employment prospects. Bronx youth have shown that they are resilient; now it is time to scale up quality education and employment programs for them.
Dr. Edward Summers, a Bronx native, is the president and CEO of The Thinkubator.
Photo Courtesy of The Thinkubator.