Long lines at the Oncenter on Monday
Hundreds of teens stood in long lines at Syracuse's Oncenter on Monday, applying for summer jobs.
The jobs are 25 hours a week, for six weeks, at minimum wage in Parks & Recreation and other city and county positions, and in not-for-profits that are also funded to take on young people.
The jobs are funded in part by federal block grants, but whether New York gets the money is in questions: Governor Paterson proposed cutting summer job funds completely as part of his budget plan. As the debate goes on in the legislature, the Assembly is proposing restoring $21 million, the Senate $35 million. It's part of a complicated state matching process, but the expectation is, that since both houses have money in, there should be some for summer youth jobs.
As for the CNY Works efforts at summer jobs, the expectation is that even if the legislature does not come through, they'll have enough for some jobs, at least, this year.
There's another job fair at Liverpool's OCM BOCES on Wednesday also 10AM - 2PM, and another, primarily for college students (ages 19 - 21) at CNY Works on May 26th, 5:30 - 7:30pm