Lying on the wet pavement and feigning death in front of the Massachusetts State House, Diandra Ackerly chanted “They say cut back, we say fight back” to support the Youth Jobs Coalition, on Thursday.
“If we don’t have youth jobs we’re going to die and I know that sounds drastic but that’s the reality of it,” Ackerly said. “We can’t have people that look like us run the state house unless we lay down here and run it from the outside.”
Ackerly, along with about 1,000 local high school students and young people, marched from Copley Square to the Massachusetts State House in order to convince Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislators to support youth job funding and promote the $8.4 million youth jobs program budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
“People are on the streets because they don’t have a job so there’s going to be more violence,” Ackerly said. “People say they want to stop violence, but they don’t want to stop it because if they really wanted to stop it they would get us jobs in the summer and in the school year.”
Youth jobs are critical to help prepare students for their professional careers, to help support their families and to take teens out of troubled communities.
Yet, in 2010 the number of teens that held jobs during the year fell to about 28 percent, while 45 percent of teens had jobs in 2000, according to a Youth Jobs Coalition press release.
“It’s important. We need youth jobs,” said Rigoberto Reyes, 19, of East Boston. “All of us depend on these youth jobs to raise awareness in our community and if we get that cut we’d be out on the streets doing whatever everybody else is doing out in the streets.”
Last year the state cut the budget for the youth job program, but restored it in September with an additional 2,700 jobs. This year the Youth Job Coalition is looking to bolster the budget, said Asia Medley, an organizer of the rally.
“We want to restore the budget back to $8 million so we know there are jobs for our youth so they have the skills to have a job in the future and have skills to learn about what’s going on in their community so they can help find ways to make the community better and give back,” said Medley, a senior from City on a Hill Charter School.
Despite the state facing a $1.8 billion dollar deficit and funding youth jobs is a risk, Boston teens believe it is a necessity and are urging the state to pass the budget.
“Some of us need our jobs and if we lose them we will walk around the streets,” said Oscar Martinez, 17, of East Boston. “We all want to be part of this community because if we keep our job we can help out this community.”
After the rally, Patrick spoke to the protestors at Gardner Auditorium, urging them to seek out jobs in the private sector as well.
“When are you going to see the private sector where most people work, where most jobs are, where our economy resides? When are you going to show up there?” Patrick said. “We will do everything we can do in and through the public sector. That is our job and your job and to show up here and get us to do it.”
Patrick called out to the business community to offer the youth jobs.
“Most opportunity is in the private sector with private dollars, they need your talent too they need your engagement and they need to know that you care about those opportunities,” he said. “I called out the business community. And you should too.”
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