The city’s youth may be in for a rude awakening this summer: Cuts to state parks and city pools, funding gaps for teen jobs, shuttered middle school summer programs and shorter library hours may leave many kids with nothing to do.
“We’re in for a long, hot summer,” said Brooklyn City Councilman Lewis Fidler, chairman of the Youth Services Committee.
Harlem’s Riverbank State Park is losing seven operating hours a day, its outdoor pool and community programs in a state cut. Nearly three million people visited Riverbank last year.
The state has taken $35 million from the Summer Youth Employment Program, gutting efforts to get low-income teenagers jobs.
“The money we earn helps us with our families,” said Chantel Davis, 16, who worked for the Lower East Side’s Henry Street Settlement last summer. “It gives kids something to do other than just hang out.”
Fidler called summer jobs cuts “pennywise and pound foolish.” “Not having something to do is never an excuse to do something stupid and illegal,” he said, but added: “We can’t shy away from our responsibilities as adults.”
