The Gary Common Council gave immediate approval to several ordinances Tuesday that will fund summer jobs for the city’s young people.
The council voted without opposition on Tuesday on three ordinances that were introduced, then immediately called for a final vote. Members Carolyn Rogers, D-4th, and Herb Smith, D-at large, were absent
One ordinance allowed for funds provided by the state to be used for a program providing summer jobs for youths between 14 and 18, while another program of local funds will apply to people between the ages of 16 and 24.
The state initiative uses $412,500 in money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to help cover the costs of providing work for young people at a salary of $8 per hour, Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said.
About 400 youth could gain employment through the initiative, officials said.
The other program would transfer a little more than $20,000 from the Gary Police forfeiture fund, the Green Urbanism botanical gardens fund and from a tax increment finance district controlled by the Gary Redevelopment Commission to the Gary Summer Youth Employment fund, where it would cover the cost of some part-time positions for the summer months.
Freeman-Wilson said she was pleased the state had come up with TANF funds to give a significant boost to the city’s efforts to create jobs for teenagers so they would have some income and be kept busy during the summer.
She said it would have been better had the ordinances been able to go through the usual legislative process of committee hearings, but she said she wanted the measures approved quickly so as to ensure that young people would be put to work quickly.
“I’ll have to take responsibility for the fact that we didn’t look ahead and start this process sooner,” the mayor said.
The Common Council also approved an ordinance that will allow a state grant to pay the cost of providing a Summer Youth Food Service program from June 19-July 28. Officials said about 1,000 young people will be fed.
But the grant would come up about $11,000 short of covering the costs, and that money will be transferred from the casino revenue fund to the summer food program.
She said she wanted this rushed because of past years in which problems arose in staffing the program. The mayor said she wanted to ensure similar circumstances did not occur this year.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
