Several hundred students took advantage of February school vacation to march through Boston streets calling for more state funding for youth employment.
The group stopped traffic on their way to the State House to lobby legislators and the governor to increase funding for Youth Works, a state program that pays to place low-income teenagers in positions at non-profit and government offices.
Legislators are being asked to provide $13 million for the program in next year’s budget which will reportedly fund 5,200 jobs for teens. The latter budget for this program was $11.5 million.
The Youth Jobs Coalition is leading the charge to increase funds for the program. Rally organizers claimed the state needs 90,000 jobs to fill the gap between available positions and young people looking for work.