FEDERALLY-FUNDED SUMMER JOB PROGRAM RULES CREATE HAVOC FOR PATERSON TEENS AND FAMILIES

AS 24TH DISTRICT LEGISLATORS FEARED, PROGRAM HAS LEFT UNFIT CAMP COUNSELORS AND HUNDREDS OF TROUBLE-FREE TEENS UNEMPLOYED

    Assembly members Gary Chiusano and Alison Littell McHose today repeated their call to expand a federally-funded jobs program to trouble-free youth after Paterson’s use of the program left hundreds of college students unemployed, a summer camp unable to open and at least three counselors – who weren’t subject to criminal background checks - were removed from their posts because they were unfit.

    “The college students who are scrambling to find summer jobs in a bad economy, the parents who had to immediately find another day care option and the children who were to be supervised with unfit counselors have become the unfortunate example of why these requirements were a bad idea,” Chiusano, R-Sussex, Morris and Hunterdon, said. “These requirements have wreaked havoc on a summer camp program by replacing good hard-working college students from lower- and middle-income families with teens of questionable backgrounds.”

    According to a report in Bergen Record, Paterson decided to use the stimulus funds to pay for counselors in a free camp program for 1,500 children. The federal summer jobs program has income restrictions – a family of three has to earn less than $32,054 for example – and other requirements such as being a drop-out, pregnant or teen parent or having a criminal record. Most of the program’s previous 200 counselors and 60 lifeguards did not meet the requirements.

    “There is no such thing as money without strings attached and this example shows why it is careless for elected officials to hastily grab federal funds without properly planning or considering how it will affect families,” McHose said. “These requirements, which I still hope the federal government will reconsider, were foolish but they were well-known to Paterson officials before they decided to take the money and effectively unemploy hundreds of college students and jeopardize the safety of young children.”