YOUTH
Queer Youth Jobs Program Succumbs to Budget Cuts
Financial pitfall on track to impact vulnerable LGBTQ young people across fi ve boroughs
BY MATT TRACY
A program aimed at providing
training, job
placement, and other
workforce development
initiatives for runaway and homeless
queer youth that was slated
to offi cially begin in July has been
placed on the backburner due to
cuts to the incoming budget.
The city’s Department of Youth
and Community Development
(DYCD) collaborated with the NYC
Unity Project and NYC Center for
Youth Employment to create the
NYC Unity Works Program, under
which a not-for-profi t organization
would be contracted to help queer
homeless youth between the ages
of 16 and 24 obtain gainful employment
or education.
The program was scheduled to
kick off for the fi rst time on July
1, with the contract lasting until
2024. But the new budget — announced
June 30 — is putting everything
on hold, at least for now.
The Queens Daily Eagle fi rst reported
on the forthcoming cuts in
May and a spokesperson for the de
Blasio administration confi rmed to
Gay City News on June 29 that the
program is “on pause,” but did not
answer questions about when the
program is anticipated to return.
An outline of the Unity Works
program published by the city in
November of last year stated that
the four-year-long program was
slated to cost $2.7 million in total,
or $675,000 per year, though that
fi gure did not include wages paid
➤ 2021 BUDGET, from p.10
supporting the $1 billion NYPD cut
organized by a New York City chapter
of the Democratic Socialists of
America (DSA). The DSA protests
took place outside the homes of
the councilmembers. Johnson’s
boyfriend was also targeted in his
apartment by the protestors. The
councilmembers were clearly angered
by the protests.
The 2021 budget has cuts to
Mayor Bill de Blasio is slashing funding for NYC Unity Works, a workforce development program for
queer runaway and homeless youth that was created out of Chirlane McCray’s NYC Unity Project.
to those who participate and eventually
gain employment.
In recent months, Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams, numerous
queer non-profi t organizations,
and a group of LGBTQ candidates
for City Council in 2021 delivered
letters to de Blasio and DYCD
Commissioner Bill Chong advising
against the impending cuts to the
program, warning that it would be
problematic to leave such a vulnerable
demographic in the dust in the
midst of a pandemic. The public
advocate, who also called out cuts
to other youth programs, placed
extra emphasis on Unity Works.
“LGBTQ youth experience high
rates of homelessness, unemployment,
and hate violence,” Williams
said in a June 15 letter. “We must
ensure we are taking a multifaceted
approach in eliminating these
Council initiatives, one shot funding,
discretionary funding, and allocations
that restored earlier cuts.
Collectively, the funds for those
four categories went from $1.1 billion
to $700 million.
The 51-member City Council
passed the budget on the evening
of June 30 with 32 members supporting
it and 17 opposed. Among
the Council’s fi ve out gay members,
Johnson, Dromm, the chair of the
Finance Committee, and Ritchie
Torres, the apparent winner of last
MATT TRACY
social issues, and putting funds
directly into their hands is a step
closer to our shared goal. In short,
we must invest in our LGBTQ
youth.”
Williams encouraged the mayor
to reduce funding from the NYPD
to free up enough cash.
The groups that penned a joint
letter to the administration included
the Coalition for Homeless
Youth, Ali Forney Center, the
Brooklyn Community Pride Center,
the Callen-Lorde Community
Health Center, Convenant House,
the Hetrick-Martin Institute, Housing
Works, the New York Transgender
Advocacy Group, VOCAL-NY,
and the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic
Club, among others.
Runaway and homeless youth,
the June 12 letter stated, “particularly
LGBTQI youth, are disproportionately
week’s Democratic primary for a
US House of Representatives seat
in the Bronx, voted yes. Carlos
Menchaca of Brooklyn and Jimmy
Van Bramer of Queens voted no.
Menchaca and Dromm had
earlier argued with each other on
Twitter about the signifi cance of
the cuts to the police. Van Bramer,
meanwhile, also on Twitter, needled
colleagues upset about activists
showing up at their homes,
displaying messages he’d received
that morning on his doorstep emphasizing
experiencing the impact
of COVID-19 already and by
suspending or delaying the start of
this vital program, the city will be
making the decision to negatively
impact this population further.”
Meanwhile, the coalition of queer
City Council hopefuls running in
the next election cycle put forth
similar demands in a joint letter.
“Now more than ever, LGBTQ
youth are in dire need of pathways
to good-paying jobs. Given the current
crisis we are facing as a city,
we believe it is a poor decision not
to move forward with and fund the
contract for this program,” wrote
Elisa Crespo of the Bronx, Erik
Bottcher, Marti Gould Cummings,
and Seth Rosen of Manhattan, Wilfredo
Florentino and Josue Pierre
of Brooklyn, and Rod Townsend
and Lynn Schulman of Queens .
First Lady Chirlane McCray took
the lead on launching the NYC
Unity Project in September of 2017
in an effort to create a citywide
program that would provide necessary
services to queer youth communities
in the city by expanding
drop-in centers, providing funding
for shelters, create LGBTQ-affi rming
mental health training programs,
and more.
The following year, however,
queer youth trotted out by the administration
to serve as the face of
an announcement unveiling a new
package of NYC Unity initiatives
spoke to Gay City News about feeling
as if the administration used
them to promote it but did not seek
their input on executing it.
that Black Lives Matter.
“Now I know some elected REALLY
don’t live home visits, but
I appreciate the passion here &
the righteous fi ght,” Van Bramer
wrote.
In summarizing his own
thoughts about the budget, Johnson,
the speaker, at his press conference,
said, “There are many
things I am not happy about in
this budget.”
Additional reporting by Matt Tracy.
July 16 - July 29, 2 12 020 | GayCityNews.com
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