The jobs program that put 2,414 Cincinnati youth to work this summer could become a permanent part of the summer landscape if Councilwoman Alicia Reece has her way.

        Ms. Reece wants council to approve a motion that would set aside $300,000 of the city's federal Community Development Block Grant funds in future city budgets to pay for the city's share of a summer youth job program.

        “This should not be a one-time deal,” Ms. Reece said Wednesday at a meeting of the Health and Social and Children's Services Committee she chairs.

        After April's rioting, Mayor Charlie Luken put together a public-private partnership to create 3,000 summer jobs for inner-city youth.

        The program — run by the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative (CYC), the committee and the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati — did not reach the 3,000 job mark, but did put 2,414 young people to work at a wide range of jobs, from Paramount's Kings Island and Kroger stores to parks.

        The program cost about $2.8 million, with nearly $1.4 million coming from Hamilton County's Department of Job and Family Services. Another $1.2 million came from private donors, including major Cincinnati corporations.

        The smallest funding component — $240,000 — came from the city of Cincinnati and was used to hire 63 people ages 18 to 25 at the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority for construction and administrative jobs that paid $8 an hour.

        John Bryant, former executive director of CYC and organizer of the summer jobs program, gave Ms. Reece's committee and the Hamilton County commissioners a report that showed that 85 percent of the county money that went to the Urban League went to wages, with the rest going toward administrative costs.

        CYC received $95,000 from the Department of Job and Family Services, and the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency received $218,000, Mr. Bryant said. The money was used to pay 24 staff members, along with buying 1,500 bus tokens to distribute to workers who needed them, the report said.

        Councilman Phil Heimlich said that while he is not opposed to the idea of helping young people find jobs, he found this program “troubling.”

        “This was presented from the start as a response to the civil unrest,” Mr. Heimlich said. “We have given in to an ideology that says if violence breaks out in the community, we are at fault and we have to spend money.”

Good intentions, but not next door
Barber shop part of forum
The Banks draws developers' interest
Former UC basketball player sentenced
Media ban sought
National news media tune in to mayoral primary
Reds' building cushion declines
Reece: Keep summer jobs effort
Student hooked on urban legends
Tristate A.M. Report
United Way turns up kids focus
Board studies land issue
Federal flood aid available
Schools to seek input on designs
Two men arrested in drug bust
Byrd in letter to Taft: I'm no killer
Voinovich blasts federal agency on EPA nominee
Districts offer ways to sacrifice
Greasy Creek residents seek answers
Izzy's to open fifth restaurant
Kentucky News Briefs
Ky. wants to help women handle finances
Many favor Wiedemann Hill project
NKU scrambles to serve record number of students
Patton juggles funds to help balance budget
'Voice of the Wildcats' succumbs to cancer at 75