Hochul: State to fund summer jobs for disadvantaged youth on LI

New York state will provide $3.3 million to fund summer jobs for disadvantaged youth on Long Island and around the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

The program, which has been around for more than a decade, will this year fund $46 million for summer jobs statewide, paying the wages for those ages 14 to 20 who meet income requirements.

"The Summer Youth Employment program represents a smart, targeted investment in the next generation of our workforce that will pay dividends for New York State," Hochul said in a news release. "We are committed to tearing down barriers to entry into the labor market for disadvantaged youth, and the young people who participate in this program will learn valuable skills, the importance of educational achievement and, above all, will be put on a path toward success."

To be eligible, participants must have household incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level, which would be $46,060 for a family of three.

Counties administer the programs individually, accepting applications and placing people in the jobs, which can be in government or with participating private companies.

Northwell Health is expanding its jobs available under the program this year to 15 from 12 last year. The jobs are in Nassau County.

“The great thing about it is that Northwell is able to introduce students to the vast array of job opportunities that there are within health care. It's not just nurses and doctors,” said Ines Ruiz vanBoom, assistant vice president for workforce readiness at Northwell.

The summer jobs at Northwell Health can range from administrative work to shadowing health care providers caring for patients, vanBoom said. The exposure to different jobs in the industry can help young people make career choices, she said.

“We have so many open positions in health care,” she said, adding that the program is a great opportunity to “spread the word about the different roles that there are in the medical field.”

Suffolk County, which is receiving $1.8 million for the program, has enough funding for 700 young people, county spokeswoman Nicole Russo said. The county has 70 work sites that include school districts, nonprofits, government agencies and private sector employers.

In Suffolk, most of the work will run July 5-Aug. 19 and pay $15 an hour for 25 hours per week.

Interested young people in Suffolk County have several ways to apply, including through school guidance offices, community organizations and the Suffolk County Department of Labor and through the county website.

In Nassau County the state recommends applying though the county department of social services.