Fenty Faces Backlash From Problems in Youth Jobs

Yesterday, the mayor said in a statement, "We wanted to give every young person who wanted a summer job the opportunity to work and when we had an increased interest, the directive was given to accommodate them. We welcome any and all analysis that can help [the employment department] and the administration do a better job next year."

The preliminary findings of the internal probe, based on visits to dozens of work sites, show that the Employment Services Department did not know how many youths were enrolled, a Fenty administration official said. Open enrollment was also the policy last year, but Spencer had just come aboard and the program had not been as widely publicized. And although many participants quit or never showed up this year, their names remained on the payroll, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the review is not complete.

By this week, the administration will have a firm head count, the official said, and money could be saved once the payroll is scrubbed.

"In many ways, we're kind of victims of our ambition here," City Administrator Dan Tangherlini said in an interview late last month.

The summer jobs program began more than three decades ago as a federally funded initiative. When Marion Barry became mayor in 1979, he pledged to make it a hallmark of his administration, and enrollment reached 25,000 at its peak. Barry, now the Ward 8 council member, is still beloved by residents who thank him for their first paycheck.

Mayors have continued to support the effort. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), while dealing with the mid-1990s fiscal crisis, instructed his budget team to make sure the program was funded, although participation dropped to between 5,000 and 12,000 a year.

Fenty sought to quickly build it back up. Last summer, he got an additional $5 million from the council to extend the program from six to eight weeks for about 14,000 youths. This year, he made the program 10 weeks with a budget for 15,000 workers.

In January, Fenty and Spencer met with 80 business leaders at the Hogan & Hartson law firm to launch a campaign named "Just Take One," pressing the businesses to accept summer workers. Historically, most young people have worked at city agencies or nonprofit groups because businesses have complained about poor work habits among the students, ages 14 to 21.

"So many young people can get into trouble when they're not challenged, when they're not busy," Fenty told the business crowd.

Some business leaders responded to Fenty's call this year. Lang, of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed to place 300 students at area firms.

The recruiting efforts among youths went even better. At a May 15 oversight hearing before council member Carol Schwartz's Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, Spencer said 15,500 youths had signed up.

Schwartz (R-At Large) was impressed. The council and mayor, she told Spencer, had been in "a contest about who can fund more jobs for young people. I like this contest."

"It's a good contest," Spencer agreed.

Inside the Employment Services Department, however, chaos ruled. The new computer system, installed to permit electronic timecards, was not tested thoroughly, according to administration officials. Contracts with employers were not in place when the program began.

And hundreds of young people continued to stream in looking for work. Fenty ordered enrollment to remain open, although he and Tangherlini had been briefed about the high participation.

After the first pay period, 19,482 students were paid. Although businesses reported students failing to show up -- Lang said 122 of the chamber's 300 interns did not report the first day -- the payroll continued to increase. By the second pay period, 20,149 youths were paid, and the number reached 21,018 by the third period, according to city financial records.

It's not what Fenty had in mind when he and Spencer were wooing business leaders.

"This city is headed toward unparalleled greatness," Fenty told them then. "But we have a few things we need to work harder on, and most of those things deal with young people."