A new report and guide from Everytown For Gun Safety, provides a roadmap for city leaders interested in acting on “a growing body of evidence [which] shows that summer youth employment programs aimed at the young people most at risk for or with histories of violence are a promising intervention to reduce violent crime in cities.”
The Everytown report contains “a costing tool that can be tailored to specific needs and budgets.” [Here’s a sample worksheet that your jurisdiction can use]. In general, though, Everytown estimates that “a three-year program that serves 3,000 youth, works with six program providers, and pays youth a stipend of $12.50 per hour for 24 hours per week and six weeks per summer will cost $10 million each year—a total of $3,338 per youth participant.”
Why implement a summer jobs program? As economist Jennifer Doleac has explained, “It’s not just giving teens something to do during the summer. [The] effects last long after summer jobs end…Giving teens a glimpse of a different path, giving them something different to aspire to…” And, again, there is strong evidence that these programs reduce gun violence:
- In Chicago: Researchers found that a summer job program “dramatically reduces violent-crime arrests, even after the summer”, dropping violent crime arrests by 33-42%.
- In Boston: Researchers found that “those in the [summer job program] treatment group exhibited significant reductions in the number of arraignments for violent crimes (-35 percent) and property crimes (-57 percent) during the 17 months after program participation.”
- In NYC: Researchers found evidence that “participation [in a summer job program] decreases arrests and convictions during the program summer… [and an important benefit of the program is] that the effect is concentrated among individuals with prior contact with the criminal justice system.”