Boston City Council Hearing on FY2027 Youth Services Budget - May 5, 2026
Boston City Council Hearing on FY2027 Youth Services Budget - May 5, 2026
On May 5, 2026, the Boston City Council Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2027 operating budget for youth services departments, including the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement (OYEA), Youth Options Unlimited (YOU), and the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity (YEO). The hearing began at 3:07 PM and featured presentations from department heads, public testimony from over 80 speakers, and extensive council discussion. The central issue was the proposed elimination of all city funding ($5.9 million) for school-year youth jobs, which would cut an estimated 1,721 positions, combined with a state reduction of $2.4 million in youth works funding. Councilors and speakers expressed strong opposition to the cuts, calling for full restoration.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Nearly all speakers opposed the cuts, many highlighting that youth jobs provide essential income for families, build skills, and keep youth safe. Testimony came from youth, parents, teachers, and representatives of organizations such as Teen Empowerment, Youth Guidance Boston, Pierce Park Sailing Center, the Boston Teachers Union, and the Food Project.
- Key points: Youth jobs are “not extra” but a lifeline; cuts would push youth toward unsafe activities; the city’s $4.9 billion budget can accommodate $6 million for youth; police funding should not be increased at the expense of youth programs.
- Several speakers criticized Mayor Wu for not attending and for cutting programs while increasing the police budget.
- A few speakers, including Khalil Howe and Alexa of the Youth Justice and Power Union, presented data showing that the school-year program had 2,531 jobs in 2023-2024, dropping to 1,800 in 2025-2026, and would go to zero under the proposal.
Discussion Items
- Presentations: Pedro Cruz (OYEA) highlighted eight programs including the Mayor's Youth Council, Youth Lead the Change, and Boston After Dark. Tanisha de Leon (YOU) described services for high-risk youth, annual budget of $1.6 million, and a goal to serve 400 youth. Alison Vernary (YEO) reported 10,511 summer jobs in 2025, 1,721 school-year jobs, and that 92% of her budget goes to youth wages.
- Council Questions: Councilors Fitzgerald, Pepin, Flynn, Murphy, Culpeper, Santana, and others pressed panelists on the impacts of cuts and potential funding alternatives. They noted that the $5.9 million cut plus $2.4 million from the state totals $8.3 million at risk. Chief Trin Wynne (Worker Empowerment) stated the administration is pursuing private sector partnerships but could not guarantee full funding by September 2026.
- Councilor Culpeper asked for the exact dollar amount needed to restore all summer and school-year jobs; the panel deferred to balancing strategies.
- Councilor Santana declared restoring the $6 million his top budget priority.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken; this was a hearing to inform council budget deliberations.
- Multiple councilors stated they would prioritize restoring school-year youth job funding through budget amendments.
- The hearing will inform the council's FY27 budget review, with a final vote scheduled for June 3, 2026.
- The next public listening session is May 26, 2026, at 6 PM.
- Administration officials noted ongoing talks with the Private Industry Council, ABCD, YMCA, and others to secure private funding, but no commitments were made.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. Hello, everyone. Hey, ma'am, nice to see you. Uh um, okay, if we could get seated panelists, uh we have a probably a long hearing ahead of us. So I want to get started. Uh, for folks coming in. If you want to testify, uh, sign up out in the sign in sheet. Uh I have a couple of some preliminaries here to go through, and I will just get started. Uh again, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ben Weber. I'm the Boston City Council for District Six, and I'm the chair of the committee on Ways and Means. Today's May fifth, two thousand twenty-six. It's too bad yesterday was Star Wars Day, was May four May the fourth, but uh so today's May 5th, and now the exact time is three. Oh seven. Okay, so this hearing is being recorded. It's also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city dash council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity channel eight, RCN channel eighty two, and FIOS channel nine sixty-four. The council's budget review process begins in April and runs through June. We strongly encourage residents to testify uh or or submit their testimony to us, which you can do through s in several ways. We need to be a little early here, keep it down, find a seat, sign in. If you want to testify again in person, come to our hearing, sign up at the sign in sheet near the uh near the entrance, and we'll call on you in the order in which you've signed up. Um you can check out our hearing schedule at Boston.gov slash council dash budget. Um, you can also testify virtually via Zoom at this hearing and any other hearing. To do that, you can email, you can sign, fill out an online form on our council budget review website. You can also email the com uh the Ways and means committee at CCC.wm at Boston.gov, or you can email our legislative budget analyst Karish Machon at K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHOUHAN. You can also come to this chamber. We have our fourth of four public testimony listening sessions where folks come to testify, and the city counselors are here to listen. Our last of these will be on Thursday, May 26th at 6 p.m. So it's in the evening here in this chamber. You can show up again, you can testify in person at that listening session, or you testify virtually via Zoom. When you're called to testify, please state your name, where you live, and if you're with an organization, tell us your affiliation with any organization. And then we're going to limit comments to two minutes each person. You have two minutes. And when you hear the buzzer at the end of it, please uh wrap up your comments. We need to make room for a lot of folks to testify this afternoon. So if you go over, you know, you're heard you're you're hurting other people's ability to speak out. So uh just try to limit your comments to two minutes when you hear the buzzer and try to wrap it up. You can also email written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at boston.gov. Lastly, you can submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website. For more information on the city council budget process and how to testify. Please visit the city council's budget website at Boston.gov slash council-budget. Um we will take in-person testimony after our first round of questions. So one uh we're going to hear from the panelists. We're actually gonna hear from two people, two folks, who are gonna give uh public testimony uh from the public, and we're gonna then have a round of questions and then we're gonna go to public testimony after that. Uh, and then we'll come for back for second, third round of questions from my colleagues. Um, again, if you uh haven't done so already, you can sign in at the sign-in sheet. People seem to be able to do that. You can also just email our legislative budget uh uh analysis director Karishma at K-A-R I S H M A.CHOUHAN at Boston.gov for the zoom link and your name will be added to the list. This afternoon's hearing uh is on docket numbers 0733 to 0740, an overview of the fiscal year 2027 operating budget for the offices and departments related to youth services, including youth engagement and advancement, youth options unlimited, and youth employment and opportunity. This is one in a series of hearings we're holding on the fiscal year 2027 budget. These matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026.
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