Mayor and Denver City Council Briefing on Summer Youth Opportunities and Violence Prevention - May 21, 2024
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Mayor and Denver City Council Briefing on Summer Youth Opportunities and Violence Prevention - May 21, 2024
The Mayor and Denver City Council held their weekly meeting on May 21, 2024, at 4:30 PM. The primary agenda item was a briefing from the administration on summer youth opportunities and violence prevention initiatives. Council members provided extensive feedback on the application processes for job fairs and youth programs, leading to commitments to revise language and remove barriers. The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to enter executive session to discuss litigation settlement.
Announcements
- Mayor expressed gratitude for condolences received regarding his mother's passing.
- Councilmember Paul Cashman (District 6) announced the District 6 Academy at Cook Park Recreation Center (5:30-7 PM), congratulated the University of Denver men's lacrosse team on reaching the final four, and highlighted a 30% reduction in bike thefts since the 529 Garage bicycle registration program launched.
- Councilmember Chris Hines (District 10) encouraged bike registration and noted that some residents have registered 50 bikes.
Discussion Items
- Summer Youth Opportunities and Violence Prevention Briefing: The administration (led by the Mayor and Tony Anderson, Chief Workforce Development Officer for Denver Economic Development and Opportunity) presented three components:
- Mayor's Youth Works Program: Goal to place 1,000 youth into summer jobs, each receiving a $1,000 retention bonus after 100 hours of work (in addition to minimum wage paid by employers). Two hiring fairs: an online fair on Friday, May 24, and an in-person fair on Saturday, June 1. Application prioritizes low-income youth.
- Youth Summer Platform: A one-stop website (DenverGov.org/youthsummer) listing all summer programs, jobs, internships, and core services (food, mental health) by neighborhood, age, interest, and cost.
- Community Activation Grants: $500,000 available for community-led events (e.g., barbecues, concerts, basketball tournaments) in high-risk neighborhoods. Application deadline is Wednesday, May 29.
- Councilmembers provided critical feedback on the application materials:
- Council President Pro Tem (identified as raising a niece) noted barriers: requirement for professional photo, resume, and job categories (e.g., nursing, real estate) that first-time job seekers cannot complete; terms like "income attestation" and "parental consent" exclude youth without traditional parents or guardians; suggested using youth-friendly language and involving the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council.
- Councilwoman Serena Gonzalez-Gutierrez (at-large) echoed concerns: "income attestation" wording should be simplified (e.g., "How much does your family make a month?"); parental consent requirement may conflict with state law allowing minors to consent to certain services; recommended removing unnecessary barriers.
- Councilmember Amanda Sawyer (District 5) noted the application is written at an adult reading level, not high school level, and that requiring a single parent signature excludes divorced families with shared custody.
- Councilmember Chris Hines praised the program as "fabulous" and framed the feedback as improvements.
- Councilmember (likely Diana) Beatros sought clarification on the $1,000 bonus, learning it is an incentive on top of employer-paid minimum wage.
- Councilmember Zalski Jaros (likely District 2) asked about the $200,000 allocated for K-8 academic learning loss tutoring, expressing concern that the amount may be insufficient and questioning the model (group vs. one-on-one). The administration committed to providing data on number of students served.
- The administration (Mayor, Tony Anderson, and others) acknowledged the feedback and committed to:
- Revising the application language this morning to be simpler and more inclusive.
- Removing barriers such as required professional photo and resume for virtual job fair participation.
- Providing social media graphics and communications to council offices within two hours.
- Following up with Councilmember Zalski Jaros on academic learning loss programming specifics.
- Engaging the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council to review materials.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken on the initiatives.
- Administration will modify the Youth Works application to use plain language, remove unnecessary requirements, and address parental consent wording.
- Administration will distribute outreach materials (social posts, graphics) to council offices by the end of the day.
- Councilmembers committed to promoting the programs in their districts and recruiting employers.
- The meeting moved to executive session via a motion under 234-A3 and 60 to discuss settlement of pending litigation against the city (motion carried unanimously).
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to this meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. At this weekly session, city agencies brief the mayor and council members on various proposals and projects across the city. This meeting of the mayor and city council members begins now. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Mayor Council. Thank you for joining us. I think we are slightly in the dark, maybe for artistic purposes. Yes, that's great. The distinguished gentleman from District Six. Good morning, Mayor. Good to see you. Paul Cashman, South Denver District Six. Good morning, everyone. Serena Gonzalez Cutierez, uh, one of the council members at large. Good morning, Amanda Sawyer District Five. Good morning, Chris Hines, Denver's Perfect 10. Amanda Sandoval, Northwest Denver District Biden. Jamie Torres was Denver District Three. Um, well, thank you all so much for being here. Uh we'll do announcements. I'll just do one brief announcement. I I would just want to extend my deep thanks to all the members of the council who've reached out and sent me notes and thoughts and uh about my mom. I really appreciate that. Um it's meant a lot to me, so thank you so much for doing that. Uh and also to members of the public. I have folks that will stop me in the grocery store and say I lost my mom too, or I've been through that, or so um just appreciate how deep the humanity is for folks in the city. Um I felt really taken care of and I appreciate it. So just wanted to say that. I'll open to other announcements other people may want to share to jump in. Take us open. Councilman. I've got a couple of things. Um, first things first, uh, tonight at Cook Park Recreation Center, five thirty to seven. We're having our District Six Academy. Uh rather than focus on a particular topic as we normally do. We're just gonna have a group of twenty to twenty-five city agencies and departments present to answer questions and talk to people about how the city operates. I think you'll be joining us for a while. Be honored to have you. And uh again, Cook Park Recreation Center, just east of Monaco Street on Cherry Creek Drive North. And uh the other thing I wanted to mention. Oh, I'll I'll take two more. Uh again, uh shout out to the University of Denver men's lacrosse team. Uh entered the final four, defeating Syracuse ten to eight. And uh they they'll, like I said, and enter the final four this coming weekend. So we wish them well. And another thing I'm real happy about uh my former aide, uh Brent Farberger was very involved in uh creating with the Denver Police Department our new bicycle registration system, 529 Garage. And there's a great um piece on nine news this morning that apparently be running throughout the day. The bike thefts have been down 30 percent uh since that uh program went in in into operation, which kind of matches with the statistics that came out from uh uh Canada where the program originated. So real excited about the success. Uh if you've got uh a bicycle and it's not registered, just go online to 529 garage.
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