Schumer: Cost to Rehabilitate, Provide Training to Youth in Juvenile System is Far Less Than That of Long-Term Incarceration & Interaction With Justice System

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Department of Labor will award a Utica-based collaborative organization, Working Solutions, with $1.5 million to implement its "Face Forward Utica" project, which will prepare troubled youth to participate in the workforce. These federal funds will be used to provide services to troubled youth in Utica between the ages of 14 and 24 and train them in life- and-job-skills to help them break the cycle of crime and become productive, job-ready members of society. The Working Solutions collaborative will serve 220 youth by training them for three years in construction skills, targeting jobs and aiding them in the attainment of a high school diploma, GED, or other employable skills. Then, by working with private partners and organizations, the 220 young people will be trained in remediation work that can lead to permanent jobs. Schumer said that this is a worthwhile program for at-risk Utica youth and will be based largely upon referrals by probation officers, schools, community groups, families and local law enforcement. Only those with the need for a program and the potential to complete it will be considered.

"This program will train at-risk youth in vital workforce skills so they can get and hold a job and become productive members of society," said Schumer. ""Face Forward Utica' will train over two hundred of these young people for jobs in construction, particularly those in the environmental sector, which is great for their future and good for our economy."

"We are very grateful for the Department of Labor's support and the support of Senator Schumer in our efforts to ensure that young people in the city of Utica have the opportunity to overcome adversity and create a better life," said Alice Savino, Workforce Investment Board Executive Director. "We were able to secure this grant because of the outstanding support we have received from the Oneida County Probation Department and other criminal justice partners. The Face Forward concept is to help young people turn away from the mistakes they may have made and move forward to get the education and skills they need to find jobs and have successful adult lives. This project is good for our youth, good for our employers, and good for our community."

Schumer explained that the cost of this remediation program is $6,818 per person. According to a 2013 report from VOX, a policy hub set up by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, the United States spends some $6 billion per year on juvenile corrections and, on any given day, some $88,000 per juvenile per year. Working Solutions is looking to help curb this by starting with Utica and believes that the City will be better served by providing youthful offenders an effective alternative to formal processing by the juvenile justice system so that youth who have made mistakes can still achieve success. Schumer explained that this program will take the closer integration between the justice and workforce systems that has taken place at the adult level to the juvenile level.

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