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2017 Session

Budget Amendments - HB1500 (Member Request)

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Chief Patron: Price
Newport News STEP Program

Item 398 #12h

Item 398 #12h

First Year - FY2017 Second Year - FY2018
Public Safety and Homeland Security
Department of Criminal Justice Services FY2017 $0 FY2018 $250,000 GF

Language
Page 387, line 10, strike "$83,112,089" and insert "$83,362,089".

Page 388, after line 42, insert:

"9. To the Summer Training and Enrichment Program (STEP) in the City of Newport News, $250,000 the second year from the general fund."



Explanation

(This amendment provides $250,000 the second year for the STEP pilot Program in Newport News, which offers summer employment opportunities for at-risk young adults. The STEP program is a summer employment program for Opportunity Youth that offers employment over the course of the summer months to help deter juvenile delinquency while school is in recess. It also goes up to age 24 and helps young adults gain more training and workforce development after graduation from high school. In 2015, the City had about 350 students to participate and in conjunction with a student enrichment program, is attributed to reducing juvenile arrests by 27% during the summer months. The students were limited to those that lived in the Southeast NN, an area that battles with high concentrated pockets of poverty, high rates of violent crime, and gang activity. In 2016, the program was expanded by 160 youth to 500 students and the areas where they could apply were expanded as well, as these problems are not solely located in the Southeast section. The students are hired and paid by the City and placed for employment experiences at local businesses. Not only do they earn a paycheck and independence, they gain on-the-job training and job-preparation skill in their experience. Each year, workers have hired for permanent positions that came from the summer program. The city is looking to keep the expanded numbers of youth or reduce the number of students and extend the timeframe of the program to last longer than just the summer. The money would provide help to maintain the program at the expanded capacity. The decrease in arrests and decrease in crime translates to lives saved.)