Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks to Kick Off The City's Summer Youth Employment Program

July 15, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Kenneth, thank you so much. And I just came from a meeting – and I’m sorry it ran over a little. I came from a very powerful meeting that’s totally kindred with this, with leaders all over the city who are involved in the Cure Violence initiatives and the work in neighborhoods all over the city to stop violence, to reach our young people, to turn them away from involvement in gangs, to work with our police. And it was very intense meeting, a very productive meeting. And I said – I’m sorry I really, really need to leave because I’m going to a meeting to celebrate how much more we’re doing on Summer Youth Employment. And everyone said – that’s where you need to be because it’s exactly kindred with the work that so many activists are doing in this city to stop violence, to keep young people from being afflicted by some of the things that are around them. So we’re going to talk about many of the really wonderful, positive things young people get from Summer Youth Employment. But I also want to emphasize that it is absolutely consistent with a larger set of strategies to make this a safer city and to help our young people to have positive options throughout their lives. And we’re very, very proud of all the young people. Let’s give them a round of applause – all the young people with us.

[Applause]

The – I have to say something upfront. And I will connect to it by saying this generation around us right here – I have a lot of faith in them. And I’m talking – I just had an opportunity to talk to a number of our students who just graduated – valedictorians and salutatorians from schools all over the city who just graduated. And I’ve been saying it everywhere I get a chance, that this generation of young people has a strength to them. They’ve been through a lot of things that certainly my generation didn’t go through. They’ve been through a lot of challenges. They’ve seen economic challenges we didn’t know in the past. They’ve seen some real challenges in the world that we didn’t know in the past, and threats, and things that have made them very sober, very realistic. But there’s plenty of idealism in this generation too.

And the young people here are going to be our next leaders – there’s no question in my mind. There’s a lot of great examples – I think, right around us here, and I’ll speak to that in a moment – of young people who once upon a time got involved in thing like Summer Youth Employment and became leaders of this city today. So there’s no question that we’re going to see some of these young people follow the same path. But this generation has a strength, and a soberness, and a grounding that I think will make them particularly good and urgent leaders.

And that unfortunately connects to what I want to say before I talk about Summer Youth Employment because I need to talk about the attack in France, which is on everyone’s minds. And it’s a painful reality for all of us to watch. Our hearts go out to the people of Nice, to the families who have lost loved ones. To the people of France – we feel a great solidarity with France. We feel, in a way I think, that America and particularly New York City uniquely understand what France is going through – why they are being targeted precisely because they are a multicultural, democratic society. And it is not lost on any of us that they were targeted on the day they celebrate their nation, and their values, and their democracy.

So, we are very closely monitoring the situation in France. We have our NYPD team that is in France – will be in Nice today, and will be learning about the events there, so we can learn any lessons that we have to. We already take a number of precautions that allow us to protect large events like the one that was attacked in Nice. I think we do it in some of the most advanced ways of any city in the country. And we will continue to deepen those strategies. We have 500-plus officers as part of our Critical Response Command – a very highly trained and equipped anti-terror force. Thanks to the City Council that made the additional police officers such a priority in last year’s budget, we have the resources to have that highly trained force, and that’s crucial to keeping us safe.

That being said – it’s very, very important to repeat to all New Yorkers – there are no credible and specific threats against New York City at this time. And we’re obviously monitoring closely, but that is something that is important to recognize – no credible and specific threats against us.

I want to remind people – just one more point that everyone is part of keeping us safe. Vigilance is always called for. And that means the classic – if you see something, say something. If you see that package left unattended, it’s crucial to tell a police officer or call 9-1-1 immediately. If you hear someone talking and suggesting that they may do something violent – we can’t take that lightly. Maybe once upon a time we could have tried to explain that away. In today’s day and age, you have to take it very seriously. And someone needs to know about that – whether that is a police officer or if it’s in a school setting – a teacher or a principal. We all have a role to play – parents have a role to play – all of us to keep each other safe.

Just a quick summary of that in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish.]

So that was a responsibility I had that I wanted to put upfront. But now, let’s talk about some very good news that’s occurring right here. And I said that last year in the budget, the City Council made it a number one priority of increasing our police force, and they did that very successfully. Well this year in the budget, number one priority was increasing Summer Youth Employment and making those resources permanent. And the Speaker – I want to give credit where credit is due – raised the issue forcefully and repeatedly, and repeatedly forcefully – and got us to move to places that we did not initially presume we would. And that’s not because we don’t appreciate Summer Youth Employment. We were looking at real tough financial decisions. But the Council’s priorities matter deeply. And this was such a clear priority that we went farther than I think anyone thought we possibly could go this year. And I want to give a lot of credit to the Speaker and her colleagues for having waged that effort so intensely and for having won the day. So congratulations, Speaker.

[Applause]

Now, Kenneth – even though he didn’t want to introduce me – 

[Laughter]

Kenneth is a great example – Kenneth Rivera – and is spending his summer working at Camp Henry here. And Kenneth’s getting a chance to take his skills and his abilities and apply them, and he’s going to shine this summer. And a lot of the young people he’s helping are going to learn from him and are going to grow. And he will benefit from seeing what he’s been able to do for those young people. It will be very enriching for him as well.

This is very consistent with history of the Henry Street Settlement. It’s been changing lives for the better in this city for more than a century – amazing history. Let’s thank David Garza, Executive Director of the Henry Street Settlement – stage right – thank you.

[Applause]

And I want to thank, from my administration, two people who have done a lot of work to help our youth in a lot of different ways.

Deputy Mayor Richard Buery – thank you so much for the work you do.

[Applause]

Got his first job ever through Summer Youth Employment Program. Right?

[Applause]

Now I just want to give you some discouraging news to all of the young people here. He got a job – how old were you when you were in SYEP roughly?

Deputy Mayor Richard Buery: 14.

Mayor: 14 years old – okay. And he looked like a very promising young man. Everyone thought he was going to do great things. And he then failed to get into a good college. He could not get into a good college. Where did you go to college?

Deputy Mayor Buery: Harvard.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Harvard College – okay. And then he could not – because he didn’t get into a good college, he couldn’t get into get into a good law school. Where’d you go to law school?

Deputy Mayor Buery: Yale Law School.

Mayor: Yale Law School – okay.

[Laughter]

Wait a minute – you’re from Scarsdale or you’re from?

Deputy Mayor Buery: Brooklyn.

Mayor: East New York, Brooklyn – okay.

[Applause]

So, SYEP works. We have living proof of it. And we thank you.

And I want to thank a woman who does so much to bring other resources in to help our young people, and get a lot of the companies that we want to and non-profits that we want to provide the actual jobs to come to the table. And she’s been increasing that number of jobs constantly. I want to thank Gabrielle Fialkoff, my Senior Advisor, for your good work.

[Applause]

And you are going to hear from – I’m skipping ahead – you are going to hear from my elected official colleagues who are here. So I’m going to – I won’t acknowledge them until I introduce them, but I want to thank them all.

So we’re the largest Summer Youth Employment Program in the entire country. And this summer, we will have 60,000 young New Yorkers part of it – 60,000. And that is the largest we’ve ever had – 60,000 at 10,000 locations across the city.

[Applause]

Because of the City Council’s insistence, we added $39 million to Summer Youth Employment. And that brought the total investment in SYEP to $72 million this year. That is real money – $72 million.

And it really points out that so many young people just needed the resources [inaudible]. There’s no problem with our young people being ready to work, ready to learn, ready to grow. Our young people don’t need more talent or drive. They need more opportunity. That’s what it comes down to. So now, we’re going to be in a position to give it to them.

And this is part of how we address inequality as well. Because Richard traveled his path, but a lot of other good and worthy young people did not get the opportunity to go as far as they could of because the training wasn’t there, the educational opportunities weren’t there. Or even if they had the training and education – the jobs weren’t there. We believe starting early, helping our young people get the skills, get connected to the modern economy is the right way to then help them take those next steps. So we’re going to be doing a lot more in a lot of ways to give our young people that chance.

And I say to all of our youth here – please – one thing I want to say – take full advantage of this. Your colleagues that you are working with – as I said, a lot of you are going to be leaders of the future of this city – get to know each other, stay in touch with each other. But also, the many adults who are here to mentor and support you – they can be a support for years to come. Stay in touch with them. Listen to some of the wisdom that they learned along the way. And I guarantee you that something you do in the summer can change – just a single summer – can change the path of your whole life – literally, can help you to achieve what you set out to achieve.

Also, if anybody needs further evidence what it means for our whole city – summer jobs unquestionably not only help young people achieve positive things, they certainly inhibit some of the problems and challenges we face. Summer jobs mean higher attendance rates in school – they correlate. Summer jobs mean lower incarceration rates – thank God. So we unleash a lot of very positive opportunity and energy, and we help avoid a lot of challenges.

We are convinced that there’s much more we can do. And we’re going to be going through a very thorough process in the next year – the Council and the Mayor’s Office – to determine the future because we think there’s much more to be had in the future of Summer Youth Employment. So we’re going to be looking at how big this program should ultimately be, what kind of resources we’ll need.  We’re also going to look for a lot more participation from businesses all over the city. And a lot of them are coming to the realization that not only is there incredible talent that they can bring in, but they want to understand the next generation that they will be selling their products to and marketing to – why not bring that generation in right now and make them a part of these companies.

And I want to say to all companies that have not yet participated in Summer Youth Employment – we need you. You want to do something good for the city – be a part of Summer Youth Employment. Hire one of these young people for a summer, or hire two of these people, or hire 10, or hire 20 – and help this city be better. You can do that through our Center for Summer Youth Employment. And at any point in the year, you can sign up online to be a part of Summer Youth Employment – to provide the jobs. Center for Summer Youth Employment online – cye.cityofnewyork.us.

One summer job literally can make a difference for a lifetime for one of our young people. It’s as simple as that.

Quickly in Español before I turn to my colleagues.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish.]

With that – a woman who deserves the lion’s share of the credit today for her leadership to make this happen – the Speaker of the City Council – Melissa Mark-Viverito.

[Applause]