Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The City of Boston touted its futureBOS program, which helps place teenagers in summer jobs, has helped teen, during a news conference Wednesday.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the program has helped curb teen violence, which has historically peaked in the summer.
“It's no coincidence that these last three years of the lowest levels of gun violence in Boston’s history have been the same three years of the highest levels of paid youth summer jobs," Wu said.
“Violence is a perpetuation of people who are numb, due to trauma,” the CEO of the Center for Teen Empowerment in Roxbury Abrigal Forrester said at the press conference.
The youth Roxbury center hires teens to work as artists and community organizers over the summer months, while school is out.
The kids who work here agree with the mayor's sentiments, and said jobs like this keep them and other teens busy and help them stay out of trouble. Officials with the center said the demand for the 45 positions they offer is tremendous: they got around 500 applicants this year.
“If there was more stuff like this, violence in Boston will definitely decrease, by giving [teens] something to do,” said Rome, one Roxbury teen with the center.
Click here to learn more about the futureBOS program.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.