Boston Youth Clean-up Corps (BYCC)

For 14 years, the Boston Youth Fund (BYF) summer jobs program has employed Boston youths in a variety of positions across the City. In the early years, we placed hundreds of teens in jobs each summer; in recent years that number has grown to thousands. In 2000 the BYCC employed 5,232 youths in Boston - the most by any city in the nation.

Our goal was always two-fold: to beautify Boston's neighborhoods by supplying clean-up crews to remove unsightly trash and overgrown vegetation from public property, and to enhance the local economy and workforce by providing positive summer work experience for Boston teens. The BYF has built bridges and garnered new relationships and we now do so much more for the youth. The youth that used to have one opportunity with us (pushing broom and cleaning lots) are now; painting murals throughout the City, creating quilts, reading to inner city youth, giving educational talks at the New England Aquarium, teaching kids to sail, teaching kids to swim, teaching golf course maintenance, SAT classes, to name a few. There is no boundary to what new initiatives we'll have in the Summer of 2001.

The mission of the BYCC is very important, but the goal of that mission is far more important. By following through in our mission, the BYF affects thousands of Boston's' youth in many other areas. Boston's youth violence has dropped dramatically. We feel the BYF is one of the direct reasons for this encouraging statistic. President William Clinton visited Boston in the fall of 1997 and mentioned the BYF in direct relations to the fall in youth violence. Gray Shirt workers come from different families, neighborhoods, backgrounds, religions, races, and ethnicity. These kids may come to work with nothing in common with their fellow workers but the shirt on their back. By the end of the summer, these kids have unity, pride and created friendships that will last a lifetime. We bring the youth together and get them on the "right track". Working together creates a sense of community and pride that has helped Boston's youth develop into better people and citizens.