Lynn-area teens march for jobs

LYNN – Roughly 50 teens from across the city gave up a day of vacation to gather in the cold sunshine at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church before heading to Boston to participate in a statewide youth jobs rally.”Of course we don’t mind,” said Food Project’s Isabella Alveal. “This is a worthy cause.”Eighteen-year-old Rebecca Fils-Aime co-chaired Thursday’s event that was to bring an estimated 1,000 teens from across the commonwealth to Faneuil Hall for the rally, and a march through the Financial District and to the State House where teens lobbied legislators to support the Youth Works Teen Jobs Program.”I’m pretty nervous,” said the fidgety Lynn English High School senior. “I’m trying not to think about it.”Fils-Aime said it was her job to warm up the crowd and get them energized for the march down State Street. She was joined by teens from LYON (Lynn Youth Organizing Network), Girls Inc. and the Food Project as well.Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget includes a $10 million line item for summer jobs but the Youth Jobs Coalition is asking for $11 million, according LYON coordinator Hazel Johnson. The YJC is also asking Patrick to nearly double his line item for School to Career Connecting Activities Teen Jobs Program from $2.87 to $5 million.”Now the Legislature decides,” she said.Richard McIntosh, a 16-year-old Lynn Tech junior, sat inside St. Stephen’s prepping for his meeting with state legislatures before heading into the rally.”This is important to me,” he said. “I have a job and it’s laid down a structural foundation, it’s building blocks for me to move on ? I hope my meeting goes well.”The rally was as much about teen empowerment as it was about jobs for Alveal.”Sometimes I feel adults don’t listen to kids but we have a voice too and we want to be heard,” she said.Josh Hill, 17, from Marblehead, rolled his eyes skyward and nodded in agreement.”I feel that because we’re young a lot of people think our time is not worth anything,” he said.Having a job with the Food Project has taught him that he is very capable and his time is worth everything, Hill said.Teens are hoping to meet with companies as well as legislators. A fact sheet the teens put together states that 40 major companies with 500-plus employees and 357 companies with 100-plus employees are not hiring teens and they want to know why.”Many of their peer companies like John Hancock, State Street Bank, Aramark and others are hiring youth,” Johnson said. “The recent state Department of Education report, ?Cradle to Career,’ elevated youth job experience to be almost as important as academics toward college and career readiness.Fils-Aime, who has a job at Girls Inc., said it’s taught her to be organized.”It’s important because after high school, even if you’re going to college, at least you will know something about the job world,” she said.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].