A donation to help pay for seven summer jobs for teens was accepted this week by the Gary Common Council.
The city was given $10,064 by the Student Conservation Association, which will cover the cost of hiring the youths to work 20 hours per week at the Indiana minimum wage of $7.65 an hour for the rest of the summer. The council needed to approve an ordinance that transferred the donation into the Summer Youth Jobs fund.
To ensure that the young people could begin working immediately, the ordinance was introduced Tuesday and approved 9-0 without first being assigned to a committee.
City Controller Celita Green said some 150 youths were interviewed more than a month ago, but jobs can’t be filled until money is in hand since salaries are being paid by private, not taxpayer, dollars.
Earlier this month, council members approved a similar transfer of more than $52,000 in donated funds for youth jobs.