The city of Greenwood is looking at ways to fund its Urban Youth Corps program amid uncertainty over whether it will receive a state grant.
“We want to put our youth to work,” said Mayor Carolyn McAdams.
It the past, the city’s Urban Youth Corps program — which employs 15 people between the ages of 15 and 25 — has been funded with federal money through the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
As of Thursday morning, “we still have not heard whether the funding will be given or not,” McAdams said. “Several months ago it was pretty gloomy that we weren’t going to receive anything.”
The program employs youths over the summer in transportation-related projects such as:
• Providing facilities for pedestrians and bicycles
• The landscaping and scenic beautification projects within highway rights of way or in proximity to transportation facilities
• The preservation or rehabilitation of historic markers, buildings, structures, or facilities having significance to transportation
• The preservation of abandoned railway corridors
• Maintaining and/or revitalizing existing landscaped sites
Funding for the program typically runs between $37,000 and $40,000 per year, the mayor said. Applications for teens to participate are typically sought by the middle of April.
In the past, the program has begun June 1 and run for six weeks.
Although President Donald Trump’s 2018 federal budget, proposed earlier this month, calls for a 15 percent cut in transportation funding, the Urban Youth program might still survive, the mayor said.
Despite the uncertainty at the federal and state level, McAdams said, the city will come up with funding for the program, even though the actual number of youths participating may have to be reduced.
McAdams said, if necessary, the city’s funding for the program could come from its “Special Projects Fund,” which contains funds provided by Greenwood Utilities that may be used for any project.
At the end of February, the Special Projects Fund contained $252,000, according to City Clerk Nick Joseph.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
