State gives $6 million toward teen jobs, far below need

“This money is small compared to the need, but it will be very helpful,’’ Rafael Abislaiman, executive director of the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board, said of the $230,899 his agency was allotted through the state’s YouthWorks program.

The grant is intended to subsidize jobs for a minimum of 120 teens in Haverhill and Lawrence, but Abislaiman said his agency plans to stretch the dollars to accommodate 180.

The Merrimack Valley agency is among 15 regional employment boards — four in this area — that will share in $4 million awarded through YouthWorks, which is run by the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. The money was included in a supplemental spending bill signed by Governor Deval Patrick in March.

The legislation also provided that $2 million in federal funds awarded to the state through the Edward J. Byrne Memorial Grant be used for summer jobs. Byrne grants, which support local anticrime initiatives, are administered by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

State officials say the two sources will fund at least 3,000 jobs. They hope to fund another 1,000 jobs through added YouthWorks funding anticipated in the fiscal 2012 state budget.

Regional employment boards subsidize wages paid to teens by participating employers, primarily nonprofit and government agencies.

Since fiscal 2006, the state has been budgeting summer jobs funding through YouthWorks, according to Nancy Snyder, president of the Commonwealth Corporation, which administers the state funds.

That funding peaked last summer when the state allotted $8 million by combining money from fiscal 2010 and 2011.

Snyder said for the two previous summers the state supplemented YouthWorks funding with federal stimulus money, enabling it to put 12,000 young people to work in 2009, and 8,600 in 2010.

This year, the stimulus money is gone and though the budget process is ongoing, YouthWorks money appears unlikely to match last year’s total, Snyder said.

She said the Byrne grants will help meet some of the demand for jobs. Some employment boards will be able to use funds from the state’s Shannon Community Safety Initiative, which supports antigang and youth violence efforts.