It could be a long hot summer for thousands of low-income teenagers in Los Angeles this year.  The city will have far less money for summer jobs this year than it has in past years.

Community Development Department Assistant General Manager Robert Sainz spoke before the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee on Monday.  He told the committee that his department will have $450,000 to hire kids to work at city-owned swimming pools, parks and schools.  That’s down from $22 million last year when the department had federal stimulus money and grants to fund summer employment.

Sainz and Department General Manager Richard Benbow told the City Council that unless it comes up with more funding, some 9,000 youngsters from low-income families will be jobless this summer. 

“All 9,000 of these kids are low income,’’ Sainz said. “They’re under 200 percent of poverty level. These are kids that this money goes directly for their school. They use it for food. They use it for help for their rent. It’s not your average middle-class kid who’s going to use it for a car.’‘

The lack of summer jobs is not the only hit local teens are taking: the Los Angeles Unified School District has canceled summer school and local community colleges have had to cut back on summery youth program because of budget cutbacks.

Los Angeles is following a national trend.  The summer employment rate among teenagers is expected to be between 25 and 27 percent, according to a study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

The report says the summer employment level for teens has been going down steadily over the last four years.  And for African American teens, the unemployment rate is four times the national average.  In cities like Chicago, where almost 90 percent of African American teenagers don’t have a job, officials are bracing for violence this summer.

Cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are looking to the federal government for help. 

The CDD’s Richard Benbow asked L.A. City Council members on the Budget and Finance Committee to step up its lobbying among members of Congress in an effort to get more money in the federal budget for summer youth jobs.  Council members Paul Koretz and Bill Rosendahl called on the full council to pass a resolution to request that federal funding for youth summer jobs become part of the city’s legislative platform. 

But with a tough battle over the federal budget looming in Washington, hopes for more federal money for youth summer employment could be dashed.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington DC, where he is expected to hold meetings with White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and White House Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Austan Goolsbee.

Job seekers and employers looking to fill positions can both check out the Jobs LA website.