Published 06-02-03
Submitted by New York Times, The
The jobs will be created by the seven social service agencies that receive funds from the annual Neediest Cases campaign. The Neediest Summer Jobs Program will be administered by The After-School Corporation (TASC), which works with many of these agencies in communities in all five boroughs. The young employees typically will work in day camps, summer schools and programs for at-risk children.
The jobs will be funded by a $1.4 million contribution from the Neediest endowment. The Fund's policy for the unrestricted funds in the endowment is counter-cyclical, authorizing spending principal in times of economic stress.
"These jobs offer a double benefit," said Michael Golden, chairman of the Neediest Fund board and vice chairman of The New York Times Company. "The young workers' earnings will enable them to help their families, and their work will help other needy families. At this moment, with summer upon us and in a difficult economic climate, this is a timely way to assist the neediest New Yorkers."
The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund invites individual and corporate donors to join in the new program. They may do so either with cash contributions to finance additional jobs or by creating blocks of paid summer jobs. The seven Neediest Cases agencies are prepared to create many more jobs and TASC is prepared to oversee them all.
In 2001 government funds supported 50,000 summer jobs in New York City. Last summer there were 35,000. To date the state and city have agreed to still fewer summer jobs.
The Neediest Summer Jobs program is designed along the lines of youth employment in past summers. Young employees age 14 to 18 will work at the minimum wage, six hours a day, four days a week, for seven weeks. Each job costs about $1,300 and pays for the young employees' salaries, supervision and training to be provided by TASC.
Companies interested in participating in the Neediest Summer Job Program may call or write Mary Bleiberg, vice-president for policy and planning, TASC, 212-547-6923, mbleiberg@tascorp.org, 925 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10019. Cash contributions should be made payable to the Neediest Summer Jobs Program and sent to that address.
The seven Neediest Cases agencies are:
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2002 revenues of $3.1 billion, includes The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. The Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's most recent list of America's Most Admired Companies and was ranked No. 1 in quality of products/services and No. 1 in social responsibility among all 530 companies on the list. In 2003 the Company was named by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.
This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com