COVID-19 update: Celebrating youth employment: Borough president stresses importance of programs amid budget cuts
On the front lines of the war on COVID-19, there are many civilian heroes going out of their way, as volunteers and contributors. Also, many who are elected to serve are going the extra mile. In this column the Eagle hopes to give our readers an ongoing update on those fighting in the front lines.
Borough President Eric Adams on Friday joined with Financially CLEAN, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that teaches financial literacy to young people, and Storytellers and Creators, a company at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that manufactures medical gowns, to highlight the work the two companies are doing to help the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and to urge the city to invest in youth employment. Even though youth are entering summer with few opportunities due to budget cuts, the city has proposed slashing funding for the Summer Youth Employment Program. Adams promoted Storytellers, which employs young people 18 and older, as a model that can be copied in other areas of the city.
The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, which U.S. Rep. Max Rose co-sponsored and worked to pass in order to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic economic crisis, has been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Though the law increases access for small businesses to Paycheck Protection Program loans, Rose called the regulations that the Administration applied to the law “far too limited and restrictive,” and wrote, “Now with this signed into law, SBA must issue updated guidance immediately, and get businesses this relief now. Small businesses and nonprofits throughout Staten Island and South Brooklyn don’t have time to wait.”