Adams wants summer jobs for all youth. Can NYC scale it up quickly enough?
Maria Bonilla began to cry after failing for the sixth year in a row to get a job through New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program. She had applied annually through its lottery-based system since turning 14.
“I really wanted to help my parents with rent and everything,” Bonilla said. “They were struggling.”
Bonilla finally landed a spot when she was 21 and was placed at a Staples store in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills, where she lived at the time.