Four years ago, Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez stood on the steps of City Hall and celebrated the creation of the Youth Development Department.
She had pushed since 2018 for the department, which oversees programs for young people, including a Youth Council to educate them about city government.
On Tuesday, with the city deep in a budget crisis, Rodriguez pleaded for Mayor Karen Bass not to get rid of the department.
In her proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Bass suggested that the city fold the Youth Development Department — along with the Department of Aging and the Economic and Workforce Development Department — into the larger Community Investment for Families Department.
The Youth Development Department would no longer exist, though some of its functions would be preserved. Under Bass’ proposal, the budget dedicated to those functions would decrease from $2.3 million to less than $1.6 million. Eight employees would be laid off, with 10 remaining.
“Don’t undermine and wipe away all those years of work,” Rodriguez said at a news conference at City Hall on Wednesday.
She called the mayor’s proposed budget “a hatchet to so many programs that Angelenos rely on” and said there was no “rhyme or reason” to some of the suggested cuts.
Matt Hale, the city’s deputy mayor of finance, innovation and operations, said the three departments being absorbed by the Community Investment for Families Department have responsibilities that sometimes overlap.
“Like most things in the city, we have divided them into silos, and people who come through our doors saying ‘I need help’ are then given a scavenger hunt to perform,” Hale said.
At a City Council budget committee meeting Tuesday, Hale said the consolidation would save $5 million and “result in better outcomes and more effective services.”
Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said the mayor’s office is not considering reversing course on the consolidation.
Bass’ proposed budget, which is being considered by the budget committee in several weeks of hearings, attempts to close a $1-billion shortfall caused in large part by rising personnel costs, soaring legal payouts and a slowdown in the local economy. The mayor’s budget eliminates more than 2,700 city positions — about 1,650 of them through layoffs.
In addition to running the 30-member Youth Council, the Youth Development Department organizes the Youth Summit and the Youth Expo, annual events that help young people get jobs and internships. The department also is reviewing city programs to determine whether they are reaching youths and meeting youths’ needs.
If the cuts suggested by the mayor are made, the Youth Development Department would reach about 6,900 constituents, down from about 10,000 last year.
“To take [the department] away now would not just be a step backwards, it would be a betrayal of the youth … who deserve to be invested in, not ignored,” said Monica Rodriguez — no relation to the councilmember — who was a member of the inaugural Youth Council.
Councilmember Rodriguez said that instead of being consolidated, the department should grow, suggesting that the Gang Reduction and Youth Development program should come under its purview. The program, which provides gang intervention and prevention services and community engagement programs, is under the mayor’s office and has a proposed budget of nearly $40 million.
“The department doesn’t have to go away. The department can sustain itself,” the council member said. “This budget document needs to be a reflection of the values of this city and what’s being communicated at this time is young people’s voices are subordinate to other priorities — and that’s not OK.”
