 The President of the United States, I take great pleasure in welcoming you here today to the announcement of a further investment in the young people of our nation's capital that will benefit all of us in the future. As the President will mention in a few minutes, the District of Columbia will receive from the Department of Labor funds to provide additional summer jobs for unemployed youth. I know we all realize how critical getting that first job is. The first job that starts a young man or woman on the road to a rewarding career in the workforce. You know, it's that first job that helps a young person develop self-discipline, self-esteem, productive work habits, and interpersonal skills. That first job tells the individual you're worth something in society. Solving unemployment, particularly among our youth, and providing job training has always been and continues to be a high priority of this administration. The job training and partnership back-signed by the President last year specifies that seventy cents of every dollar will be spent on training, and this summer the administration has pressed strongly a nationwide targeted jobs tax credit program that provides employment for the formal summer youth program. I am honored to introduce to you the President of the United States. Thank you, Ray and Mayor Barry, Secretary Donovan and ladies and gentlemen and all of you young guests who are up here and out there. I'm pleased to announce today that eight hundred thousand dollars in additional summer youth employment funds is being allocated to the District of Columbia. And Secretary Ray Donovan learned that my adopted hometown here was running out of money for his summer jobs program he called Mayor Barry and offered to help. The result is today's check drawn from available funds at the Department of Labor. These funds will be added to the eight point two million dollars already transferred to the city and should provide twenty-two hundred more summer jobs for unemployed young people in our nation's capital, a city that is very special to all of us as Americans. This money is part of over eight hundred million dollars that is being distributed nationally to enable state and local governments and this will provide an estimated eight hundred thousand summer jobs for young people throughout the United States. Our goal is to offer disadvantaged young people valuable work experience and at the same time provide the community with their services which I might add will be more than welcome by cities and nonprofit agencies which will be receiving their help. I have to add to what the Secretary said about that that first summer job. Mine was when I was fourteen years old and I regret that a lot of rules and regulations have changed some things since then because at that time I wound up with a construction company that was remodeling houses and I ended the summer up at my age even laying hard wood floors shingling roof painting houses and I know that some regulations make that impossible today. Maybe we can keep on going till we change some of those back again to help all of you. This summer youth program is funded by the Department of Labor and operated by state and local governments throughout the country. We'll continue to be an important part of the Job Training Partnership Act which will replace the old CETA program this October but this program is only part of an overall effort we've made to help deserving young people get a start. We put in place a tax credit program that gives employers who hire eligible teenagers a tax credit for up to eighty five percent of the wages of these new summertime employees. In some cases the credit will enable an employer to hire a disadvantaged youth for the entire summer at a cost of only two hundred and sixty dollars. The young person gets not only a paying job but also the valuable experience participating in the private sector. The employer gets a young employee the company may not have been able to afford without the tax break and everyone's better off because of it. We've made a special effort this summer to focus business and industry attention on this problem. The White House Office of Private Sector Initiatives and the National Alliance of Business have been in the forefront of this drive to give those young people who want to work this summer the chance they deserve. My White House Office on Private Sector Initiatives has been doing a tremendous job. I know that because they've enlisted me on a number of occasions on this particular issue. As part of a well coordinated program I've written fifty three hundred chief executive officers of companies across the country asking for their support. I've been making videotapes and phone calls to jobathons in order to kick off summer job efforts in cities across the country. Along with Bill Kloberg and David Rodrick and others with the National Alliance of Business we've reached out and I'm proud to say that the business community has responded. Companies like McDonald's which hopes to provide thirty thousand additional summer jobs mobile oil which donated generously to meet the challenge. The New York City partnership summer jobs eighty three headed by Phillip Morris has provided over fifteen thousand jobs for young people and with us today is Hank Bouda from C&P Telephone of Maryland. His blue chip in program in Baltimore has been a tremendous success. All of these private initiatives and many many more like them presented here today I should say deserve our thanks. All of these efforts coupled with the tax credit program and yes the economic recovery have had an effect. We're just now emerging from one of the most frustrating times in our country's history. After years of economic uncertainty of devastating inflation business stagnation ever increasing taxation and a resulting drop in investment of high interest rates and declining stock prices we've begun to turn things around. It wasn't easy but together all of us together we've got the American economy on the move again. While we've been trying to straighten out the situation we know it's been a particularly hard time for the unemployed especially the young. Economists tell us the unemployed are the last ones to feel an economic upsurge but we all can be happy that last month total employment rose one point two million nationwide. The federal funds that are being allocated to states and local governments are important to the young people they help but we also want to take this opportunity to highlight the private initiatives that have been taken throughout the country as well. Now Mayor Barry it's my pleasure today to give you the check that will make this summer a lot nicer for so many of our local young people eight hundred thousand dollars. I was tempted I was tempted to leave for California but it was made out so what I could. Thank you very much Mr. President and to Secretary Donovan let me say Mr. President you've brought California weather to the District of Columbia but we love it and we appreciate it. I'm just honored to join you and Secretary Donovan to receive this check for eight hundred thousand dollars in additional federal funds. This bonus I'm proud to say will enable us to hire two thousand two hundred more youth this summer who ordinarily would not have worked this year. We understand that we're receiving this bonus grant for the second year because of the effective job that the district summer job program has done in placing our young people in meaningful work experiences. Last Wednesday at my monthly press conference I announced that we had some twenty two thousand young people who had applied for summer jobs we were only able to place eighteen thousand four hundred and fifty six young people in these jobs with this additional two thousand two hundred young people going to work it would take us over the twenty thousand mark again achieving both of our goals of trying to make sure that every young person who wants a job can get one as it's been pointed out this is a way to learn job skills working together good job habits and let me also say that this begins to put a dent in our large unemployment picture in the District of Columbia over forty percent of our young people out of work and obviously this won't solve the entire problem but it goes a long way to begin to help it. Many of the additional jobs today's grants have been designed by the associate for renewal and education. These young people must present will be involved in meaningful work such as computer literacy remedial reading library work we have a project called project fair break in terms of computer learning the future of this country is going that way. We are working also hard to spend as much of our local money as we can this year we contributed five point three million dollars at our own budget towards this effort. That translates into seven thousand five hundred jobs. We believe that summer jobs are important as has been pointed out by you and the secretary and the growth of our young people. I believe very strongly in them they're not only our future they are our present and as we prepare them adequately now their future may be them. And so on behalf of all of us who care so much about our young people on behalf of the residents of the District of Columbia I'm glad to accept this check for eight hundred thousand dollars and let me say that if there's any more available we'll take all you can find because our young people are ready to work again as president and secretary we thank you for this or to thank my directors and others who put together an effective program one importantly would like to say to our young people we have a great deal of faith in you we're going to continue to work with you to make sure that you get adequate training adequate work habits so that as you go into the world of work in the future you'll be ready for it again thank you very very much Mr. President President Bill Colberg on behalf of the National Alliance of Business I want to say there's nothing more important to the business community than summer jobs for our young people you mentioned the cooperation with your private sector initiative staff I'm happy to report that our estimates across the country Mr. President are there's a 25% increase in the voluntary hiring of young people by the private sector we come to that estimate because we have had loaned executives from Dupont Sun Woolworth calling following up on your letter to chief executive officers they made a thousand calls following up to the CEOs of those companies at the private industry council chair people and they find a renewed enthusiasm for this program as our economy comes back you mentioned Mr. President a number of companies and and communities that have exemplary records let me add to that list very briefly if I may in Chicago Sears Roebuck and Continental Bank have spearheaded the United Way campaign I'm sorry United Chicago United campaign in that community and they find that they will produce 20,000 jobs this summer in that city up from last summer significantly in St. Louis and Hauser-Busch Rauston Purina run their own program in that community and also run programs in other communities the honor roll Mr. President is very very long and I don't want to leave anyone out let me just quickly tick off some other companies people are here that represent these companies AT&T Pillsbury Georgia Power and Light Xerox TRW ABC TV and InterNorth again Mr. President we believe that we have a very important very large voluntary effort your emphasis on volunteerism in our society has caught on anew with the private sector and we believe that we will produce a far larger program than we have in the past thanks in no small part to you thank you the money and they get the job I think for my president thank you very much should I follow you know where it is right behind she was a tree yes they have all eliminated we just go back to where we came you