Teens won't get paid after south suburban program gets fraction of promised state funding

CBS News

5 days ago

More than 100 teens who worked summer jobs through a south suburban youth program won't get their final paycheck after the program says it received only a fraction of its promised state funding.
Dorothy Omokowajo and Ian Walker are both owed $1,000 on their last paycheck, which was supposed to come today.
"I just don't have a clear reason as to why this is happening to us," Omokowajo said.
She and Wlaker spent their summer working through the Career Compass Project. They were assigned to help a south suburban school district.
"I was looking for a summer job, but I was also looking for a job with a purpose," Walker said.
"I learned so much being at the district, and I learned so many skills I want to implement when I go into college," said Omokowajo.
Yet the pair, and more than 100 other teenagers in the program, received an ugly life lesson about business.
"It was like, 'Gotcha!'" Walker said.
"I'm very frustrated at the state if they're the ones doing this," Omokowajo said.
"I've never had to call students and say don't come to work because you're not getting paid," said Barbara Green-Kenan, project manager for the careers program. "Do you know how that feels? That's a horrible feeling."
But Green-Kenan was forced to make that call this week when word came that the Cook County Southland Juvenile Justice Council, the nonprofit that pays the students, did not receive the expected state grant.
"I'm upset with our state legislators," she said. "How dare you not release these funds to our kids?
The Illinois Department of Human Services offers grants through the Illinois Youth Investment Program. The Southland Juvenile Justice Council applied for two grants, and the Career Compass Project uses those grants to find work for students who then should get paid.
But in this case, the funds never made it.
James Lyles, the CFO of the Justice Council, provided documents to CBS News Chicago which shows that in April the state awarded them two grants for a total of $253,000. But as of today, the state has transferred only $17,000.
"One grant, we didn't get a dime from," he said.
Lyles said now they can't make payroll until the grant comes through.
"We need to get this money in for these kids and get them situated, and we don't need to leave a bad taste in their mouth when it's all over," he said.
The 108 students are owed a combined amount of just under $100,000. The Southland Juvenile Justice Council has been around for 10 years and this is the third year for the career project, but the first time students did not get paychecks.
The Council said it's working to get the students their money, but there's no word on if or when that will happen.