Thomas Breen photo
City Youth and Recreation Director Gwendolyn Busch Williams at budget workshop.
The recently reorganized city Youth and Recreation Department is looking to add two new deputy director positions to beef up programming and building maintenance.
Youth and Recreation Department Director Gwendoyln Busch Williams made that staffing-boost pitch Thursday night during a Board of Alders Finance Committee meeting held in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
She did so during the committee alders’ workshop on her department’s budget, as part of the local legislature’s broader, months-long review of Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed $633 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2022 – 23 (FY23). If approved by the full Board of Alders, that budget would go into effect on July 1.
The mayor has proposed increasing the youth and rec department’s operating budget by $255,424, from $2,267,764 to $2,523,188.
Thursday's Finance Committee meeting.
Williams and city Budget Director Michael Gormany explained that much of that increase comes from a proposed bump to Williams’ salary, as well as the proposed addition of two new deputy positions.
Gormany said that the mayor has proposed increasing the youth and rec director’s salary from $110,250 to $121,000 to compensate for a significant increase in work that came from the city’s reorganization of the department two years ago.
That’s when the mayor’s budget broke up the parks and rec department, merging the “parks” side with public works, and the “rec” side with the youth services department.
“With the successful merger of youth and recreation, there was never really a commensurate [salary] increase to reflect that [increase in work] last year,” Gormany said.
After Williams’ “very successful year last year” and after finding that New Haven’s youth and rec director salary was “on the lower side” when compared to what similar directors make in Hartford and Bridgeport, the mayor has proposed “to increase the salary to bring that in line with high quality services going forward.”
As for the new proposed positions, Williams said, her department is looking to add a new deputy director of operations and a new deputy director of youth administration, each with an annual salary of $97,476.
Those are two of 25 new general fund positions the mayor has proposed including in next fiscal year’s budget. That would also increase the number of deputy directors in the youth department from one to three.
Williams said that the deputy director of operations would handle “all special projects of the department” as well as such “signature events” as the annual Trunk or Treat, turkey giveaways, and Easter egg hunt.
She also said that position will be responsible for managing the various recreation facilities and nature centers that her department inherited from the parks department during the merger.
“We have many facilities that were under parks and rec. When it was split, the management of the facilities [now] falls underneath youth and rec,” she said.
Williams added that the Elicker Administration has a goal of designing “youth centers across the city,” with many of these existing buildings primed to become those youth centers.
The proposed new deputy director of youth administration would be responsible for programming at these youth centers, she said. While the proposed new deputy director of operations would be responsible for the “physical plant” itself — that is, overseeing repairs, the provision of supplies, and ensure that the “buildings are in a safe state.”
“As we have merged, there has been more requested of the department,” Williams said. And “anything that has been asked of us, we have been able to provide.”
She praised her current staff for all of the youth employment and concerts and camps and other activities they oversaw during last year’s federal-aid-funded “summer reset,” as well as for the work they do supporting New Haven youth year-round.
Alder Winter.
Do you have job descriptions for these two new proposed positions? Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter asked.
Not yet, Williams said. The official setting of job descriptions and hiring for these proposed roles would have to go through the normal civil service process. She promised to share tentative descriptions for these jobs with the alders to get their feedback during that more formal job-creation and hiring process.
Board of Alders President and West River Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers praised Williams and her staff for the suite of youth programming they already provide. “I appreciate everything you have done,” she said.
700+ Young People Employed Last Summer Thru Youth@Work
In the latter half of the mayor’s proposed FY23 budget book, meanwhile, the Youth and Recreation Department’s budget narrative highlights some of its key accomplishments from the current fiscal year — and its goals for the year ahead.
Below are excerpts from that departmental narrative, quoted directly from the budget book. Click here to read that narrative in full.
FY 2021 – 2022 Highlights
• Youth Connect remains a major component of the Mayor’s citywide campaign against street violence. In addition, over 10 collaborative partners engage in discussion about how to better help students engage a positive path with interventions that could include alternative programming, access to jobs, academic supports and mentors. Youth Connect has been revised to service the top 100 at-risk high-risk youth throughout the city as well as their families.
• During the summer of 2021, Youth@Work through the City of New Haven facilitated paid work experiences for over 700 students in the public sector at community-based agencies. Each youth worked a maximum of 30 hours per week for 4 weeks. This was the first year since inception, every applicant was offered employment.
• Recreation ran 7 city-wide camps during the summer of 2021 servicing over 500 youth between the ages of 5 – 15 and employed city youth to assist in running the city-wide camps. The camp was extended an additional two weeks totaling 8 weeks of programming for summer 2021.
• 13 high school graduates were awarded $1000 book award under our annual YARD Book Award Scholarship to offset the cost of their higher education.
• Under American Rescue Plan Funding we provided: 1) Weekly family pop up carnivals for 8 weeks during the summer; 2) Sponsored a youth hip-hop concert with over 8000 tickets given away for free; 3) Awarded over $550,000.00 in grants to youth serving organizations to expand summer programming; 4) extend recreation camps for youth ages 5 – 15; 5) Offered employment to all youth who applied for summer jobs; 6) Sponsored a teen driver’s safety program by providing grants to 300 you to take the 8 hour road safety class; and 7) sponsored a spring youth gospel concert.
FY 2022 – 2023 Goals / Initiatives
• Continue to strengthen Youth@Work by increasing the amount of private sector job opportunities and volunteer internships and expanding on the financial planning training.
• Continue to increase outreach and information sharing with youth through a citywide e‑newsletter/flyer, all avenues of social media to connect with youth and families.
• Strengthen the Youth Commission and Youth Council to engage the community at a neighborhood level by recruiting new members and defining clear roles and expectations while engaging in community meetings and Youth Commission meetings addressing policies and initiatives.
• Continue signature programs of the department: Trunk or Treat; Turkey Giveaway; Friends of Rudolph; Black History Month Dinner giveaway and Easter Egg Hunt.
• Restore the Nature Centers so they may be viable for public use.