City Council Voting On Resolution To Hire Youth, Street Workers

The Boston City Council is voting on a resolution Wednesday asking the city hire up to 300 youth workers and street workers. City Councilor Charles Yancey said the proposal is essential to reduce youth violence and take pressure off of the Boston Police Department.

"I don't believe it's fair for our police officers to be stuck with the job of being mentor and parent to children who may not have those resources," Yancey said. "It's more appropriate to have a street worker interact with these people, rather than have many of them committed through a lifelong journey through the criminal justice system."

The city currently employs 64 street and city workers.

Yancey said adding more than 200 workers would cost around 10-million dollars — a quarter of the cost for police overtime.