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- Over 100 teens in Chicago face unpaid work due to state budget constraints affecting their summer job program.
- The South Suburban youth program aims to provide meaningful employment, yet many students are left frustrated by missing paychecks.
- Teens like Dorothy Omokowajo and Ian Walker expressed disappointment and confusion over the lack of compensation for their efforts.
- The Cook County Southland Juvenile Justice Council didn't receive crucial state grants, totaling nearly $100,000 owed to the students.
- Program officials stress the importance of resolving the financial issues to maintain trust and positive experiences for the teens.
July 28, 2025
The program paused the rollout of its final paychecks after the state did not transfer awarded grant money.
A summer job program for teens throughout the Chicago area can’t pay its participants as the Illinois government refuses to give a bulk of its funding.
Over 100 teens have worked all summer with the promise of a final paycheck to reward their hard work. Now, they will go without that last bit of money due to budget constraints.
The teens took part in the South Suburban youth program. The opportunity supplies the city’s youth with employment that serves their community. However, the teens have expressed frustration with missing out on the paycheck. According to CBS News Chicago, many of them expected to get over $1,000.
One student employee, Dorothy Omokowajo, said they did not receive a reasonable explanation for why their work would go unpaid. Omokowajo, alongside fellow teen Ian Walker, worked on the Career Compass project with a local school district.
“I just don’t have a clear reason as to why this is happening to us,” shared Omokowajo. “I’m very frustrated at the state if they’re the ones doing this.”
She added, “I learned so much being at the district, and I learned so many skills I want to implement when I go into college.”
Walker says the program offered him summer employment that served a greater purpose than theme parks or flipping burgers. He called the news about their revoked paychecks a “gotcha” moment, but with no funny punchline.
“I was looking for a summer job, but I was also looking for a job with a purpose,” Walker said.
The paychecks did not materialize after the Cook County Southland Juvenile Justice Council, a nonprofit that funds the program, failed to receive its expected state grant. The Illinois Department of Human Services bestows the grants through the state’s Youth Investment Program.
The state awarded the Justice Council two grants that totaled over $250,000. However, as of July, they had only received $17,000 of the funding. The council’s CFO also told the news outlet they did not receive any money from one grant at all. Currently, the final payments total nearly $100,000.
“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.”
The state has not disclosed why the money has not yet been transferred over. In the meantime, the career program management will navigate its next steps to get the students’ money.
“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,” shared the CFO, James Lyles.
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