PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are cutting summer programs that employed hundreds of young people across the area.

Cutbacks and funding streams, specifically the end of federal stimulus dollars means fewer jobs this summer.

“Last summer we were able to get 916 kids stable work sites to work at,” said Lillian Reese of the City of Pittsburgh. “This year we’re only going to be able to affect maybe 340 kids with that same experience.”

And that’s just in the City of Pittsburgh. Summer jobs have evaporated in the expanded multi-county area as well.

“We kind of held out hope based on if things being still worked out,” said Brandon Ziats from One Vision, One Life. “We held out hope that we would get some jobs at least. But we just received the word that there was basically nothing available.”

Stimulus money was money available over a three-year period to help stimulate the economy. It runs out at the end of June. The city hopes local foundations can help fill that gap to give more youth a chance at summer employment.

“We’ve had two foundations, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Highmark Foundation, that have contributed this year to our summer programs,” Reese said.

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