Mayor’s work program for squeegee kids gets mixed response

By Cory Kefauver
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

Local activists and officials gave mixed reviews to a new Baltimore work program designed to help local “squeegee kids” find jobs at a hotel in the city.

Donald Fry, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee, a group dedicated to improving economic conditions in the greater Baltimore area, said that he is encouraged by the plan and is eager to see the city possibly implement the program on a larger scale.

“Although it addresses a very small percentage of the squeegee population, it is a step in the right direction,” Fry said. “Hopefully the city will closely monitor the program to evaluate its effectiveness. If the results are positive, it would be incumbent on the city to find a way to expand the program to include more job opportunities.”

Dr. Natasha Pratt-Harris, who teaches a graduate course at Morgan State University about the sociology of Baltimore, said she is weary of the program due to the biased opinions that have formed over the youth who squeegee but said she is happy with the effort to start a dialogue between the city and the youth who squeegee.

“I think the 90-day work program is a way to control the income potential for those who squeegee because of discriminatory fears of predominately Black males who squeegee to earn income,” Pratt-Harris said. “However, it’s a means to build relationships and have conversations, so I applaud that effort.”

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced a 90-day work program to provide employment to 10 youth who squeegee through a partnership with Canopy by Hilton in Fells Point. The hotel will train the 10 in roles ranging from hospitality to restaurant services.

Dr. Andrey Bundley, director of the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement (MOAAME), said the program will help with youth who are dealing with the “unrelenting poverty” that Baltimore is currently facing.

“Young people need access to legitimate capital in a capitalistic society,” Bundley said. “The 90-day plan allows for multiple and essential actions, for example, document retrieval, appropriate clothing, housing stabilization, and other necessities.”

Bundley said that kids who squeegee in Baltimore are pushed into doing it based on their economic standing, but that the Scott administration is trying to tackle this issue by starting the work program.

“Our youth that squeegee are pressed into squeegeeing behaviors as an action to help attain finances to acquire essentials to live,” Bundley said. “Baltimore, under the Brandon Scott Administration, is creating equitable solutions for disconnected youth. Establishing upstream practices that help our youth attain downstream opportunities via appropriate support and guidance.”

Fry said that the presence of the youth who squeegee is indicative of a need to connect working age youth with career pathways.

“It points to a need to better connect working age individuals that live in the city to job opportunities with career pathways for employment growth,” Fry said. “It is critically important to connect young people with employment opportunities because they are the workforce of the future for the city and the region.”

Fry said that there has been concern among local businesses regarding the youth who squeegee but that programs like the 90-day work program should help address the concerns.

“The presence of the squeegee kids on busy street corners has caused consternation among business owners, workers, and visitors to downtown Baltimore,” Fry said. “But the concerns have been expressed to City Hall and the Baltimore Police Department and steps such as this new 90-day work program have been implemented to address the concerns.”

Bundley said that local business is only affected by the youth who squeegee because many of them are uninvolved with the implementation of a long-term plan.

“Local business is as affected by the youth who squeegee as they are uninvolved in the implementations of the solid and doable plan established to give youth alternatives to squeegeeing,” Bundley said.

Pratt-Harris said that local business is only affected by the youth who squeegee because of pre-formed ideas people in the community have about them.

“Local business is affected by the squeegee kids based on the ignorance of some who don’t know these young people and formed biased ideas about them,” Pratt-Harris said.

Bundley expressed hope in the 90-day work program and that she believes that it can be a long-term solution for disadvantaged youth who have turned to squeegeeing.

“The idea of eradicating financial, mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, and role model poverty is the long-term solution to the squeegeeing phenomenon,” Bundley said.