Young Workers Help Maintain Abandoned Properties

A group of young workers met with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer today as they began landscaping an abandoned property on Jefferson Street.The workers are part of an effort by Metro Government and Kentuckiana Works to supplement the hundreds of youth jobs lost to federal budget cuts this year. The city raised approximately $400,000 and spent an additional $100,000 from the budget to pay the workers.Metro Public Works used some of that money to hire 51 young people to provide maintenance to vacant and abandoned properties around the city. They work for an hourly wage of $10.88. Jaquail Fowler is one of the workers.“It’s teaching me how to work hard, I have always been a hard worker and everything and it just really gives me the opportunity to see what hard labor is really about. I’ll be better prepared for it I the future… it’s really helping me out a lot.”Since the crews began work on June 14th, they have cleared and mowed over 800 vacant properties around the city.