Mass. Senate Committee Approves Big Cut in Antiviolence Youth Programs

Massachusetts youth advocates were up in arms yesterday over the state Senate Ways and Means Committee’s approval of a state budget that would nearly eliminate spending for programs designed to reduce youth violence, reports The Boston Globe.

The measure would cut $29-million for the fiscal 2010 spending plan for summer jobs, mentorship, and other programs aimed to keep troubled youths off the street.

Tiziana Dearing, president of Catholic Charities, called the reductions “an obliteration … when money gets tight, prevention gets cut.”

Steven Panagiotakas, a Democrat who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, said that given the state’s $1.5-billion revenue shortfall, “we can only spend what we have.”

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