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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Josh Shapiro |
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Shapiro unveils workforce initiative
Lawmaker says bill would curb violence and create jobs
PHILADELPHIA, March 3 – State Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, joined Mayor Nutter and the leadership of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce today for a news conference to launch an ambitious initiative to find 2,000 internships for local at-risk youth. Shapiro has introduced legislation that would provide a powerful tool to meet this goal.
Shapiro’s legislation (H.B. 2196) would create a Youth Employment Incentive Tax Credit to provide businesses with tax credits in the amount of 70 percent of the business’s total expenses in employing an at-risk youth. An at-risk youth is an individual between 14 and 21 whose median family income does not exceed 235 percent of the federal poverty level.
“The best way to get a gun out of the hand of a young person is to put a job opportunity and a paycheck within their reach,” Shapiro said.
“With crime rising and more than 70,000 youth in southeastern Pennsylvania unemployed and out of school, the time to act is now. My legislation is an important step in the process of empowering our youth and reclaiming our communities,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro’s legislation has been hailed as an innovative way to curb violence in the Philadelphia region. The bill has received broad-based support across the state, including from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the United Way.
Shapiro is deputy speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and represents the 153rd Legislative District in Montgomery County. More information about Shapiro is available at his Web site: www.pahouse.com/Shapiro.
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