Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) Students Receive First Paycheck - Releases

(Washington, DC) Participants in the District’s 2006 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) received their first paychecks yesterday, the DC Department of Employment Services reported today. Of the 9,879 students who have been paid, 262 experienced problems accessing their funds because of damaged debit cards and 118 reported payroll problems resulting from administrative errors, including incomplete or missing time sheets.

Since 2001, summer job program participants have been paid through the city's Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system using a debit card. “While card replacement is significant every summer,” says Daryl Hardy, Deputy Director of Workforce Development, “in prior years, we have not experienced this level of card damage and demagnetization this early in the program.” Students with damaged EBT cards are urged to go directly to the Office of Youth Programs at 625 H Street, NE, so that they can be issued a new card. Students who have forgotten their PIN numbers are urged to contact the toll-free number on the back of the card.

“While we believe we have addressed the majority of the EBT problems,” says Hardy, the DOES Office of Youth Programs and the city's EBT processing office will be opened on Saturday, July 15, from 9 am to 1 pm, to provide assistance to those youth still experiencing pay problems. We are also working closely with the OCFO, Treasury, and JP Morgan Bank to correct the debit card issues before we process the second payroll.”

The DC Department of Employment Services plans, develops, and delivers employment-related services to all segments of the Washington, DC community. For more information on the 2006 Passport-to-Work Summer Youth Employment Program, call (202) 698-3492 or visit www.does.dc.gov.