House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi sketched out a set of budget priorities yesterday that would deeply cut the state corporate tax rate over the next three years. At the same time, he extended a peace offering to Governor Deval Patrick by embracing one of the governor's key initiatives, tightening corporate tax laws to make it harder for companies to avoid state taxes.

Laying out the broad outlines of his plan before legislative budget hearings even begin, DiMasi proposed cutting the state's corporate income tax from 9.5 percent to 7 percent, while reversing his stance against closing what Patrick has described as corporate tax loopholes.

"He should take this as a victory; they should be very happy," DiMasi said of Patrick and his staff.

It was DiMasi's most detailed response to the budget Patrick submitted to the Legislature three weeks ago. Reducing the state's corporate tax rate to 7 percent would drop Massachusetts from the fourth-highest rate in the country to the middle of the pack.

Patrick stopped well short of declaring victory over DiMasi's change of heart on corporate-tax rule-tightening. He called the speaker's plan "a step toward tax fairness," but also said he would continue pushing the Legislature to act on other initiatives.

"What we need, what we owe the people of Massachusetts, is engaging on these issues," Patrick told reporters. "This is just the beginning."

Nonetheless, yesterday's movement by DiMasi appeared to mark progress for Patrick and DiMasi, both Democrats who have clashed on a variety of issues despite their shared party affiliation.

With DiMasi sitting behind him, Patrick thundered in his State of the State address last month about the "cost of inaction." Since then, there has been more activity.

A $1 billion life sciences bill, which has been a centerpiece of Patrick's legislative agenda, is heading toward a vote within the next week, and casino hearings are expected to begin soon. Last week the House and Senate also quickly approved Patrick's legislation to restructure the administration of state education programs.

On the budget, Patrick and lawmakers are grappling with a projected $1.3 billion gap. As expected, DiMasi, who is skeptical about Patrick's plan to license three resort casinos, yesterday rejected the governor's proposal to include $124 million in casino licensing revenues.

Instead, the speaker proposed raising $152 million by increasing the state's cigarette tax by $1 a pack, which would bring the cigarette tax to $2.51 and give Massachusetts the second highest cigarette tax in the country behind New Jersey. The money would be spent on escalating costs that are part of the state's mandatory health insurance law.

Although he called it a "balanced budget proposal," DiMasi outlined his plan in only the broadest strokes yesterday and said it will be filled out in further detail as the House begins budget hearings tomorrow.

DiMasi also is planning to ask the House to vote today to freeze unemployment insurance rates, a move that would leave $150 million in the hands of businesses each year, a notion that was applauded by the corporate community but is deeply unpopular among labor unions. Union leaders were on the phones most of yesterday afternoon - and plan to be in the halls of the State House today - trying to persuade legislators not to freeze the rate.

"We will tell them it's a labor vote, and we'll mark them accordingly," said Tim Sullivan, spokesman for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. "It is categorically a bad idea, especially with a recession. It's all a grand scheme by the corporations."

Patrick, who has sought crucial backing of the unions on his casino legislation, did not appear to be siding with the unions on this issue. Patrick opened the door to such a plan when he unveiled his budget last month.

"It's on the table," he said yesterday. "I'm open to it."

Senate President Therese Murray declined requests for comment on DiMasi's proposals yesterday, but said she is ready to work on the budget.

Supporting corporate tax changes reflected a big shift for DiMasi, who has been the primary roadblock for such proposals. He fought back the idea last year by calling it a "catalyst to reduce jobs." But he later agreed with Patrick to establish a 15-member tax commission to further study the state's corporate tax structure. In December, the commission urged that the tax law be made more restrictive, but only if corporate taxes are reduced.

When Patrick coupled the tighter rules with a plan to reduce corporate taxes last month in the spirit of compromise, some in the House said they were willing to sign on, but DiMasi was noncommittal.

The speaker's move yesterday, considerably more aggressive in cutting taxes than Patrick's, was the first concrete indication that he was ready to deal.

"I wouldn't say I changed my position," DiMasi said. "I've always said that all of this has to be balanced with the revenues needed to balance our budget. There's a balancing test here. Obviously this is a very difficult fiscal year."

Patrick's budget proposal would reduce the rate from 9.5 percent to 9.1 percent in 2010. In 2011, it would drop to 8.7 percent and to 8.3 percent in 2012.

DiMasi's proposal is more favorable to companies, going from 9.5 percent to 8.5 percent starting a year earlier, in 2009; in 2010, it would drop to 7.5 percent, and then to 7 percent in 2011.

Overall, DiMasi's plan would mean that businesses would pay about $204 million more next year, but by 2011 would be back to what they pay now. Because Patrick's plan does not lower the tax rate as quickly or dramatically, businesses would still end up paying $280 million more once his plan is fully implemented in 2012.

Business leaders who reacted negatively to Patrick's plan last month reacted more favorably to DiMasi's. "There are some very positive things in what the speaker has put forward," said Paul Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

"It's an artful compromise," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association. "It allows them both to accurately claim success."

DiMasi said he plans to use $427 million from the state's rainy day fund, compared with the $369 million that Patrick wants to use. Without indicating which areas he would target, DiMasi proposed cutting state spending by $100 million.

Earlier this month, the Patrick administration announced a package of reforms that would tune the system up, without putting the public at peril. Patrick's team deserves credit for taking a nuanced approach.

Politically, the safest course is to do nothing; there is no broad public outcry, after all, on behalf of ex-convicts. But problems with the criminal records system, better known as CORI, are legion. The data are hard to read and sometimes inaccurate. Regulations of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services restrict or forbid the hiring of offenders by the department or its many contractors - effectively shutting ex-cons out of a major sector of the Massachusetts economy. Surely there is a way to open up opportunities for ex-offenders while still keeping ex-drug-dealers out of hospital pharmacies.

Toward that end, the governor has issued an executive order that calls for delaying a criminal background check by state agencies until after an applicant is deemed qualified for a position, and for basing decisions on whether an ex-convict's offense is relevant to a given job. The order will force a revision of health and human services rules under which people convicted of a broad variety of offenses - most serious, but some less so - are effectively disqualified for life from working in the health care sector. The order also calls for better education of employers who use CORI.

State lawmakers should be receptive to the parts of Patrick's CORI plan that need legislative action. Under legislation proposed by the governor, the board that oversees the criminal records system would be expanded to include appointees with experience in workforce development and the rehabilitation of former convicts.

Most of Patrick's plans track the recommendations of a task force convened in 2006 by the Boston Foundation. But the governor steps out ahead of the task force in one potentially controversial way: His legislation would allow most offenders to have their records sealed sooner - after 10 years instead of 15 for felonies, and five years instead of 10 for misdemeanors.

This proposal is entirely reasonable. It acknowledges that, while ex-inmates are likely to reoffend in the early years after their release, those who've stayed clean for five or more years are unlikely to get into trouble again. To get their records sealed, ex-cons would have to stay out of trouble. Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies would be given clearer access to sealed records than they have now, and sex offenders would not have the option of sealing their records at all.

Patrick's proposals are only the beginning of a slow process of encouraging employers to use criminal-records data in a more sophisticated way. But they are likely, in the long run, to make CORI data more reliable and easy to use - and to give ex-cons who want to reenter society a greater chance to do so.

More than 40 percent of male high school students in Boston say they have carried a knife and more than 40 percent of all students believe it would be easy to get a gun, according to a new public health survey.

One in five students has witnessed a shooting and does not feel safe in his or her neighborhood, the survey found.

The report, which surveyed more than 1,200 students in 18 Boston public high schools in the spring of 2006, found that two-thirds of students said they had witnessed violence in the year before the survey, and one-third had been involved in a fight themselves. Nearly 40 percent of male students had been assaulted, and 28 percent said they did not feel safe on the bus or train.

The report, which city officials are releasing today to launch a series of community meetings on teenage health, highlights the pervasive exposure to violence among city teenagers and the fear it can generate.

"This is a call to action for everyone who works with young people," said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, public health officials, and some 80 high school leaders will present and discuss the findings at an afternoon meeting in Codman Square. The meetings are designed to solicit ideas and opinions from teenagers on strategies to curb gun and gang violence.

Ferrer said the prevalence of violence and its psychological impact on teenagers are distressing.

"The impact of such exposure to violence is trauma," she said. "It can't be treated lightly, and it can't be dismissed."

The report, however, found several areas of improvement compared with a similar youth survey two years ago. More students said they felt safe on the bus or train, in their neighborhood, and on the way to and from school. Fewer students were shot at or attacked with a weapon other than a gun, and far fewer witnessed an attack. Students were more likely to trust the police.

In 2004, there were 64 homicides in Boston, the most since 1995, and up from 41 in 2003. There were 74 and 75 homicides in 2005 and 2006, and there have been 58 so far this year.

The survey was conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health. Half of the surveyed students were black, 28 percent Hispanic, 12 percent white, and 6 percent Asian.

Ferrer said she had anticipated most of the findings but was dismayed by the number of students who reported feelings of depression and had not received help. Almost half of female students and 28 percent of males experienced such symptoms, and more than 60 percent of those students who witnessed or were victimized by violence. Only a small fraction received counseling, the survey found.

"This really documents some problems related to emotional well-being," she said. "We have to ask whether we are doing enough to help kids cope with strong feelings that things aren't going well for them."

The survey's finding of widespread fistfights - more than one-third of male and female students reported having hit, punched, kicked, or choked someone in the past month - was also disturbing, Ferrer said. Such violence can easily intensify to weapon use, she said.

"We're missing the precursor to more serious violence, which is a lot of aggressive behavior," she said. "We need to give our students some skills on how to resolve conflict before it escalates."

Marcus Peterson, a member of a youth antiviolence group called Operation Greensboro said public apathy contributes to the persistent violence.

"It's not really an issue anymore," he said. "It's just accepted."

Operation Greensboro has launched an Internet campaign to enlist high school and college students and is urging Governor Deval Patrick to take steps to reducing inner-city crime.

Peterson, 16, said the threat of violence in the city's most dangerous neighborhoods takes a mental toll on young residents.

"You always have to watch out," he said. "You could get in trouble for wearing the wrong hat or the wrong color."

Six percent of students reported carrying a gun, primarily because they felt unsafe in their neighborhood or because someone threatened to hurt them. Half of those reporting they carried guns said they belonged to gangs and reported far greater drug and alcohol use than non-gun carriers.

More than one-quarter of students said they would not report a crime for fear of reprisal or being labeled a snitch. Menino and law enforcement officials have denounced the antisnitching culture and urged witnesses to come forward and identify perpetrators.

Fatimah Mahdee, a 17-year-old from Dorchester who works with the Boston Area Health Education Center, said she hoped the survey results and the youth meetings would make confronting the culture of gangs and guns a higher priority.

"We're trying to show people how serious this is," she said. "If you talk directly to the students, maybe they'll understand what's really going on."

Mahdee said many teenagers can't walk down the street without looking over their shoulder and are frightened by the prospect of random violence around any corner. She mentioned Steven Odom, the 13-year-old shot and killed earlier this month on his way home from playing basketball.

"It's just crazy what's happening," she said. "Of course you are scared, because anything can happen."

Harry Harding, a family mentor who estimates that three-quarters of his Boston clients have been affected by violence, said children are at once preoccupied and desensitized to violence.

With Boston’s violence epidemic, young people are hurt, angry and frustrated. We are advocating for a youth voice in decisions and more youth opportunities in order to save lives this year. Youths and youth workers, numbering nearly 150, screamed for $8 million more in funding in Downtown Boston before entering the Boston Youth Fund city council hearing on May 24.

There, we shared stories of lost loved ones. But we shouldn’t have to march to get the city to take action. Does it take 74 homicides to do something?

As young people in United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston (UYYWB) we know when people die it’s not just another number. One of us testified: “You would think losing eight friends would be the worst part of my life, but it’s not. The worst part of my life is that violence is normal to me now. I actually expect my friends to die.”

As youth workers in UYYWB, we are tired of seeing fear and going to funerals. We want to see sparks of potential in young people. It hurts to see under funding of solutions we know will work. It hurts to see young peoples’ solutions disregarded.

We have come together as youths and youth workers from more than 100 organizations—including Beantown Society, Youth Community Organizers of Hyde Square Task Force, Team Mita of South Street Development, Urban Reps of Martha Eliot Health Center, YPACT, and others in Jamaica Plain—to advocate for increased funding. This year, UYYWB is calling for an additional $4.5 million for year-round and summer jobs; $2 million for grants for youth organizations; and $1.5 million for a new total of 50 streetworkers starting at $35,000.

Jobs, programs, and streetworkers: these solutions aren’t complicated.

Mayor Thomas Menino has announced $300,000 more for summer jobs, $300,000 in grants, and four new streetworkers – all positive steps.

When we ask for more officials say there is no money. Yet money is added every year; the question is, where? City funding for youth jobs dropped from $8.7 to $4.1 million over 6 years, cutting 1,972 jobs while the teenage population increased by 2,500. Police spending increased from $217 to $260 million.

We need the mayor and City Council to stand with us and make youth a priority in this year’s city budget. Together, we can be proud to live in a city that invests in year-round jobs and expanded summer jobs, and that invests in the organizations and streetworkers that reach young people.

At the May 24 budget hearing we spoke for those who have died. We don’t want to do so again. We don’t want to constantly wonder, “Who’s next?” Please help us stop the violence this year. Don’t wait ‘til we’re dead.

Carlos Moreno is a senior at West Roxbury High School and a resident of Dorchester. Shauna Rigaud is a youth worker in the South End who has worked in youth organizations since she was 13. They serve on the leadership team of the UYYWB.

A new four-year contract would give Boston police officers a 14 percent pay hike but require them to pay more for health care, city officials said yesterday.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino called the contract, which will be retroactive to July , "a win for both sides."

The contract, which the city and union negotiators agreed on Thursday, would also allow officers to live outside the city after a decade of service , shift about two dozen officers from behind their desks to the streets , and toughen drug testing rules.

Menino said that while the city had sought a lower pay hike, it had settled for 14 percent because the union's 1,400 officers would shoulder an increase in their contribution for health insurance costs, from 10 to 15 percent.

State troopers also pay 15 percent , which is less than the 20 percent most city employees pay, said John Dunlap , the city's director of labor relations .

"That was a big part of what we were seeking," Dunlap said. "Ten to 15 years ago, healthcare was the backwater of labor negotiations, but today, it is at the top of the list of issues."

Yesterday, the terms of the contract were presented to the board of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, which represents all officers in the city, and it unanimously voted to present the contract to the union at large June 18 for ratification, according to association president Thomas Nee.

Menino "had issues he valued, and we had issues we valued, and there are always consequences in that give and take," Nee said. "But we're pleased with what we came away with."

Police were among the highest-paid city employees last year, according to city figures released to the Globe earlier this year. Of the 125 highest-paid employees, all but one were police officers. In 2006, the average uniformed police officer made $113,617 , including $35,600 in detail and overtime. But union officials maintain that the overtime and detail pay are not part of an officer's normal pay and can fluctuate.

The contract's pay increase and residency provisions are similar to those in contracts recently ratified by the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees , which together represent about 2,200 city workers.

Dunlap predicted the loosening of the residency rule, which has been on the union's wish list for a long time, would not translate into an exodus of officers from the city.

Under the current contract, an officer who fails an annual drug test is suspended for 45 days without pay, must enter into a rehabilitation agreement, and must submit to random drug tests for three years. Under the new contract, the officer would have to submit to random tests for the rest of his or her career.

The new contract also calls for civilians to take over desk jobs held by 23 officers, freeing them to patrol the streets.

City and union negotiators met in at least 25 bargaining sessions since the last contract expired in June 2006 . Along the way, Menino and Nee mended a once-frayed relationship. A highly publicized, bitter dispute between the two had resulted in police picketing outside the Democratic National Convention in 2004 , and an arbitrator was called in to settle the terms of a contract, awarding the officers a 14.5 percent pay raise over four years.

With the violence epidemic in Boston, young people are hurt, angry, and frustrated. We are advocating for youth voice in decisions and more youth opportunities – in order to save lives this year. $8 million more funding is what 150 youth and youth workers screamed for at the top of our lungs rallying in Downtown Boston before entering the Boston Youth Fund hearing last Thursday. There, we shared stories of lost loved ones, describing how friends and family dropped tears for them.

But we shouldn’t have to march and rally for the City to take action. Does it take 74 or 75 homicides to do something?

As young people in United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston – for us, when people die, it’s not just another number. One of us testified: “You would think losing eight friends would be the worst part of my life, but it’s not. The worst part of my life is that violence is normal to me now. I actually expect my friends to die.” The quote, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” pops into mind – everybody has something special within them, and when somebody dies, that’s being taken away from the world. We’re losing these gifts – a terrible thing to waste. Why don’t politicians see that?

As youth workers in UYYWB, we feel deep pain as well. We are tired of seeing young people’s fear, and going to funerals. We want to do what we love: see sparks of potential in young people and help them thrive. It hurts that there aren’t resources to support solutions we know will work. It hurts to see that young people are not seen as experts on their lives, and that their solutions are often disregarded.

Together, we – youth and youth workers, from more than 100 organizations – have advocated for three years for increased funding. This year, United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston is calling for $8 million additional City funding for youth: $4.5 million for year-round and summer jobs; $2 million for grants for youth organizations; and $1.5 million for a new total of 50 streetworkers starting at $35,000.

These solutions aren’t complicated. We need jobs year round to make ends meet and build our ability to reach our goals. Organizations need support to implement neighborhood strategies to reach young people. Streetworkers need the numbers and the pay to stay in a community to defuse crises and connect with teens.

We believe in working with elected officials. We continue to meet and plan: How do we get more organizations to hire youth? How do we provide more opportunities to youth with CORIs? How do we get more State funding? How can City and community-based programs collaborate?

At the same time, we must advocate for more resources. The Mayor has announced $300,000 more for summer jobs, $300,000 in grants, and 4 new streetworkers – all positive steps. When we ask for more, officials say there is no money. Yet money is added every year; the question is, where? City funding for youth jobs dropped from $8.7 to $4.1 million over 6 years, cutting 1,972 jobs while the teenage population increased by 2,500. Police spending increased from $217 to $260 million. In a $2.3 billion budget, $8 million is a modest amount for the City’s top priority today.

To the Mayor and the City Council: We need you all to stand with us, and invest to make youth a priority in this year’s budget. We all love this City and applaud what we’ve accomplished so far supporting young people. Together, we can build on our past successes and be proud to live in a City that invests in year-round jobs and expanded summer jobs, and that invests in the organizations and streetworkers that reach young people.

At last Thursday’s budget hearing, we spoke for those who have died. We don’t want to do so again – we don’t want anyone else dead. We don’t want to constantly wonder, “Who’s next?” The situation is urgent and we want the violence to stop. Please help us stop it this year - don’t wait till we’re dead, because some of us might not be here next year.

Carlos Moreno is a senior at West Roxbury High School and a resident of Dorchester. Shauna Rigaud is a youth worker in the South End who has worked in youth organizations since she was 13. They serve on the leadership team of the United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston.

With the epidemic of violence in Boston, young people are hurt, angry and frustrated. We are advocating for a youth voice in decisions and more youth opportunities — in order to save lives this year. We (150 of us) asked for $8 million in additional funding at a rally in downtown Boston before the City Council’s Boston Youth Fund hearing last Thursday. At the hearing, we shared stories of lost loved ones, describing how friends and family dropped tears for them.

But we shouldn’t have to march and rally for the city to take action. Does it take 74 or 75 homicides to do something?

As young people in United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston (UYYWB) — for us, when people die, it’s not just another number. One of us testified: "You would think losing eight friends would be the worst part of my life, but it’s not. The worst part of my life is that violence is normal to me now. I actually expect my friends to die." The quote, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” pops into mind — everybody has something special within them, and when somebody dies, that’s being taken away from the world. We’re losing these gifts — a terrible thing to waste. Why don’t politicians see that?

As youth workers in UYYWB, we feel deep pain as well. We are tired of seeing young people’s fear, and going to funerals. We want to do what we love: See sparks of potential in young people and help them thrive. It hurts that there aren’t resources to support solutions we know will work. It hurts to see that young people are not seen as experts on their lives, and that their solutions are often disregarded.

Together, we — youth and youth workers, from more than 100 organizations — have advocated for three years for increased funding. This year, UYYWB is calling for $8 million additional city funding for youth: $4.5 million for year-round and summer jobs; $2 million for grants for youth organizations; and $1.5 million for a new total of 50 streetworkers starting at a salary of $35,000.

These solutions aren’t complicated. We need jobs year round to make ends meet and build our ability to reach our goals. Organizations need support to implement neighborhood strategies to reach young people. Streetworkers need the numbers and the pay to stay in a community to defuse crises and connect with teens.

We believe in working with elected officials. We continue to meet and plan: How do we get more organizations to hire youth? How do we provide more opportunities to youth with records? How do we get more state funding? How can city and community-based programs collaborate?

At the same time, we must advocate for more resources. The mayor has announced $300,000 more for summer jobs, $300,000 in grants, and four new streetworkers – all positive steps. When we ask for more, officials say there is no money. Yet money is added every year; the question is, where? City funding for youth jobs dropped from $8.7 to $4.1 million over six years, cutting 1972 jobs while the teenage population increased by 2500. Police spending increased from $217 million to $260 million. In a $2.3 billion budget, $8 million is a modest amount for the city’s top priority today.

To the mayor and the City Council: We need you all to stand with us, and invest to make youth a priority in this year’s budget. We all love this city and applaud what we’ve accomplished so far supporting young people. Together, we can build on our past successes and be proud to live in a city that invests in year-round jobs and expanded summer jobs, and that invests in the organizations and streetworkers that reach young people.

At last Thursday’s budget hearing, we spoke for those who have died. We don’t want to do so again — we don’t want anyone else to die from street violence. We don’t want to constantly wonder, “Who’s next?” The situation is urgent and we want the violence to stop.

Please help us stop it this year — because some of us might not be here next year.

Carlos Moreno is a senior at West Roxbury High School and a resident of Dorchester. Shauna Rigaud is a youth worker in the South End who has worked in youth organizations since she was 13. They serve on the leadership team of the United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston.

Boston teens, in a march more than 100 strong, sought an $8 million increase in city spending for youth jobs and programs Thursday. They marched on City Hall, filed inside and made their wishes known.

According to David Jenkins, a youth worker in Boston for six years, the $8 million hike would help stem the tide of violence that has trapped the city on a virtual island of bad news this year.

"The whole intention of this campaign is to highlight that youth are scared and are down on the streets of Boston," said Jenkins.

Shane Bass, 17, of Dorchester said he was marching because he has seen many of his friends die to unnecessary street violence.

One of those prevention methods is to increase the number of street workers that perform outreach to the city’s teens, often preventing violent conflicts from happening, said Jenkins.

Currently there are 19 street workers in Boston but there are many more needed.

"They are the first line of defense," since Jenkins.

BOTH THE Boston police and human service workers who specialize in crime prevention speak with one voice about the need to maintain a strategic partnership. But this is an alliance in which the police often get the meat while their community-based partners are left with the bones.

The overtime costs alone for the Boston police reached $34 million by the end of March, with one-quarter of the fiscal year still to go. By comparison, total spending for the operation of the city's 46 city-funded community centers and pools, summer jobs program, and other human service initiatives is expected to be about $30 million for the entire year. City Councilor Michael Ross, who chairs the council's committee on youth violence prevention, called attention to the ongoing disparity in an April 24 hearing on Mayor Menino's proposed budget. And now some of the city's religious leaders with close ties to the mayor are speaking out.

The paucity of street workers who intervene in gang disputes and redirect youths is especially acute. Currently only 24 such workers are on the city payroll, with an additional four slots in the mayor's proposed budget for 2008. The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, a founder of the crime-fighting Ten Point Coalition, calls that figure "woefully inadequate." Anthony Braga, a Harvard University researcher who helped to design some of Boston's best crime-reduction initiatives during the 1990s, reinforces Brown's belief in street workers. Braga says that a contingent of 40 to 50 workers could help to reduce homicides in Boston, roughly half of which are gang-related.

Menino needs to rebuild his street worker program to its 1990s strength level, when roughly 50 specialists in youth violence worked individually with specific gangs, instead of today's weaker model, which requires a single street worker to cover swaths encompassing several gangs.

The Rev. Ray Hammond, a founder of the Ten Point Coalition, is among a few dozen ministers who are trying to fill that void by engaging young people during periodic walks through the city's most dangerous neighborhoods. He senses a growing willingness on the part of many gang members to lead decent lives. Brown is working with a dozen ministers and support staffers funded largely with private donations who mediate specific disputes among some of the city's roughly 40 gangs.

The success of these innovative efforts, however, often depends on intelligence provided by street workers about brewing conflicts. Such a force is also essential to follow up on the pastors' efforts to provide gang members with jobs, social services, and other alternatives to criminal activity. The Menino administration must take steps to ensure that the good works of the ministers do not go to waste.

Public safety priorities

Menino defends his commitment to human services. He says that any evaluation of his administration's record must look at programs operated by the Parks, Public Health, and other departments that serve young people outside the scope of his human service cabinet. City Hall, he says, also exerts steady pressure on local companies to provide summer jobs. He notes increases in his proposed budget for extended weekend hours in the city's community centers. And the mayor's office announced yesterday that it will provide $300,000 in grants for nonprofit groups that specialize in youth violence prevention.

"My heart is in human services," says Menino.

Menino appears ambivalent, however, about the street worker program operated by his Center for Youth and Families. While the mayor is not known to obsess about performance measures for city services, he is plenty tough on his street workers. Recently he and top city officials visited the nonprofit community service center ROCA (Reaching Out to Chelsea Adolescents) and contracted with the group to provide some guidance and case management for the Boston street workers.

Streamlining and centralization are fine. But the mayor should also remember that his street worker system worked best in the 1990s when its members were drawn widely from community centers, schools, and public health fields.

A break in the action?

This is a heady period for Boston police officials. Last week, they announced the arrest of two men in connection with the murder of 22-year-old Chiara Levin, an unsuspecting visitor from New York who was caught in the middle of a gang feud at a Dorchester party. And this week police finally succeeded at tracking down a fugitive wanted for the 1995 murder of Bobby Mendes, a slaying that sparked a cycle of retaliatory violence in Boston's Cape Verdean neighborhoods. These high-profile arrests came just days after Menino's budget proposal that makes room for 2,235 sworn police officers, just shy of the department's peak of seven years ago.

While supportive of the police, the ministers continue to challenge the one-sided funding priorities. Brown cites a recent report about a wasteful $2.6 million vehicle leasing program that steered cars to police officers who did not require them for undercover investigations.

"If we had $2.6 million to put on the street, that would make a huge difference," says Brown.

The Boston police know the value of the ministers and the nonprofit groups that work with young people. Police Commissioner Edward Davis has built his career on community policing. Superintendent Paul Joyce, who heads the department's Bureau of Investigative Services, led an effort in 2004 to identify and provide social services to young people in families where criminal behavior passes from generation to generation. But that effort faded when police became overwhelmed with unsolved shootings.

The same cannot be said of public support for programs to reach youths before they come under the spell of life on the streets and the bad news it invariably brings.

''We never maintain over time the level of funding for programs we all know we need," Folgert says with a sigh. That need has been particularly clear this summer, as Boston neighborhoods have been rocked by a rise in gun violence, including two recent incidents in which innocent youths were victims of gunfire in or near city parks. And on Wednesday night, a 30-year-old man was shot to death steps from a Dorchester park where teenagers were playing soccer.

The rash of shootings has prompted officials to launch a coordinated crackdown involving city, state, and federal law enforcement officials. Folgert says the muscular response, dubbed Operation Neighborhood Shield, is on target, especially because of the devastating impact of gunfire in city parks.

''In good weather, they're like a youth center without a roof, so to have violence there was really stepping over the line," he says of the recent attacks, which included an 11-year-old boy shot while attending a youth football league practice at a Roxbury playground.

But as important as the cop clampdown, he says, is having things for kids to do in the parks and elsewhere and having responsible adults around to do things with them.

It's quiet at the Dorchester Youth Collaborative on this past Monday evening because many of the kids Folgert works with are across the street at Town Field, where DYC has two basketball teams competing in the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League.

''I hear we're getting beat," Folgert says of the courtside reports he's had.

Following the games, the young players return, with several coming to Folgert looking for help with bus fare or food. He peels dollar bills from a wad in his pocket, repeatedly spilling some onto the floor. One hungry hoopster is back a few minutes later with a McDonald's hamburger that may be a marginal meal but is the sort of small act of care that has helped give Folgert, 54, such a big foothold in the lives of youths.

Play, Folgert says of what goes on in city parks, is actually serious business. ''Play is a precursor to work and a precursor to love," he says, describing how the give-and-take of negotiating conflicts and rules during games is also the stuff of success in work and in personal relationships.

''The stronger their social skills become, the more comfortable they are dealing with each other and the safer the neighborhood becomes," he says. ''But the opposite is also true. Without those places, the neighborhood becomes more violent."

But city officials and others like Folgert who run community-based organizations have been scrambling in recent years to fill in the holes created by a steady steam of state and federal cuts for youth services. In 2001, the Boston Housing Authority lost $3.1 million in annual federal funding that supported youth services, including 18 outreach workers at public housing developments. The city stepped in to fund the positions, but the BHA had to close youth drop-in centers at about 15 developments.

State Department of Public Health funding that supported 10 outreach workers based at various Boston nonprofit agencies was cut last year.

Meanwhile, state support for youth summer jobs programs dried up three years ago, and a recent report from a commission chaired by Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey questioned the value of such efforts as crime-fighting tools.

''I was astounded by that because I know they work," says Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ''My God, go out on the street and talk to these kids."

Menino says Operation Neighborhood Shield is crucial, but only represents a stopgap.

''That'll keep the peace," he says. ''But we have to build strong individuals, have them see some light at the end of the tunnel," he says, referring to job programs and other services.

In May, state Senator Jack Hart, a South Boston Democrat who represents most of Dorchester and Mattapan, sponsored several budget amendments to fund services at the Ella J. Baker House, the Dorchester outreach center run by the Rev. Eugene Rivers. None of the measures was approved, but with the Legislature poised to consider supplemental appropriations from the current $750 million surplus, Hart plans to push again for ways to help youth services in Boston.

''We're not asking for something frivolous," he says. ''Just look at the newspaper clippings."

Meanwhile, Baker House staff members say they've been in touch with officials in Governor Mitt Romney's office who have pledged to try to find ways to help fund youth programming.

The sudden attention is great, says Larry Mayes, director of the Log School, a multi-service center on Bowdoin Street in Dorchester. ''My only problem with it all is it has to move away from crisis mode to sustainability and accountability. Until you do that, all you're really doing is moving from crisis to crisis."

''We're inviting the state to come back into the water," says Folgert. ''Now that the economy has improved, we need funding to be restored."

Of the broad set of partnerships and programs credited with the city's remarkable drop in crime and violence in the late 1990s, he says, ''Let's be clear: There is no 'Boston Strategy' without a certain level of funding. That level of funding doesn't exist right now."

''With anything that involves money, the politics behind it is huge," says Mayes. ''Somebody wins and somebody loses. And in the last couple of years, unfortunately, the young people have lost."

Boston Housing Authority officials said the severity of the cut, which would be about $13 million, is larger than any in recent memory and would probably force administrative layoffs, reductions in security guards and other contract workers, and a scaling back of services for the roughly 10,000 federally funded units of public housing in the city.

"A number like this is almost inconceivable," BHA administrator Sandra Henriquez said. "We're having to think about 'Do I pay the utilities?' and 'Do I make repairs?' and 'How many people do I cut?' We are not talking about a reorganization. We're talking about thinking very hard about what kinds of things we can no longer provide."

HUD officials, who blamed the shortfall on years of shoddy accounting in their agency, said they may be able to restore funding to normal levels next year. And some BHA officials hold out hope the cut may not be as severe as currently projected. But Boston is grappling now with its own budget problems, a growing population of homeless, and a shortage of affordable housing. Mayor Thomas M. Menino has pushed measures from rent control to a three-decker purchase plan in attempts to relieve the demand for affordable units. His efforts to refurbish 1,100 vacant BHA housing units will now be delayed, officials said.

Rumors of HUD cuts had been swirling in recent weeks, but local officials had speculated that they would be closer to 5 percent, Henrique  said. Boston officials were shocked late Monday when the Washington-based Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, which lobbies on behalf of local housing agencies, sent a fax that warned of "shockingly" large cuts.
It is "absolutely unprecedented," said Sunia Zaterman, executive director of the group. The largest previous cut, Zaterman said, was 11 percent.

"I'm still in shock," she said, adding that authorities will "try to do everything they can to mitigate the disruption of services, but at this magnitude of a cut, that's going to be virtually impossible."
HUD officials refused to comment on the cut, instead releasing a written statement saying that the department "has taken this necessary action to avoid a funding shortfall."

The $250 million deficit stems from years of faulty projections of how much money the federal government would have available to funnel to public housing authorities, HUD officials said. Department officials hope that the subsidy will return to a more typical level next year, but Henriquez worries that "people will say, 'If folks did without X this year, they can do without X next year.' "

BHA relies on the HUD subsidy to cover 60 percent of the cost of running its 10,000 federally funded units, collecting the remainder of the money in rent from tenants who are assessed for about one-third of their incomes.
A 30 percent cut in the HUD subsidy would deprive Boston of about $13 million, BHA officials say. The BHA also faces a 7 percent cut in state money, which helps pay for an additional 2,500 units.

"How are we going to maintain the quality of life in developments without the money from HUD?" Menino said. "It's another example of the federal government walking away from its obligations."

Henriquez said the $13 million comes on top of about $30 million in other budget hits the BHA has absorbed over the past seven years. In December 2001, the federal government scrapped the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, forcing the BHA to fire more than a dozen youth workers and scrap some services paid for under the program. Community groups and the city have taken over some of the program's costs.

The BHA was forced to come up with funds to cover security at the developments that was provided under that program, and some now see security likely to be hit by the latest cut. Security has been a concern for some elderly BHA residents.

Dan Wuenschel of the Cambridge Housing Authority said the projected cut would be "a disaster" for his agency, subtracting almost $2 million from an operating budget of $11 million. Wuenschel noted that total includes utility payments, oil for heating, and basic services such as elevator maintenance and trash removal.

"There's no question that a cut of this magnitude will affect those very basic services," Wuenschel said. "This is insanity."

BHA officials say that instead of closing the shortfall with the cut, HUD should ask the White House and Congress to help it cover its past mistakes. Public housing authorities around the country plan to lobby their representatives in Washington to push for that solution, Zaterman said.

But Henriquez said she isn't optimistic.

"What I'm hearing is there's no appetite in the Republican Congress to turn this around," she said. "It will take nothing short of the president deeming this an emergency and telling people to fix it, what I'm hearing."

CONTEXT:
The majority of family-oriented public housing complexes have large youth populations. In the 1990s, the Franklin Hill and Franklin Field developments were hotspots for gang-related crime among youths. Youth centers and community centers, when available, provide positive alternatives to illegal activities.

WHERE/ WHEN APPLICABLE:
Boston Housing Authority Youth Centers exist at Archdale Village (Roslindale), Franklin Field (Dorchester/ Mattapan), Franklin Hill (Dorchester/ Mattapan), and South Street (Jamaica Plain)

HISTORY:
Since the BHA discontinued its youth service programming, as mentioned above, communities have attempted to create replacement services for the children who were using those services, particularly through local Community Centers. The Archdale Community Center in Roslindale was capable of absorbing children from the BHA. However, the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club was full and therefore unable to absorb any new children from the Franklin Field and Franklin Hill Youth Centers.

RESPONSES:
In 2002, Franklin Hill, Franklin Field, and South Street public housing developments organized collective protests over the closing of the youth centers. The tenants' associations at Franklin Field and Franklin Hill pledged to find alternative sources of funding for the centers and to volunteer their own time to keep them open if necessary. In the spring of 2002, Mayor Menino allocated $400,000 to hire or re-hire 15 youth workers for BHA sites and the BHA designated another $200,000.

After an uproar of protest from the Franklin Field and Franklin Hill public housing communities, a private organization stepped in to continue and expand upon the youth programs. Developing Attitude Respect and Intellect (DARI) Associates, a private contractor, took over running the activities in April 2002. DARI offers cooking, Latin dance, and robotics classes, as well as tutoring, field trips, and other activities. As of June 2002, however, the arrangement was temporary and DARI was in need of funding.

TESTIMONIES:
"Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club can't take all of our kids. They already have a waiting list. The kids have no place to go. So we aren't going to shut down the [youth] center. We're going to keep the center open even if we have to do it ourselves" (Georgia Jones, head of the Franklin Hill tenant association).

For the past three years, Boyce's children, Damien, 13, and Sherrelle, 11, have spent weekday afternoons at the nearby Dorchester center, where they get homework help, take computer classes and attend scout meetings. After Sunday, however, funding for the center, and 18 other centers in Boston, will disappear, and hundreds of children will be forced to find somewhere else to stay.

"My daughter's really upset," said Boyce, 36. "There's dance class over there, and other things for her free time. She won't have those. She won't have anything to do."

The Boston Housing Authority was forced to eliminate its youth programs, scattered throughout the city in low-income areas, after President Bush recently sliced federal funding for public housing outreach. Without BHA youth programming, Boyce and other parents say they now must enroll their children in other programs, which may be too far away for kids to access alone.

"I'm in a bind right now," Boyce said. "There's no way I can actually drop them off and pick them up. I'd have to have somebody to transport them. I don't have that."

The city has made efforts to limit difficulties with the transition. This weekend, Mayor Thomas Menino allocated $400,000 to hiring 15 new workers at other city youth programs. The BHA offered $200,000 for the same purpose and committed to equaling that contribution next year as well.

"We are going to be able to continue to serve the people of youth public housing as they deserve to be served," said BHA Deputy Administrator Bill McGonagle.

McGonagle fielded questions and criticisms from members of the community at a City Council hearing last night at Aggassiz Elementary School in Jamaica Plain. More than 50 children from the Franklin Field Youth Center crowded into the school's auditorium, some armed with colored posterboard over which such pleas were scrawled as "Save the teen center please" and "Why hurt us kids? Don't cut funding."Rep. Elizabeth Malia (D-Suffolk), who contested the program cut, said at bare minimum, interim relief is needed for displaced children. Though the centers will close this week, the new workers are expected to be hired and trained as late as June 1.

"We still have nothing in writing that will tell us what happens to our children after this Sunday, which just happens to be Easter Sunday," Malia said. "Our children are basically being pushed out in the cold."

Youth Centers not funded by the BHA are already feeling the burden of displaced youths. Lorna Bognanno, coordinator of Jamaica Plain Community Centers, said she does not think her programs have the manpower to accommodate the new influx of children.

"We have our staff stretched to the limit," Bognanno said.

While organizations such as local YMCAs and Boys & Girls Clubs are being asked to care for extra youths, space is severely limited, according to Gerald Casey, former program manager for the BHA Youth Program.

"They don't have the room," Casey said. "They don't have the staff to take care of those additional kids, and no amount of money is going help them take on additional kids."

McGonagle said the city is making progress in relocating youths to those other programs, although he said the transition is not complete. Malia, however, said more will have to be done before the June 1 hirings.

"The mayor has stepped forward, and I thank him very much for this," Malia said. "The problem is we still have no details."

The federal Public Housing Drug Elimination program, which funded the BHA centers, contributed about $3.1 million per year to the BHA, and some lag money still exists, McGonagle said. McGonagle said he could not commit to funding the defunct centers during the interim period.

McGonagle said the city is handling the situation to the best of its ability, noting the federal government has of late neglected public housing. He said the BHA has run a deficit for each of the past three years.

"This federal cut was extremely unfortunate and, I believe, very shortsighted," McGonagle said.

"We're concerned about the level of cuts we've been getting for public housing; it's been going down and down and down," said BHA spokeswoman Lydia Agro. "These cuts are of great concern to people, and in this particular instance, it's an example of where cities have had to come up to the plate and make up for funding and service that they were getting from the federal government but they're not receiving anymore."

Agro acknowledged the program cut will be hard on the children currently using the BHA youth centers.

"It's a difficult transition for kids," she said. "They have been used to having youth centers on site and youth workers there.

"Once they make the transition, it will be OK. But I do think it's a difficult transition for kids."

"I got a lot of complaints from people about this. They see how effective youth workers are in these developments," Menino said. "They are the eyes and ears of the police department, plus they help these kids get to the different programs we have."

The Boston Housing Authority has tapped community groups to run the after-school activities that once were supported by the Public Housing Drug Elimination Pro gram, which the federal government scrapped in December. But it didn't have the money to replace the dozen or so youth workers who counseled the children, forging personal relationships that went beyond the activities they planned. The $400,000 in city money, combined with $200,000 from the BHA, will fund the hiring of 15 youth workers who will concentrate on children in public housing.

"The role of the youth workers went beyond just providing those direct services. What was really being cut out was the kind of connection the youth workers made to the children of families in BHA housing," said Juanita B. Wade, Menino's human services chief. "They helped them get access to summer jobs, worked with law enforcement on issues of youth violence, and connected teenagers to adolescent health programs."

Boston Youth Connections, a city program, will hire the new workers, adding them to its roster of 28 workers at 42 community centers across the city. Unlike the current workers, however, the new hires will be assigned to specific public housing sites.

Menino will include the $400,000 in his fiscal 2003 budget, the tightest in his nine years as mayor. The City Council will hold a hearing on the plan tonight. Menino said he and his staff found the money by trimming administrative costs in youth programs, but couldn't be more specific. Lydia Agro, a BHA spokeswoman, said her agency gleaned its $200,000 in a similar process.

"You don't want any of the kids to fall through the cracks," she said. "It's important that they have a person who knows them, is connected to them, and knows what kind of programs and services would be best for them and where they are available."