With help from the Clintons, Flint’s mayor announces a new jobs program

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Hannah Chanpong ‏@hannahfc
With help from the Clintons, Flint’s mayor announces a new jobs program to help residents facing the water crisis: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/03/06/chelsea-clinton-flint-mayor-announce-new-jobs-program/81403878/ …



Chelsea Clinton and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver announced a new jobs program to help the city's youth.(Katrease Stafford, Detroit Free Press)


"Secretary Clinton said she was going to do something to make this happen. It was her inspiration."

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton announced a new program Sunday -- the Flint WaterWorks initiative -- which will provide the city's youth with jobs to directly help families affected by the water crisis.

Through the program, young adults will be given jobs distributing clean water, healthy food and nutrition information and services to families. They also will help make "Flint’s water infrastructure safe," Weaver said, by aiding her Fast Start initiative to remove all lead and lead-tainted service lines in the city.

According to Weaver, the Flint WaterWorks initiative was developed in partnership with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whose team helped the mayor establish the public-private partnership program.

The initiative is being started with a $500,000 contribution from J.B. and M.K. Pritzker to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

"For my mother and for me, this is not political," Chelsea Clinton said at a news conference. "It is deeply personal and I think it should be personal to every American. ... (We want) to see the children of Flint as our children and to see the youth in Flint, as the mayor says, as being a promising youth for Flint and really our country."

The first pipe was replaced under the Fast Start program on Friday and 30 more are scheduled to be replaced in the next 30 days, with many more to be replaced in the months ahead.

About 100 young adults, ages 16-24, in the community who are out of school and not working are the target of the program, Weaver said.

"We're excited," Weaver said. "It was interesting because when this whole thing happened, we had the National Guard here and we were thankful they were here because we knew they were coming to give our residents clean water, but on the other hand it was kind of sad because we knew we had young people that could be part of making this change happen. I kept saying we need to be paying young people do this. I was talking with Secretary Clinton and it didn't fall on deaf ears. She heard our cries. She said she was going to do something to make this happen. It was her inspiration."

read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/03/06/chelsea-clinton-flint-mayor-announce-new-jobs-program/81403878/

John Podesta ‏@johnpodesta
Here's what Hillary is doing right now to help Flint. And some thoughts on what Congress & @onetoughnerd should do. http://hrc.io/214Rbn0

[stonecutter357]

1. K&R!

[Fuddnik]

2. They're only good until the election.

Then they get moved to Mexico.

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3. fricking hilarious

...about as seriously as Sanders is taking this issue.

This sitting senator's been outflanked and out maneuvered by a private citizen who stepped up to the crisis and is already making a real difference in folk's lives there.

And all you're left with are sick jokes at their expense.

[Hortensis]

4. Positive action that'll help those kids feel they're

involved in rescuing their community, and it'll get a bit of money out into it, but I hope some of those jobs actually involve the learning of marketable skills.

[michaz]

5. Wrong...just plain wrong! It is like "buying the vote". If a Republican was doing this we would be

screaming about it. I have not said much during all of this back and forth slinging with Clinton and Sanders, but this is just not right. Yes that community needs help, but if she really wanted to help then her name could have been left out of it. Things are done anonymously all the time.

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6. sour grapes

...what's this sitting senator actually doing that would eclipse this private citizen's timely and substantive response?

[DrDan]

10. wow - you just cannot find yourself saying anything positive, can you . . . how sad

just had to find something wrong, something to criticize

[riversedge]

13. Sanders advertized that his staff in Flint was passing out water. Is he buying

the vote by doing this???

[Lucinda]

7. KNR Thank you!

[CdnExtraNational]

8. Wow!

The Sanders campaign set up an office and was distributing water and needed help early after the crisis broke.

The Clinton throw $500,000 at this and start a job program.

[aspirant]

12. NO, it was the Pritzkers not the Clintons that donated $500,000

Why wasn't it the Clintons, that's only 2 one-hour speeches to Goldman Sachs

Are they summer jobs or can the kids retire after 30 years on these jobs

What pandering, I'm sure these kids were unemployed a year ago with the Clintons no where in sight.

[FreedomRain]

9. I am glad she is joining in !

Now where is Obama, FEMA, et al? (and Hell, the FBI might have something to do here too looking at the Governors dealings)

I don't think we can stand by and let citizen's lives be held hostage by a State's governor.

[SidDithers]

11. DU rec...nt

Sid

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14. kick

[Jitter65]

15. Those damn, wealthy people again!

http://jb-pritzker.com

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16. Flint's future

Chelsea Clinton ‏@ChelseaClinton 50m50 minutes ago
Flint's future depends on us all - esp. young people like Ruby & Marcus who are committed to their community