'It is hard for kids '

Young people like Gloucester, but see few opportunities

Sixty Gloucester teenagers signed up for First Jobs, a private-sector youth employment program, hoping to land a summer job. But only three employers stepped forward, offering a total of eight jobs.

Jake Darcy, 16, is working as a handyman at the Vista Motel, landscaping and cleaning the pool, among other chores.

"I probably never would have got the job without some help," Darcy said. "I think it is hard for kids to get a job here."

The long odds for a summer job show how short opportunity can be for young people growing up in Gloucester. The city, swept up in a teen pregnancy controversy at Gloucester High School, struggles to provide job opportunities and services for teenagers. Youths ages 10 to 19 make up almost 12 percent of the city's 30,308 residents, according to census data.

Gloucester presents a geographic challenge for kids. The city has just a bowling alley and a three-screen movie theater. Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, a source of jobs and entertainment, is about 20 minutes away by car.

"It can get a little isolating, especially in winter," said Mario Peritore, 18, a recent graduate of Gloucester High. "There's no minigolf around here, but the bowling alley is always fun."

"We're not a huge city connected to lots of places," said Caitlyn Shatford, 18, another recent Gloucester High graduate. "You do see the same faces around. . . . But there's enough to do."

Funding for parks and summer recreation programs was eliminated in this year's city budget. Instead, the city has asked the Cape Ann YMCA to take over the summer recreation programs, including a popular youth sailing course.

"We're happy to help," said Rick Doucette, executive director of Teen Services at the Y. "We feel strongly about making sure we meet the needs of our young people."

School spending cuts in recent years have resulted in the loss of 100 teaching positions, including health education. That cut has been widely cited in the debate over teen pregnancy, which will be discussed during a public forum Wednesday. Seventeen girls at the high school were pregnant during the last school year, which is four times the average for the 1,200-student school. The School Committee is expected to decide in September if contraceptives should be made available at a health clinic there.

The teen pregnancy increase, covered by news organizations as far away as England and Japan, has put Gloucester's youth culture in the spotlight. The problem was mocked in the Fourth of July Horribles parades in Beverly Farms and Salem.

"Things in the news lately have put us in a pretty bad stereotype," said Shatford, a former cheerleader who is heading to the University of Massachusetts at Lowell to study physical therapy. "I want people to know that, growing up here, you really do get a good education, and, as long as you're headed on the right path, you'll get to go somewhere."

Said Peritore: "Most kids in Gloucester have work, sports, and school. Those are the things that keep them focused."

But in recent years the city has not invested heavily in its youth. School sports, where Gloucester pride runs from dusty Little League fields to Gillette Stadium for the high school Super Bowl, have been a casualty. Private fund-raising and user fees, which are poised to go up as much as 116 percent this year, fund most of the schools' athletic budget. Several years ago Gloucester pulled city funding for a downtown teen center run with the Cape Ann YMCA.

Mayor Carolyn Kirk acknowledged the decline of youth services, but cautioned that funding may not return anytime soon.

"One of the complaints we hear from kids is: 'There's nothing to do. There is nowhere to go,' " said Kirk, who took office in January. "I wish it were different. . . . But quality-of-life initiatives have to take a back seat to getting our fiscal house in order."

This summer, the city used $25,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money to hire 55 youths for the Downtown Clean Up Team. The Y supervises the employment program.

"It's as much about raising expectations for kids as it is paying them money to do a job," said Doucette, 40, a Gloucester native who has worked at the Y for 25 years. "We have to create opportunities for kids."

Kirk said she hopes to direct more block grant money toward economic development and job training. "This is our first project devoted to that," she said of the Clean Up Team.

Young people in Gloucester today are growing up in a fast-changing city. Their parents are more likely to work in manufacturing, healthcare, or in the service sector than in the storied fishing industry, state data show. For years, the fishing fleet has struggled with federal restrictions to protect swordfish, tuna, and other groundfish stocks.

"Fishing is not the big industry anymore," said Angela Sanfilippo, executive director of the Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership, based in Gloucester.

Most young people in Gloucester don't plan on a life at sea now.

"I don't know how many kids are going to say, 'I'm going to be a fisherman,' because it's really a dangerous job," said Shatford, whose father's cousin, Bobby Shatford, died aboard the vessel Andrea Gail in the epic story told in the book "The Perfect Storm" in 1991 and the movie of the same name in 2000. "But they have their parents and grandparents who are fishermen. I think it's still a part of Gloucester."

A growing Brazilian population has brought new immigrants, businesses, and a splash of South American culture to a city long dominated by Old World Portuguese and Italian customs.

Roseangela and Gervanio Miranda, immigrants from Brazil, moved to Gloucester seven years ago, after the Boston restaurant where they worked as cooks opened a location here. The couple have three children, Johayne, 11; Jeovanna, 5; and Joseph, 3.

"We thought it would be better for our kids here," said Roseangela, 32. "Boston had too much businesses and a lot of stuff that we really didn't want our kids to see."

In summer, employment in Gloucester improves. In May, for example, the city had an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent, compared with 6.9 percent in January, when many motels, whale watches, and other seasonal businesses are not operating, state figures show.

Still, the jobs picture is not so bright for young people in Gloucester. They compete against adults for minium wage jobs at hotels, restaurants, and other seasonal employers.

"Just the fact that we had 60 kids apply, and only eight jobs were made available, shows how hard it can be," said Mary Sarris, executive director of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board, which runs First Jobs.

Peritore, a co-captain of the last year's Super Bowl Champion football team, can relate. He has been looking for a job since graduating from Gloucester High last month.

"I was looking at landscaping jobs," said Peritore, who will be off to college in the fall. "Now I'm looking down at the marinas. I've applied to Dunkin' Donuts, everything. I don't know why it's so hard to get a job. . . . Everyone just wants to stay in town, and there's not many opportunities here."

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.