Camden's unemployment rate in 2006 was 10.7 percent, more than twice the state average of 4.6 percent.
Last summer, the city partnered with the school board and the housing authority to create 800 summer jobs for youth, Faison said.
But across-the-board budget cuts have taken a big bite out of summer jobs, she said. The city can barely muster 55 jobs, and the housing authority and school board are providing none, she said.
The school board, trying to plug a $9.5 million budget deficit, cut its summer youth jobs program, which previously hired several hundred teens.
"We always had over 400 summer jobs for kids," former board member Dwaine J. Williams said. "You find something for them to do."
City officials worry that crime could increase with so many youths having nothing to do. Several recreation programs also have been cut.
Said Arturo Venegas, head of the city's police department: "Not every student is going to go out and commit crime, but it makes them more susceptible. . . ."
For parent Richard Patterson, 44, of the 1300 block of Dayton Street, the employment picture dealt a major blow to his plans to keep his three sons busy during the summer.
Patterson and his family live near a notorious drug corner, and he said he was struggling to keep his sons away from the lure of drugs by keeping them employed. So far, none has found a job.
He worries that an idle summer could be especially difficult for his youngest son, Markus Chandler, 16. The teen was picked up by police this week for violating curfew rules.
"Last summer I worked in a city center in Centerville," a setion of Camden, Markus said as he stood outside in the heat, shirtless. He said he had tried to find work this summer at local stores and fast-food restaurants.
"I tried in Lindenwold," he said. "I put in my application, but I didn't hear back."
