Local elected officials and anti-violence advocates are criticizing a proposal to cancel New York City’s summer youth employment program and other summer activities.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s executive budget proposed the cancellation of the program, which provides jobs to over 75,000 young people across all five boroughs. The plan could also close the city’s public pools.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams says that crime will spike in the borough this summer if an alternative plan isn’t developed.

“If we merely cut Summer Youth Employment, cut the closing of pools, the closing of beaches, without any alternative, interaction with our young people – we could be creating what is now a public health crisis…into a public safety crisis,” Adams says.

Public advocate Jumanne Williams says that communities that are being hit hardest by the pandemic are also hit hardest by these cuts.

“The mayor, the governor, the president – they’re not a particularly diverse bunch. More importantly, when those press conferences are happening, I don’t even see diversity around them. This concerns us because the people who are being hurt don’t look like the people who are making any of the decisions anywhere,” Williams says.

News 12 has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment but has not yet heard back.