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James Bynes and Sonata Traore are hoping to spend this summer like they did last year – as counselors at the Goddard Riverside Community Center's Beacon Program.

"I loved it," says Traore. "It's fun."

"You get to have fun and go on trips with the kids," explains Bynes. "It's also fun for us because we get to experience things that we don't experience all the time."

But like almost 36,000 others, starting at age 14, they also got paid minimum wage.

"I bought mostly school clothes," says Traore of the money she made last summer.

"You can help your parents and help your brothers and sisters," adds Bynes. "And I got to, like, fend for myself."

But in this case, fending for yourself requires some luck. There's a lottery to get the jobs like this – working with kids, in offices, in museums or on agricultural projects. Taxpayer dollars pay the salaries.

"It's important because young people want to get work experience," says Anthony Ng of the United Neighborhood Houses organization, which is fighting for funding for the summer jobs program. "Every year we have these moving pieces from the city, the state and the fed."

In each of the last five years the program got more money than first thought. In 2006 it received $53 million after only $44 million was proposed; in 2007 it received $56 million after a proposal of $51 million; and in 2008 the program received $54 million after $48 million was proposed.

In 2009 actual funding versus proposed jumped dramatically, from $39 million to $67 million – and in 2010 it doubled, from a proposed $25 million to actual funding of $52 million. But that was because of the federal stimulus dollars and the mayor's office stepping up to provide more money.

"It seems like there a back-and-forth from the mayor," says Ng. "So what is it, Mr. Mayor – do you support this program or not?"

Program advocates are now calling on the mayor to pitch in another $18 million to match the amount of jobs that were offered last year. But even if he does, the number of teens who apply and lose the summer job lottery would still reach roughly 100,000.

Bynes and Traore know that losing the lottery could impact their whole summer.

"I'll probably just stay home, go outside, do nothing, be bored," says Traore.

Officials in the mayor's office say that with the state and federal cuts, they just don't have all the resources to fund all the programs they want. As a result, they're pushing for private donations.