“This program might not impact those who have made a deliberate choice to engage in criminal or anti-social conduct, but there are all kinds of kids kind of around the edges,” she said.

Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Southwest Side Democrat, told reporters he got his first summer job under the Richard J. Daley summer program in the late 1960s and can “truly appreciate” the importance of increasing funding for the program.

“There are many young people throughout the city who desperately need an opportunity to do good things during the summer,” Garcia said, as he stood next to the late mayor’s son, Commissioner John Daley.

The added $120,000 in taxpayer money Preckwinkle announced comes from a county fund used to provide matching dollars for any grant money the county receives, according to county Budget Director Andrea Gibson.

“We’ve often said a kid only gets to be 16 or 17 one time and for someone to have an opportunity to have a job — maybe the first time they’ve had a job — could be a turning point in their life,” said Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, a North Side Democrat.

Gainer had proposed using an unexpected $160,000 — to date — in amusement tax receipts to the county from Lollapalooza ticket sales for summer youth jobs. The money is coming in to the county after music festival organizers agreed to stop asking for a tax exemption — a free ride highlighted in a Sun-Times report last year.

But Preckwinkle said that would require cutting through bureaucratic red tape and reopening budget proceedings.

One Summer Plus falls under the multi-million dollar One Summer Chicago umbrella, which is touted as a partnership of local government, community groups and non-profits, whose goal is to provide 17,000 summer jobs and 168,000 “educational and recreational opportunities” to keep young people ages 6 to 24, according to the city’s website.