San Francisco, March 6 (IANS): San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced a new economic recovery program for workforce development, paid training programs, job placement and employment services for the city.

The $28 million "Building Back Stronger" program includes funding from the city's Dream Keeper Initiative, which Mayor Breed announced last week, Xinhua news agency reported.

It will expand services for workers and jobseekers, address long-standing economic inequities and disparities in unemployment, and bolster the city's economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, Friday's announcement said.

The Dream Keeper Initiative is a citywide effort to improve outcomes for San Francisco's Black and African-American youth and their families.

It is funded with $120 million that Breed redirected from law enforcement to the African-American community.

In San Francisco, the unemployment rate for Black residents, despite decreasing in recent years, continues to remain approximately triple the citywide average.

As part of the city's Dream Keeper Initiative, $6 million will go towards paid training and supportive services to address this disparity.

"With this funding, we're addressing the immediate needs caused by Covid-19, with job placement and training for people who are unemployed, and we're making longer-term investments so that our residents are prepared with the skills they need to fully participate in San Francisco's recovery," Breed said on Friday.

"These workforce programs help people find good jobs and make their careers right here in San Francisco, especially people in neighbourhoods and communities that have historically been left behind.

"These investments will help our residents and our entire city recover," she added.