The city of Pittsburgh said it canceled a summer employment program at the Hazelwood YMCA and reassigned 19 youth workers after the Y failed to provide clearances for program staffers.

One of the staffers, Lutual Love Sr., has a record for drug possession.

In an interview, Mr. Love, long a controversial community activist, also acknowledged pleading guilty in the 1960s to involuntary manslaughter, a charge that he said arose out of a car accident. He also was charged in 1975 with statutory rape, corruption of minors and promoting prostitution -- charges that ultimately were dismissed and that he said were unfounded.

City personnel director Judy Hill Finegan said the 19 youths were reassigned to the Student Conservation Association, another of the 15 or so organizations that supervise youths involved in the summer work program.

In all, the city this summer hired about 860 14- to 21-year-olds for the annual six-week work program. Participants earn $7.25 hour and work 30 hours a week cutting grass and performing other work citywide.

While planning for the summer program, Ms. Finegan said, prospective community partners were notified of the need to obtain clearances for employees working directly with the youths. When she heard that a Hazelwood Y employee had a criminal record, she said, she asked to see clearances for all three program staffers.

"They couldn't provide them," she said. "I still haven't seen them."

The program at the Hazelwood Y started July 6. Ms. Finegan said she was alerted to the problem with an employee, whom she declined to identify, July 7 and reassigned the workers July 8 after the Y failed to provide the clearances.

"It's important that our kids are safe. That's our priority," she said, adding that the youths will not miss a day's pay.

City Councilman Doug Shields, who represents Hazelwood, said Mr. Love was the employee who caused the concern. He said he notified Ms. Finegan after constituents alerted him.

In a July 9 e-mail to city officials, Y branch manager Tendai Matambanadzo gave a different account. He said the staffers had clearances and "meet the criteria for employment by the YMCA." However, he said the city law department informed him that the city has stricter standards and won't tolerate anything more serious than a summary offense.

It wasn't clear whether Mr. Love was the only program staffer with a criminal history.

In 2002, court records showed, Mr. Love pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of drug and paraphernalia possession. In 1997, records showed, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor possession charge.

He said the sex-related charges in the 1975 case involved a long-term girlfriend and stemmed from her mother's displeasure with the relationship. All of the charges were dropped.

"I'm not proud of everything I did, but I'm proud of a lot of things I did," he said.

In the 1990s, Mr. Love attracted attention for his involvement in controversial projects with the Glen Hazel Citizens Association and Westside Community Development Corp. He said he's now active in another community group, Hazelwood Organizational Partnership, and he said he believes political disagreements with Mr. Shields played a role in the city's decision to cancel the Y's contract.

He said he and the other two program staffers are now without jobs.

Mr. Love said community work has helped him cope with family tragedies.

In 1995, his son, Lutual Abdul Shabazz, was shot dead in the Hill District.

In 2008, his daughter, Furaha T. Love, was one of two women who pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of five children in a Larimer house fire. The women had left the five in care of two older children while visiting a bar. Two of the children killed were Ms. Love's.

The city did Hazelwood a disservice by canceling the Y's contract, Mr. Love said, noting the youths would have mowed senior citizens' lawns, painted a playground and performed other services in the disadvantaged neighborhood. If one employee was a problem, he said, the city should have dealt with that issue and let the program continue.

He also said the 19 youths haven't yet been paid. Ms. Finegan said all will be paid by Friday.

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