Your investment is powerful.
And it IS an investment. Make no mistake about it. There are some 250,000 opportunity youth in New York City. That is a powerful resource looking to be activated and a shameful loss if left disengaged.
Your investment today has the ability to create new opportunities for young adults in New York City and the greater metropolitan area to ensure that the life-changing programs currently in place remain available for future participants. Whether it provides a week’s worth of breakfasts for a YAYB student, catalyzes the creation of a new education and workforce development program or initiative, or sponsors improvements to our low income tenant buildings, your tax-deductible investment will have a powerful and immediate impact on many lives.
Including your own.
Since 1978, YAYB specifically has served more than 1,400 young women and men who had nowhere else to turn. With the assistance of youth in the YAYB program, we have renovated 12 buildings representing 124 units of low income housing, giving dozens of families a safe haven and strong community ties.
As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, we reflect on our strong legacy in the East Harlem community and recommit to our mission to transform lives across all of New York City to help those in need get on a path to self-empowerment.
We are elated to continue on this essential journey — and with your support, we will go even farther. Invest now, or read on to learn more about YAYB’s current funding needs.
General Operating Support
In other words, the funds that enable us to do the work we do. From paying our light bills to buying computers for our students to test on, general operating funds allow us to enhance our services in ways that direct support cannot.
YouthBuild Construction Skills Program
Our core program, the YouthBuild Construction Skills training program, integrates leadership development, education, and vocational construction skills training into a combined service approach that prepares young people to take advantage of existing economic opportunities, forge new ones, and further their education.
Program services include High School Equivalency (HSE) training, work readiness/professional certifications/employment placement, case management, and leadership development through the provision of community service— all key foundational elements for effective workforce transition for opportunity youth from across New York City. We also integrate trauma-informed practices to help young people successfully navigate the rigors of the YouthBuild program.
Current Funding Needs for the YouthBuild Construction Skills Program:
- Part time Adult Education teacher (22+ student cohort) – $30,000
- Program enrichment (college tours, field trips, additional certification programs) – $7,000
- Part time job retention specialist – $20,000
- Student transportation assistance – $2,000
- Graduation celebration – $2,000
- Senior trip – $7,000
- SmartBoard – $6,000
Good Food Jobs Workforce Development Program
In partnership with the City University of New York (CUNY) Urban Food Policy Institute, we expanded the YouthBuild Construction program model beyond construction sector jobs to also include preparing young people for emerging local workforce opportunities in the healthy food and food services sectors. This large and growing sector of New York’s economy offers jobs that have low barriers to entry. The Good Food Jobs Workforce Development Program (GFJP) currently serves up to 15 young people over an 8 month period.
Current Funding Needs for the Good Food Jobs Workforce Development Program:
- Culinary instructor (part-time, 20 hrs per week) – $30,000
- Teaching equipment – $2,000
- Food for culinary courses – $5,000
- Overhead and administration – $5,000
- Insurance cost offset – $5,000
- Marketing of class to participants – $1,000
- Transportation for youth to attend class and return home – $1,000
- Incentives for completion of training and obtaining employment – $1,000
And we aren’t stopping there. We are currently reaching out to socially responsible, impact-driven local and multinational companies to partner with us on developing new, innovative ways to provide vocational skills, self-empowerment initiatives and mentoring programs, as well as new job placement opportunities that keep up with the fast-changing times we live in.
We are also seeking funding and partnership initiatives that can help us to expand our capacity for student enrollment in existing and newly contemplated programs.
If you would like to join us in being an immediate and powerful force for change in the world, please invest what you are able, whether in tax deductible donations, your ideas and input, or your valuable time and resources.
We are all one community, with many voices. Add yours to ours today.