Career Pathway Happenings
Dear Friends. Youth Action YouthBuild has remained dedicated to supporting our community’s youth through the COVID-19 pandemic. We take a holistic approach towards fostering well-rounded individuals by providing case management, instilling leadership skills through community service, and offering career pathways. As restrictions are lifted and vaccination rates continue to rise, providing youth with workforce development programs is now more crucial than it has ever been. Our programs, YouthBuild Construction Skills, Good Food Jobs, and Building Operations and Maintenance, create a pipeline from vocational education to upcoming job opportunities as students gain on-the-job experience and build professional relationships. Students have the space to communicate their needs and practice work readiness while they attain in-demand industry credentials along with job placement assistance. The credentials include the NCCER General Construction certification, the BPI Building Science Principles certification, the NRF Customer Service certification, the NYC Food Handlers certification and the OSHA 30/Site Safety certification. Once these are obtained, our students are then one step closer to establishing careers in the food, construction, and building maintenance industries.
540+ Community Service Hours
1220+ Internship Hours
Spotlight: Good Food Jobs Program
The Good Food Jobs Program (GFJP), launched in 2019, prepares young people for good jobs in NYC’s food economy, the City’s fourth largest employment sector. The Class of 2021 honed in on their culinary skills and learned about food safety, nutrition, and food advocacy. Chef trainer Ricardo Lopez guided the students onto a pathway to success through inspiration, education, and experience. As an instructor he emphasized the development of local food access and how it coincides with the development of the community. From his travels to the Galapagos Islands to working at farms in upstate New York, Ricardo opened his eyes to sustainability and saw the impact of locally grown and redistributed food within a community.
During programming, GFJP students were exposed to the difference between the bodega, the local supermarket, and the farmer’s market and how they reveal the food disparities in the area. In a community such as East Harlem where for every supermarket there are 17 bodegas, it is important to understand where resources are located and what future development of the community’s access to food may look like. Students completed the Good Food Jobs Program with newfound career goals, certifications, and internship and job placements in local businesses such as Sylvia’s world-famous Restaurant.
My favorite memory being here at YAYB has to have been attending my OSHA 30 classes. Bringing my stepson in and still being able to pass and obtain my certificates was a moment of realization for me that no matter what, as long as you put your mind into anything that you want, you will be capable of achieving any of your goals.
– Angel P., 2021
As participants in Youth Action’s workforce development program, students train to become viable candidates for emerging career pathways. YAYB envisions future program expansion that will increase community access to the growing job market in fields such as the green economy and the tech sector, the latter of which will be explored in our new program, Next Gen Digital Workforce. Funding is vital to reaching our goals and we are hopeful to see initiatives such as the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan (AJP) come into fruition.
While new opportunities continue to emerge, there is always an organizational need to build our capacity and expand partnerships, create more effective training, attract the right staff, and effectively reach students. With your help and generosity, the young adults of Youth Action can continue to participate in life changing programs that prepare them for the future ahead. To further propel our work and build our foundation, donations can be made and submitted by utilizing the link below. We appreciate all that you can do. Thank you!