Training Youths in the Ways of the Workplace

Nonprofits Manufacturing Renaissance and Youth Crossroads provide vocational training that Chicago's public schools have largely abandoned, particularly in disinvested communities. Manufacturing Renaissance runs free seven-week metalworking cohorts that include stipends, tools, job placement support, and an alumni network, and has trained more than 1,200 young adults since 1982. Youth Crossroads offers multiple workforce tracks, including HVAC certification and paid internships, and 88% of trade program graduates report feeling prepared to enter the workforce.

Deaf Technology Foundation offers weekly activities to train Deaf students in programming, robotics, and other computer science skills. The sessions, which are taught using sign language, have served roughly 1,600 students so far.

The six-week, all-expense-paid, Red Tail Cadet Program teaches high school students to fly and prepares them to pursue a pilot’s license or study aviation in college. The flight school gives students an opportunity they might otherwise be unable to afford with hopes of diversifying the industry.

Old Skool Café provides opportunities for youth, particularly those who were formerly incarcerated and/or in foster care, to gain life skills, job training, and receive help managing their finances, writing resumes and cover letters, build people skills, and strengthen interpersonal communication. The restaurant allows the youth to train for every position in an industry that generates 25% of the area’s jobs.

The Ali Forney Center is the largest of several organizations across the country serving LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. It has seventeen sites and serves about 2,000 young people a year, nearly half of whom come from out of state. In addition to setting people up with stable housing, the drop-in center serves daily meals and offers showers and laundry. Advocacy programs and case managers help the youth find permanent jobs, further their education, or put funds aside to secure stable long-term housing. They also offer counseling services, support groups, and temporary employment for many young people.

There is a certain population of youth aged 16-24 that are neither in school nor working because of some derailment (oftentimes burdensome responsibilities) along the way. A national organization called Nxt Level helps people get back on track with their goals through a specialized team that helps an individual with things like getting a GED, mental health or legal resources, job training, and food programs. They even work with local businesses to give the kids a chance and hire them upon their completion of the program. Nxt Level now has centers in Baltimore, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and more.

PowerCorps is a program that provides job training for young adults in Camden, New Jersey. It matches participants with opportunities to improve the green infrastructure in the community and is supported by the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority. The ultimate goal is to connect PowerCorps graduates to full-time employment.

A new program connects tech savvy teens with seniors to help them learn how to use their phones, computers, and other devices. Seniors are provided with patient, knowledgeable support while teens learn job skills and earn money.

After generations of waiting, the Oglala Sioux prophecy of an economic, spiritual, and social renaissance is coming true. "Now the Seventh Generation is here," and they are creating dynamic change in one the least developed communities in the United States. Providing highly reduced tuition and parental efficacy at excellent schools has allowed many children to break the generational poverty chain.

In places such as Ghana, people live far from proper healthcare, which is why Community Health Workers in the region, and in other regions lacking access to healthcare, are being trained. CHW's can help educate individuals about how to stay healthy, increase prevention techniques, and help them get proper medical aid.