YouthBuild: Building Skills and Strength in Thurston County Youth

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YouthBuild helps build affordable housing while learning construction job skills.
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By Barb Lally

greene realtySkipping class, dropping out, hanging out in the street. Low self-esteem, no positive personal vision, no one to help. It is a recipe for a dismal future for youth who have fallen through the cracks from lack of support and guidance in school and in life.

Change all that to earning a high school diploma, hands-on training in the construction trades, earning a paycheck and receiving guidance from dedicated mentors that encourages a youth’s best qualities.

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YouthBuild Program Director Sarah Wilkins with participant Diamonique at her graduation.

It is a transformation that is possible with YouthBuild, a program that has made a difference for nearly 180 of Thurston County’s young people ages 17 to 20 since the program began here in 2009.

Community Youth Services of Thurston County partners locally with New Market Skills Center to run YouthBuild helping youth who haven’t made it in the traditional school system find purpose for their education as well as real-life training in the construction trades that helps develop their job skills

But even greater, the program builds in its students—those aging out of foster care, low-income youth or those with disabilities, youth offenders, children of an incarcerated parent or migrant youth—a greater capacity to believe in themselves.

“I am fueled by being an adult in YouthBuilders’ lives who tells them they can achieve anything and that someone does believe in their capabilities,” says Sarah Wilkins, the program director for the YouthBuild Program. “We help them change the things they tell themselves into positive, life-giving messages.”

Sarah’s staff of five others with two construction instructors, a program supervisor and two case workers are all inspired by a passion for their mission.

“It is beyond a paycheck for the staff,” says Sarah about her team. “It is about helping individuals reach their full potential.”

Diamonique in the Rough

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Diamonique has landed her first job and received praise for her work ethic.

Diamonique was a street-involved youth in California who lost her mother at the age of 12 and became the caretaker for her younger brother. She and her brother moved often seeking a place where they could be taken care of. Unfortunately, the places she found were usually surrounded by bad neighborhoods where she got into her own trouble with the law trying to survive.

Eventually, Diamonique moved to Washington to be with extended family, but she did not do well in school, fighting regularly and often skipping class.

Diamonique’s probation officer connected her with YouthBuild and it transformed her life.

“Her old habits were hard to overcome,” says Wilkins. “But when faced with a tough choice, she chose to be honest and open, and started the YouthBuild program with a real commitment.”

Diamonique has since earned her high school diploma and just secured her first job, a full-time, permanent position at Target. She is already being praised at the local store for her immediate success in a company promotion.

When asked today about her vision for the future, she is quick to reply, “I want to train to be a juvenile counselor because I know what it takes to get real help and I want to do that for others.”

Andre Gets a New Vision

Instead of attending school, Andre would hang out with friends or find other things that actually interested him.

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Andre excelled at Youthbuild’s construction work and now wants to start his own company.

Once in YouthBuild’s program he excelled at the construction work with an impeccable work ethic and he challenged himself to rethink everything he knew to be true, including his history as a student who didn’t go to school.

“Through YouthBuild, Andre realized that though he had never thought of himself as a person that could do big things, or even finish high school, he now believes he is capable and aspires to go to college, something he never thought was possible,” says Wilkins.

Today, Andre is successfully working in an apprenticeship program in the construction trades.

“YouthBuild helped me become a teachable problem solver who works well with others,” says Andre who is now saving his earnings to open his own construction company.

The Program

The program begins with Mental Toughness, an intensive three-week orientation including team building, basic construction lessons, and academic assessment—all to determine if the applicants are a fit for the program.

Once accepted in the program, YouthBuild students participate in a half day of academics, taught by New Market staff. The other half of the day is spent on construction projects. All of it helps them earn credits towards their high school diploma.

YouthBuild construction projects include helping local non-profits like South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity and Homes First! remodel and build homes for low-income families, providing students with experience while making a difference in the community.

The second phase of the program is critical because it is a year of working with the students to help them implement all they have learned from the work accomplished in their first year.

“YouthBuild truly works because the students invest and make it work,” says Wilkins. “The program gives our students the opportunity to reclaim the power in their lives, not just temporarily in the YouthBuild program, but for a lifetime.”

For more information about YouthBuild, click here.

 

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