Latin American Youth Center's YouthBuild Program
Washington, DC
An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — April 22, 2005
This field trip was organized to learn about an exemplary YouthBuild site located at the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) in Washington, DC. The trip allowed participants to speak with Dorothy Stoneman, the founder and president of YouthBuild USA, Lori Kaplan, Executive Director of LAYC, hear moving stories from past and present LAYC YouthBuild students about their experiences in the program and tour the academic and construction sites of the program.
YouthBuild
In YouthBuild programs, unemployed and undereducated young people, ages 16-24, work toward their GED or high school diploma while learning job skills by building affordable housing for homeless and low-income people. The program emphasizes leadership development, community service and the creation of a positive community of adults and youth committed to success.
Local YouthBuild programs are small, supportive communities usually operated by a nonprofit, independent, community-based or faith-based organization. YouthBuild USA is the non-profit agency that serves as the national intermediary and support center for YouthBuild programs nationwide. In this role, YouthBuild USA orchestrates advocacy for public funding; guidance and quality assurance in program implementation; leadership opportunities for youth and staff; research to understand best practices; and channels national grants and loans to YouthBuild affiliates. There are more than 200 YouthBuild programs in 44 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, engaging approximately 7,000 young adults annually. Since 1994, more than 47,000 YouthBuild students have produced over 13,000 units of low-income housing across the United States. Participants average 8.2 months in the program.
Nationally, 72% of YouthBuild students are men and 28% are women. In 2004, the demographic breakdown of students included: 48% African American, 21% white, 23% Hispanic, 3% Native American and 2% Asian American. In addition, 30% of students were parents. As of 2004, 59% of entering YouthBuild students completed the program and 82% of these graduates went on to college or jobs averaging $7.99/hour.
YouthBuild is a public-private partnership. Each YouthBuild program secures its own funding, generally a mix of government (federal, state, and local) and private support. Federal support for YouthBuild is authorized under Subtitle D of Title IV of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1992. Since then, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded YouthBuild grants and contracts totaling more than $500 million. The current Bush Administration has requested $59 million in FY 2006 for YouthBuild, and may also recommend a transfer of federal management from HUD to the Department of Labor. In addition, YouthBuild USA receives major support from The Ford, Charles S. Mott, Bill and Melinda Gates, and W.K. Kellogg Foundations.
Latin American Youth Center
Latin American Youth Center is a multicultural, community-based organization supporting youth and families in their determination to live, work and study with dignity, hope and joy. It achieves its mission by providing comprehensive, multi-lingual and culturally sensitive programs and opportunities in education, employment, social services, advocacy and social enterprise.
LAYC's six goals are the achievement of: healthy habits and avoidance of risky behaviors; ability to initiate and sustain positive relationships; increased capacity to find positive solutions to the immediate needs of daily life; commitment to education and academic achievement; acquisition of career skills and knowledge for employment, financial purposes and long-term career development; and awareness of and engagement in community improvement activities.
LAYC's YouthBuild has been operating since 1995 and currently is training its 10th class of 55 young people. The LAYC site is unusual in that it offers Spanish GED classes along with English GED instruction. Students alternate between a week of GED class and a week of on-site construction training and are paid minimum-wage for their participation in construction part of the program. Their classroom and job training experiences are supplemented with life skills, computer training, support groups, and staff mentors. LAYC YouthBuild creates a safe, community atmosphere where participants can, in their own words, "flip the script of predicted failure."
LAYC YouthBuild boasts impressive statistics: nearly 100% of its graduate are placed into jobs or continue their education. The number of participants graduating and receiving their GED has continued to increase over the life of the program, reaching a 73% graduation rate, significantly higher than the YouthBuild USA national average of 59%, with 50% also receiving a GED in October 2004.
Orientation
Our field trip began like a normal day at the program with Morning Meeting. Nationally-acclaimed youth advocate and educator Dorothy Stoneman gave a brief overview of the program, but she let the program speak for itself through a panel of YouthBuild graduates and current students. There were also students from the YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School and YouthBuild in Petersburg, Virginia.
These young people shared their own inspirational stories and experiences about YouthBuild with the AYPF field trip participants. Students told personal stories about why they dropped out of their traditional high school, what brought them to YouthBuild and how their time in the program changed their lives. It became clear that they had dropped out due to a number of reason, including incarceration, teen pregnancy, or boredom. Some were encouraged by family or other YouthBuild graduates to apply to the program and some found it independently. Each spoke about how YouthBuild provided them with not only the knowledge and skills to succeed, but also the self-confidence necessary to succeed in the world. One student said, "I believe in myself now because of what YouthBuild gave me." Another said, "I tried to make a change in my life and YouthBuild was a big part of it. I now have a new lifestyle through YouthBuild, and I know they are in my corner when I ask for them."
One young woman's story was particularly poignant. At a young age she had joined a gang, adopting a lifestyle of partying and skipping school. She had been expelled from a number of D.C. high schools and pregnancy caused her to finally drop out. She lost the support of her parents, immigrants who had "not come to this country for her to become a statistic." She was pregnant, alone, and homeless, spending many nights sleeping on cold floors with "roaches crawling over her pregnant belly." Wandering the neighborhood, she saw the sign for YouthBuild; applied, was accepted, and began the classes and construction training. "YouthBuild became my foundation, my base and support that I needed and didn't have. My mentors literally and mentally held my hand through everything including reconnecting with my family." Currently, this young woman serves as the alumni coordinator at LAYC YouthBuild and attends the University of the District of Columbia to study nursing through a scholarship.
A 2002 graduate from LAYC's YouthBuild told his story of going from a high school dropout to a salaried, supervisor at a major construction firm because of YouthBuild. Originally from El Salvador, he dropped out of school and became involved in violence, fighting all the time. He entered the YouthBuild program thanks to his sister, a 2001 graduate herself. In his words, "she was the only person I'd listen too." Describing his experience at YouthBuild: "It is nothing like high school. Teachers started listening to me, treated me like family and friends. We could talk about [our] problems." After completing the program, he started a construction job earning $10 an hour with an opportunity to advance. The company has subsequently trained him in engineering and computer skills, and he has received a 120% increase in wages. Thanks to YouthBuild he is now able to provide for himself and his family in a way he never dreamt was possible.
The Program
Field trip participants had an opportunity to tour both the LAYC school and the construction site. In the academic building, YouthBuild staff explained the daily schedule of a LAYC YouthBuild student. School begins at 8:30 am with the Morning Meeting. This includes a speakers' series on topics such as health and politics. At 9 am students begin their academic coursework with classes lasting 1 to 1-3/4 hours. After lunch, students take courses in life skills, including budgeting, time management, computer skills and gender-specific support groups. All classes at the LAYC are small, allowing for individualized student attention and creative teaching methods. Students and faculty spoke of their mutual respect for each other. Within the main building there are three classrooms, a meeting space, a computer lab recently renovated by the participants and a construction training area.
LAYC differs from other YouthBuild sites since it offers a full-time Spanish GED program. In the Spanish language class, students from several Latin American countries were studying political cartoons in Spanish to learn about current affairs. The students were all paying attention and appeared to be actively engaged in the material being taught.
Students spend alternating weeks in the academic and construction setting. LAYC owns a number of properties in the neighborhood used for their other programs; their renovations serve as the training projects for the YouthBuild program. The current construction project has participants renovating a neighborhood home to be used for the LAYC's transitional housing program for young mothers. Additionally, we toured the Transitional Living Program home for young men that YouthBuild participants rehabilitated in 2003. For that project, YouthBuild students repaired plaster, worked with electricians to run new wiring throughout the property, scraped all windows to work properly, installed all baseboard trim and door casings, installed new drywall throughout the house, primed and painted all walls and ceilings and stripped old paint on stair rails before priming and painting them.
Question/Answer Period
After the site visits, the field trip participants enjoyed a delicious Latino meal made by LAYC volunteers as well as a lively discussion with the program participants. Questions included:
What is your biggest problem besides money?
Students, particularly young mothers, responded that it is challenging to balance their new responsibilities within YouthBuild and their friends and families. Students also mentioned the amount of homework.
Nationally, YouthBuild USA struggles with the coordination of the national network and data collection from specific sites. Working with HUD, YouthBuild USA has created a web-based data collection system that allows sites to produce reports specific to their programs so that the national office can tally national data.
If you could make any changes to the program, what would be they be?
Students would like to see the age limit increased, from 24 to 26, the ability to receive a high school diploma (which will be possible next year when the LAYC YouthBuild program becomes a charter school), and daycare. Nationally, YouthBuild USA would love to increase the money they receive in order to serve all qualified applicants. Last year, YouthBuild USA had to turn away 10,000 young people.
Finally, this quote from Christian A. Martinez, a 2002 LAYC YouthBuild graduate, demonstrates the power this program has to change lives.
Five years after I had dropped out of school, I felt like there was no hope for me or for my future. My life was going nowhere. Then one day I walked into this program and it was like there was hope and life. Thanks to YouthBuild, I now have my GED and a good job. Thanks to this program, I realize that there are people in this world who care about others.
Contact Information
Dorothy Stoneman
President
YouthBuild USA
58 Day Street
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 623-9900
www.youthbuild.org
Lori Kaplan
Executive Director
Latin American Youth Center
1419 Columbia Road NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 319-2225
http://www.layc-dc.org
This report summarizes an American Youth Policy field trip on April 22, 2005 at the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, D.C., reported by Jennifer Lerner and Rachel Hare with photos by Maureen Matthews.
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is a non-profit, nonpartisan professional development organization that bridges youth policy, practice and research for professionals working on youth policy issues at the national, state and local levels.
AYPF’s events and policy reports are made possible by the support of a consortium of philanthropic foundations: Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, GE Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WT Grant Foundation, George Gund Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, Charles S. Mott Foundation, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and others.