YouthBuild: youth offered second chance at education give back to the community

In the nearly two decades that the YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, an education program for low-income youth, has been in Philadelphia, it boasts helping more than 1,700 students transition to post-secondary educational programs and train for jobs in construction, health care and technology, according to a recent profile from the Inquirer.

In May 2009, Technically Philly profiled the program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary next month.

YouthBuild, which originated in the Bronx, now employs locally about 50 staff who help offer a second chance to 213 18-20 year old students on North Broad Street above Girard Avenue. The program is largely publicly funded, according to the Inquirer.

In addition to improving their own lives, the students also contribute to the larger Philadelphia community.

From the story:

“In the first three years of the program, 13 houses in South Philadelphia – YouthBuild was quartered in the United Community Services building at Sixth and Catharine Streets – were rehabbed for low-income owners. That number now exceeds 70.

To round out the picture, add to that the 2,500 computers that technology students have refurbished and donated, the 5,000 hours of care they have provided for residents in long-term facilities, and the thousands of hours of community-service activities they have performed.” MORE

The program will be celebrating it’s 2oth anniversary on May 9, 2012. Click here to learn more.