- YouthBuild
Infobox Organization
name = YouthBuild
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size = 180px
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type = non-profit organization
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leader_title = President
leader_name = Dorothy Stoneman
key_people = Dorothy Stoneman, John Bell
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website = [http://www.youthbuild.org www.youthbuild.org]YouthBuild is a
non-profit organization which provides education, counseling and job skills tounemployed young Americanadult s (between ages 16 and 24), generally high school dropouts. There are over 225 YouthBuild programs in the United States, with a total capacity of about 8,000 students yearly, and there are similar programs underway in Mexico, China and South Africa.The YouthBuild program has five components: construction, education, counseling, leadership, and graduate opportunity. Students spend every other week on a job site, learning the construction trade by building homes for their own communities. This creates housing for low-income people, and also gives the students marketable job skills. The alternate weeks are spent on education in the YouthBuild classroom, with the goal of attaining a
GED . Many YouthBuild students come directly from the streets or from difficult life situations, so counseling is available to help them deal with anger management, family responsibilities, and other adjustment / life direction issues. Leadership is taught explicitly in YouthBuild programs, based on the philosophy that young people are not a burden, but rather a resource to be tapped. This, combined with ensuring opportunity and placement for graduates, means that many YouthBuild graduates go on to college, work in the non-profit sector, serve on committees, or even run in local politics.Funding for YouthBuild previously came primarily from the
Department of Housing and Urban Development , but has transitioned to theDepartment of Labor . Other funding sources for programs are widely varied, but include other government agencies, private foundations, corporations, and individual donors.Founded and directed by
Dorothy Stoneman and John Bell [http://freechild.org/bell.htm] , one of the main purposes of YouthBuild is to build affordable housing for low-income families. Since 1994, more than 15,000home s have been built by 60,000 YouthBuild students.ee also
*
Youth On Board External links
* [http://www.youthbuild.org YouthBuild's official web site]
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