YouthBuild Public Charter School
| WISH LIST
$100: steel-toed work
boots for two YouthBuild students;
$500: 1-day conflict resolution
training for 10 students;
$1000:
First Aid, CPR, and OSHA safety
training for 10 students
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A small, bilingual, alternative public charter school, YouthBuild offers young
people ages 16-24 who have dropped out, aged out, or been expelled from
traditional high schools, a unique second chance. In an intimate, supportive
school environment they earn a GED degree, acquire the skills needed to be
successful in college or the workplace, and navigate the transition to adulthood.
And this is no mean feat: 100% are low-income; more than a third are parents
themselves; another third speak limited or no English. Most begin with extremely low math and reading levels
(often the reason they dropped out in the first place). At YouthBuild, students alternate between school (serious
academics and computer, job-readiness, and life skills) and a construction site (10 affordable housing units were
built this year). Community service is also an important part of the program. So building means many things:
building knowledge, building character, building homes, building lives. Young people who typically feel they have
nothing to offer leave YouthBuild with a different perspective: “I built that,” they say. They have built even more.
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