Our Mission

The mission of YouthBuild USA is to unleash the intelligence and positive energy of low-income youth to rebuild their communities and their lives. YouthBuild USA seeks to join with others to help build a movement toward a more just society in which respect, love, responsibility, and cooperation are the dominant unifying values, and sufficient opportunities are available for all people in all communities to fulfill their own potential and contribute to the well-being of others.

Our Approach

Local YouthBuild programs across the country serve low-income young people ages 16-24, who have left high school without a diploma. Along with an international presence in 15 countries, 273 domestic YouthBuild programs currently serve 10,000 students.

As a national intermediary, YouthBuild USA supports regular learning exchange conferences among educators across the YouthBuild network. YouthBuild programs participating in two national education initiatives funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also receive proactive instructional coaching, direct technical assistance and substantial peer learning opportunities to improve teaching and learning efforts.

YouthBuild USA and local YouthBuild programs organize and participate in national and state coalitions in support of resources and public policies that support YouthBuild students’ success and facilitate effective youth and community development beyond YouthBuild. This work is coordinated with other similar networks of schools and community based organizations collaborating toward maximum learning and impact.

Ultimately, the YouthBuild movement will attract, inspire, develop and organize new young leaders and adult social entrepreneurs within low-income communities across the country. Collectively, these leaders and entrepreneurs will spread the philosophy and methodology of youth leadership development as a central part of working with youth in all contexts, including education, job training, national service, crime prevention and counseling.

Our Commitment

YouthBuild is committed to leadership development, civic engagement and community service opportunities for all students. As part of their leadership development, YouthBuild students learn to advocate for issues that concern them and their communities, and to take responsibility for themselves and their families. Students also share in the governance of their own program through an elected policy committee.

YouthBuild students construct or rehabilitate homes for homeless and low-income people in their communities as part of their civic engagement and service. Construction projects range from restoring multi-unit buildings to constructing new homes. Some YouthBuild programs also train students to give back to their communities through career pathways in the healthcare industry and through technology training for students to bridge the digital divide within low-income communities.

Our Education Design

The YouthBuild education model proves that when low-income young people previously written off by society are offered meaningful learning opportunities and real-world skills, by adults who care about them, in a culture of love and high expectations, they excel academically.

YouthBuild educators support young people toward the completion of a GED or a high school diploma and the subsequent transition to and through postsecondary credential programs and meaningful career pathways. YouthBuild educators provide rigorous and relevant instruction (increasingly aligned with postsecondary and career readiness standards) while maintaining an explicit commitment to the core principles of youth leadership development which have remained the foundation for the success of our schools and students – an asset based approach that respects young people’s intelligence, believes in their inherent potential to do good, and fully supports their desire to transform their lives in an environment of high expectations and appropriate supports.

YouthBuild programs and schools offer comprehensive academic supports provided by staff teams including teachers, construction trainers, counselors, and transition services staff to help build students’ academic, life and work skills. Staff members relate service and workforce experiences with learning objectives, to deliver engaging instruction to students who have not responded well to traditional pedagogy, and to help students recover high school credits at an accelerated pace and earn postsecondary credits. YouthBuild educators hold high expectations and provide appropriate supports for young adults who oftentimes enter the program reading and computing well below grade level.

Our Education Initiatives

YouthBuild recognizes that it is no longer sufficient for young people to complete high school and access postsecondary programs. In order for the future of young people and the health of our nation to improve, it is necessary to dramatically increase the rate at which low-income young people are prepared in secondary school to enter and complete postsecondary education and obtain meaningful career credentials.

Our efforts toward preparing YouthBuild students to successfully transition into postsecondary level work and career pathways have been carried out through the National Schools Initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and supported in the past by the Walter S. Johnson and the Lumina Foundations. Consisting of 40 participating YouthBuild schools and programs across the United States and in the US Virgin Islands, YouthBuild USA is assisting these programs to work toward strengthening and enhancing their education capacity in order to significantly increase the number of students graduating with a meaningful diploma that provides them with self-confidence and academic fortitude to continue success beyond YouthBuild. YouthBuild USA, along with a team of education, counseling, and career specialists, provide this network of schools and programs with targeted trainings for teachers and instructional leaders, professional development, coaching, and resources and tools to help implement strategies to serve a diverse population.

For more information about NSI, contact Lavinia Dickerson, Director of Secondary Education at (617) 741-1294 or ldickerson@youthbuild.org.

In addition, in order to meet the challenges of postsecondary credential attainment, YouthBuild programs across the country are engaging in the Postsecondary Education Initiative. With the generous support of the Gates Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, and the New Profit, Inc. Social Innovation Fund, an emerging group of pilot YouthBuild programs are achieving promising early results in preparing more students to access and succeed in postsecondary education (including two- and four-year colleges, technical schools and apprenticeships). These YouthBuild programs are undertaking extensive work to further align student learning outcomes with the expectations of postsecondary institutions and partnering deeply with these institutions towards mutual accountability for student success. Programs have worked to develop more comprehensive assessment systems, expanded academic schedules/calendars, revised curriculum and improved instructional practices. An initial group of seven participating pilot programs in the PSE Initiative will soon expand to include twelve additional new programs.

For more information about the PSE initiative, contact Scott Emerick, Senior Director for Higher Education Achievement at (617) 741-1247 or semerick@youthbuild.org.

Recent Successes

Participating PSE programs have dramatically increased high school diploma/GED attainment rates to more than 70 percent of all program enrollees; nearly doubled postsecondary access rates to nearly 40 percent of all program enrollees; and achieved postsecondary retention rates of approximately 60 percent.