About Youthbuild

YouthBuild Quad Cities is a wide-ranging youth and community development program. YouthBuild simultaneously addresses several core issues facing our community: education, housing, jobs, and leadership development. It uniquely addresses the status of unemployed young men and women who have not finished school and are searching for a productive future. YouthBuild allows these youth to serve their communities and build their own future.

YouthBuild Quad Cities is a 12-month construction training program that offers:

• A service learning program - students build housing for low to moderate income people.
• An alternative school — students spend 50% of the class time pursuing academic goals which may include vocational and remedial education, studying toward a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma (GED), and preparing for higher education.
• A job training and pre-apprenticeship program — students receive on-site training in construction skills from qualified instructors during 50% of class time, and are then get placed in construction-related jobs, apprenticeships, or higher education.
• An opportunity to earn while you learn — a stipend is paid to students while actively participating in the program.
• A leadership development program — students share in the governance of the program and participate actively in community affairs, learning the values and the lifelong commitment needed to become effective and ethical community leaders.
• A youth development program — students participate in personal counseling, peer support groups, and life-planning to assist in establishing achievable goals that will lead to a productive life.
• A long-term mini-community — students make new friends committed to a positive life-style, may pursue cultural and recreational activities together, and can continue to participate through follow-up services and a graduate program.
• A community development program — several key community issues are tackled at once, strengthening the capacity to build and manage housing for residents, educating and inspiring youth, creating leadership for the future, and building neighborhood capacity for positive change.

YouthBuild has a proven track record of helping young people.  Because of YouthBuild:

• At-risk youth who received a GED or diploma rose from 21.7% to 59.2%.
• School attendance of less than 40% rose to over 85%.
• Participant grade point averages rose from less than 1.5 to over 2.75.

Do you know someone that could benefit?  Seeking young men or women who are:

• Interested in earning high school diploma or GED
• Serious and committed
• Unemployed
• Interested in learning construction
• Interested in helping build homes for people with low-moderate incomes
• Between 16 and 24 years old

For more information or to refer a friend please call:

• YouthBuild Quad Cities: 309.788.0899
• Thurgood Marshall Learning Center: 309.793.5924
• Black Hawk College Technology Center: 309.794.1072